I'll admit it — I'm a fool for Christmas. And I always have been. After all, the Christmas holiday is basically a crafter's delight! What other time of the year offers so many opportunities to dive into crafting projects for gifts and fun? So it probably comes as no surprise that I make my own Christmas cards.

I've been making my own Christmas cards since I was a child. It all started with an aunt who — looking for a way to get me and my brother to sit down and be quiet for an evening — put a pile of construction paper and glue in front of us and told us to make Christmas cards for the family. Apparently that one experience was like Christmas crack to me because I've been hooked on making my own Christmas cards ever since.

Of course, my cards have gotten more sophisticated over the years. I've moved on from construction paper and glue to Photoshop collaging. Pictured above is our card from Christmas 2009. The house in the image is a doll house ornament from our tree. My husband and I took photos of each other (and of course the cat, too) against the blue walls of our living room, which was our version of a green screen. He was the one who came up with the brilliant idea of holding the Santa suit up to himself while I stretched my arm up like I was putting a star on top of the tree. Using Photoshop, I erased the background around the images of each of us before resizing and dragging us into the doll house image. I added the star to my hand and dropped in a little text to complete the card.

We've heard from friends that in a pile of store bought Christmas cards, ours is the one that gets the most attention. Our visits to friends' houses over the holidays usually confirms this – our card is usually the one that is prominently displayed.

Image: Jason Loper