Gothic Christmas Cards

These are Christmas cards for people who like the season a little darker. There are ten designs in near-black and oxblood with gold line art and a double gold frame: a crescent moon, a moth, a black cat, a skeleton key, a candle, a bare tree under a full moon, a dark wreath, bats with a bauble, a black Christmas tree and a snowflake made of cobweb.

Every card has a short greeting printed inside, matched to its front. The moth says "Merry Gothmas", the black cat says "Stay Spooky This Christmas" and the black tree says "Christmas, but Darker". Some are gentler, such as "Light in the Dark" and "Cold Nights, Warm Wishes". The insides are white, so the greeting is easy to read, and the blank left side is for your own note.

One sheet makes one card: the outside prints on the front of the sheet and the inside on the back. You trim it on the crop marks and fold it to 5 x 7 inches, which fits an A7 envelope. Three envelope liner sheets come in matching patterns: a starry night, a gold lattice, and moths with moons.

• Crescent Moon: "Merry & Dark"
• Moth: "Merry Gothmas"
• Black Cat: "Stay Spooky This Christmas"
• Skeleton Key: "Season's Greetings"
• Candle: "Light in the Dark"
• Bare Tree & Full Moon: "Merry Midwinter"
• Dark Wreath: "Merry Christmas"
• Bats & Bauble: "Have a Batty Christmas"
• Black Christmas Tree: "Christmas, but Darker"
• Cobweb Snowflake: "Cold Nights, Warm Wishes"
• 3 envelope liner sheets for A7 envelopes, 2 liners per sheet

Choose Actual size (100%) in the print dialog and print double-sided on card stock, flipping on the short edge. No duplex printer? Print the outside, feed the same sheet back into the tray, then print the inside on its reverse. Test one card on plain paper first. Matte card stock of about 200 to 300 gsm folds cleanly, and scoring the fold with a butter knife and a ruler gives a crisp edge. The dark backgrounds use a lot of ink, so a copy shop is worth it for a big batch.