Many people spread holiday cheer by sending greeting cards to family and friends. It’s always nice getting Christmas cards, but what do you do with them once the holiday season is over? Chances are they wind up cluttering desk drawers or are tossed out. There are plenty of crafty ways to recycle cards and enjoy them every year when the holidays roll around.
Christmas Card Ornaments
Some of the best ornaments are homemade since they hold sentimental values and make your tree unique. Repurpose your Christmas cards into ornaments for your tree. First, cut out circles (a mason jar lid is great tool for tracing circles) from the cards. Draw a triangle in the circle then, cut it almost completely out. Fold up the sides then glue all the circles together with the triangle points facing the same direction. Once you have all the circles assembled you can attach ribbon at the top and make a loop.
Classic Paper Garland
Paper garland is always fun to make and is a festive decoration. Many people use colored construction paper. But paper garland can be made with any type of paper you have, including Christmas cards. Make your very own greeting card garland made from the love and greetings your friends and family sent you.
Gift Tags
A simple, yet, clever way to reuse old Christmas cards is a gift tag on presents. Cut out the images or words you like best from the cards and use them as tags for presents. These look nicer than store bought tags and will cost you nothing.
Create Custom Gift Boxes
To go along with the gift tags, make your own gift boxes from Christmas cards. These little boxes are cute and are fun to put together. Start by cutting the card in half at the fold. Draw a square in each corner and score along all the sides. Cut along the score lines to the boxes, then fold the sides up and then glue in place.
Christmas Card Trees
A great decoration you can make from your cards is little Christmas trees. Cut out different sized circles from a card and scallop the edges of some of the circles. Cut pie shaped wedges from the centers, then fold them into cone shapes. Overlap the edges and tape them in place. Cut a foam ball in half and place glue on one end of a dowel and push it through the ball. Slide the cones over the dowel, starting with the largest one. Finish with the smallest cone and place a bow on top of the cone.
Christmas Card Blocks
This idea is fun for you and your kids and it’s simple to do. First, you will need some wooden toy blocks. Cut pieces of your greeting card into squares to fit on the sides of the blocks. Then, glue the square pieces to the block (use more than one card to create different images on the blocks.) Have fun stacking and rearranging the blocks in order to create different images each time. This is a fun holiday game for the whole family.
Greeting Card Bookmarks
This craft is great for avid readers. Take old greeting cards and turn them into bookmarks. Cut the shape out that you want, punch a hole in the top and then laminate it. String some ribbon or yarn through the hole and you’ve got a cute little bookmark.
Christmas Luminaries
Candles are often beautifully paired with a luminary to create the best glowing effect. Use old greeting cards to make a homemade luminary for your candles. Take your card and punch holes along the outline of the picture with a safety pin. Secure the sides (except the bottom) with tape. Cut open parts of the image to make windows/doors. Take an LED flameless tea light candle and cover it with the card.
Decorative Mason Jars
Use your old Christmas cards to decorate mason jars. Use the lid of a mason jar as to trace and cut out an image from holiday card that you like. Next, cut out your image, fit it inside the lid and glue it to the top. You can also use images from your cards to wrap around and glue to the outside of the jar.
Card Puzzles
Another fun way you can transform old greeting cards is to turn them into decorative puzzles. Take a greeting card that you like and cut the back off. Then, cut the image from the front into different shapes. Either laminate or glue the shapes onto cardboard to create sturdier puzzle pieces. Kids will love putting images together and will enjoy making the puzzle pieces.
Christmas Notepads
Take your old Christmas Cards and turn them into something useful like a notepad. Cut out the image you want to showcase, (but not completely out.) Fold the inside cover about ½ inch, trim the cover and tuck parts into the fold. Cut blank paper about ¼ inch smaller than the cover. Insert into the cover and staple near the bottom of the fold. Tuck the cover and trim if necessary.
With everyone sending you Christmas cards this holiday season, it may get a little crowded with greeting cards around your home. Follow these ideas and have fun getting creative with your greeting cards.
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