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Festive Design Inspiration: the best free fonts, color palettes and stock photos for your holiday projects

Back in high school, and even during my university years, I gathered with my besties for some holiday crafting at our friend’s, Anita’s house.

This memory is so strong in me, that every time the Halloween decor is switched to Christmas garlands at our local Michaels, I feel like buying all the craft supplies in store.

But let’s face it: there’s a certain amount of glitter glue, crystal beads and balls of yarn that your husband can tolerate. I also don’t want to turn my home into an evergreen Christmas craft shop so I shifted my attention towards digital projects.

I soon realized that “festivizing” my social media feed and creating postcards can be as rewarding as painting glass ornaments for our Christmas tree - except for ending up with less sticky fingers.

This is why I’m going to share festive design inspiration with you for your digital projects.

What kind of projects? It can be anything from pattern design to planning your Instagram posts. These tools will come handy to spread the Christmas spirit all across your brand.

So let’s jump in!

FREE FESTIVE FONTS

Fonts can have such a character that instantly elevates a simple design to holly jolly level. Here are my current favorites:

Free fonts, color palettes & stock photos that add a festive feel to your brand

Some of these fonts are only free for personal use, so don’t forget to check the license information included in your download.

For more amazing free fonts, check this post.

FESTIVE COLOR COMBINATIONS

Red, pine green and gold are not the only Christmasy colors - although the best known. Here are some other awesome combos to consider with color codes included:

RED & WHITE MINIMAL

Free fonts, color palettes & stock photos that add a festive feel to your brand

FROSTED BERRIES

Free fonts, color palettes & stock photos that add a festive feel to your brand

HINTS OF TOFFEE

Free fonts, color palettes & stock photos that add a festive feel to your brand

SNOWSTORM IN THE CITY

Free fonts, color palettes & stock photos that add a festive feel to your brand

GINGERBREAD

Free fonts, color palettes & stock photos that add a festive feel to your brand

BERRIES IN TANGERINE

Free fonts, color palettes & stock photos that add a festive feel to your brand

THE TRADITIONAL

Free fonts, color palettes & stock photos that add a festive feel to your brand

MISTLETOE

Free fonts, color palettes & stock photos that add a festive feel to your brand

MULLED WINE

Free fonts, color palettes & stock photos that add a festive feel to your brand

SMALL TOWN VIBE

Free fonts, color palettes & stock photos that add a festive feel to your brand

UNICORN CHRISTMAS

Free fonts, color palettes & stock photos that add a festive feel to your brand

THE CLASSIC

Free fonts, color palettes & stock photos that add a festive feel to your brand

FREE FESTIVE STOCK PHOTOS

As I previously wrote in this post, Unsplash is my favorite site to search for high-quality free stock photos.  

The best thing about Unsplash is that you can create collections based on any criteria (topic, colors, events, emotions) in order to categorize the photos you find on the site. You can also start following other people’s collections. This saves you a lot of time because these people curate photos for you in the style you like so you don’t have to scroll through long search feeds as much.

Some of my favorite Unsplash Christmas Collections:

Free fonts, color palettes & stock photos that add a festive feel to your brand

Annie Spratt is one of the main photographer contributors at Unsplash. She adds 10 new photos every day and many of them are great for the holiday seasons.

Free fonts, color palettes & stock photos that add a festive feel to your brand

This is my favorite from all the user-curated Christmas collections. The photos have a natural, earthy tone that fits many brands well.

Free fonts, color palettes & stock photos that add a festive feel to your brand

This is my own curated collection of free stock photos for the holidays. I focused on curating only feminine photos that could fit many different brands from lifestyle bloggers to artists.

For more free or affordable, feminine stock photo resources, visit this page.

FESTIVE GRAPHIC ASSETS & TEMPLATES

Finally, I went on a hunt for the best festive graphic products you can find on Creative Market. These templates, illustrations and patterns will add the final wow factor to your projects.

COLOR POP CHRISTMAS INSTAGRAM STORY TEMPLATE PACK

Fun, eye-catching and modern template set to highlight your Christmas deals on Instagram.

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NORTH DREAM PATTERN COLLECTION

If you love Norwegian knit patterns, you’ll fall for Julia Dream’s pattern collection:

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CARMINE WATERCOLOR BRUSH & BACKGROUND SET

Add instant oomph to your website, social media images or even printed Christmas cards with this vivid burgundy & gold watercolor set.

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HAND DRAWN CHRISTMAS ART

Not in the mood to post photos? These hand drawn Christmas themed letterings and illustrations are perfect to post something different on your Instagram feed. By the way, they come in high resolution so you can use them in many other printed or digital projects.

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CHRISTMAS MOCKUP BUNDLE

Do you want to showcase your artwork in style? Use these beautiful Christmas mockups from Lena Zakharova.

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WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE FESTIVE DESIGN ELEMENTS?

So that’s it from my end but I wonder, what your favorite creative assets are that you love using at this time of the year. And which one of these goodies will you try first? Leave feedback and recommendations in the comments below.

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