with all the beautiful Christmas Cards that I received over the Holiday Season?
By now, many of you have already taken down your Christmas trees and all of the baubles and bangles are back in safe storage. But the Christmas cards that were so gracefully displayed on the mantle or hutch, just seem to be too beautiful to toss out into the paper recycling. Every year I have had the same dilemma, I don’t want to throw them away, and I don’t really want to keep them either.
So what is a crazy crafty person to do?
Well let me tell you, this crafty Grammie Knows How to recycle those cards into beautiful crafts that will not only save the cards from the dumpster, but will also save the memories that go along with the cards.
The first thing to do is to get sharp scissors or a paper cutter and remove the front of the card carefully, you don’t want to bend or tear them apart.
Then you can safely get rid of the parts you don’t want or need.
With these fronts all in one place, you can save them just as they are and use them for gift tags next year, or you can plan on some crafting fun. If you aren’t going to use them right away, then find a good storage place for them, so that when you are ready, they will be within reach.
Some craft scissors with different edges would be a bonus for crafting with the cards. You can make simple paper chains using the pretty fronts of the cards, cutting them into strips of at least 5 inches long by either 1 or 2 inches wide. Glue or staple the rings and then for added “charm” you can use spray adhesive and iridescent sparkle medium just to give the paper chains some added pizzas. They will look really pretty when the lights are shining around them.
20 cards will make a beautiful one of a kind Christmas ornament for next years tree, simply follow the instructions below:
Instructions:
Place a Christmas cards on a cutting mat (important!), and cut out a circle with a circle cutter (for the cleanest circle). If you don’t have a circle cutter, make a template out of the back of a Christmas card and trace out the shape on all your cards, cutting them to the edge of the line with scissors. You can use fancy edges here too!
Repeat until you have 20 circles.
Cut out one more circle from the back of one of the cards and fold three edges in to make a triangle template that fits your circles perfectly.
Measure the sides of the triangle template to ensure they are equal in length.
Using your triangle template and a bone folder, score each of the 20 circles and fold the tabs inward.
Glue 5 of the circles together to form one facet of your sphere. I’d put a very thin line of glue on the edge and spread with a finger to cover the entire tab. When I pressed 2 tabs together, I usually had to hold them for 20-30 seconds each.
Continue gluing until you have completed the sphere.
Use an oval punch to make a whole in the tab you want to be at the top.
Use a silky cord or ribbon to hang the ornament.
Again for added reflectiveness use glue at the edges and use sparkles to make them really shine.
20 circles to make a new ornament.
Picture taken from OldFatherChristmas.com
So pretty! I’m beginning to accumulate quite a few cards, just from last year and this year. A circle cutter may be a very good investment. Great grandparent-grandchild craft idea!
Yes, this is a great grandparent/grandchild activity. So easy to do and it really looks pretty when completed. Thanks for commenting.
Those look interesting. I used to save parts of Christmas cards like that to use as tags. I never tried to make ornaments with them.
Hi Barbara, so glad you saw these then, they make lovely decorations and the memories attached are even better the second time around.