When I was small, my mother used to buy black & white lithographed cards from the Metropolitain Art Gallery in New York. I recall one that portrayed a stable scene, another of angels- but not all of them were Christmas based because they were sent to friends of all religions. She then hosted a party of close friends and we sat around the diningroom table and watercolored them. I still think that is a nice touch- and a happy memory!

I second SCS. The gallery is full of wonderful ideas. I usually buy my white cardstock from Office Depot (zerox brand). I get white envelopes in bulk on e-bay once every few years. I buy vellum and other cardstock from Michael's with coupons. Their white isn't thick or smooth enough. You can get rubber stamps anywhere Michaels, Jo-Ann's, stamping-up (home based business from a consultant). Embossing powders and heat tools are fun. There are a ton of cutting products on the market - punches and dies and fancy edged scissors. Cuttlebug makes wonderful embossing folders if you are into that type of texture. Ribbons. Clear and tinted paper glazes. Scoring tools to make perfect folds. Glitter & glitter glue (stickles). Coloring tools - chalks, shimmering chalks, colored pencils, metallic pencils, markers, watercolors, shimmering watercolors, etc. It depends how fancy you want to get and how much you want to spend. Contact a stampingup demo and purchase a catalog ($10) - there are lots of ideas in it and product info or buy a cardmaker or papercrafts magazine from Michaels to get ideas and info on products.

Those pumpkin cards sound really cute mz. I don't have any brilliant ideas for Christmas yet, but if anyone else is still working on autumn, I found a cuteidea for a paper pieced pumpkin in a card making magazine last year. The magazine name escapes me, but it is basically just three orange ovals (with little dents at the top and bottom) stacked with foam dots or something to add dimension. Add a stem and a few green paper curls for vines. I just used cardstock (because I am cheap about supplies) but it would be really cute with a patterned paper or some inking on the edges. I used it in my dog's puppy scrapbook rather than as a card. (Ignore the amateur scrapping and photography - it was one of my first layouts) There is a picture in my scrapjazz gallery if it helps with the visual. Here is a link that might be useful: Maddie's First Halloween

It sounds like you wanted an actual program for your pc to replace your print shop program and not just a website to pick out pre made ecards. If so this one was suggested at techsupportalert forums as a good free program. I have never used it and only know what I read there. You can check it out here. Create personalized photo cards