by Ilene Strizver

Nothing is more appreciated than a card, invitation or gift that you made yourself. If you want to impress your family and friends – and express yourself without being art-directed by anyone else for a change – the holiday season is the perfect time to put your creativity to work on your own personalized graphic projects.

Images and illustrations go a long way towards capturing the seasonal mood, but you don’t have to be an illustrator or a fine artist to create them. There are many image fonts containing seasonal graphics, from snowflakes and snowmen to leaves, ornaments, religious symbols, and food and drink-themed images. You’ll also find a wealth of decorative flourishes.

Use seasonal image fonts for:

• holiday greeting cards
• invitations
• create email and web greetings and graphics
• make borders or large graphic images by combining arabesques (think of the designs on the backs of playing cards)
• personalized gifts
• party decorations
• labels and inserts for family photo albums, videos and DVDs

When creating your own holiday graphics, there’s only one rule to follow: have a blast!

Additional Seasonal Fonts Include:

ITC Zapf Dingbats
Celebrations
Calligraphics
Christmas Ornaments MT
Holiday Doodles
Linotype Holiday
Scary Font Package

• Editor’s Note:Ilene Strizver, founder of The Type Studio, is a typographic consultant, designer and writer specializing in all aspects of typographic communication. She conducts Gourmet Typography workshops internationally. Read more about typography in her latest literary effort, Type Rules! The designer's guide to professional typography, 4th edition, published by Wiley & Sons, Inc. This article was commissioned and approved by Monotype Imaging Inc.