Have leftover Christmas cards? Don’t let them go to waste. Here are four simple Christmas card recycling projects for your used Christmas cards.
Every year at this time I love to walk down the road to the mailbox.
Inside the box are well-wishes and stories and pictures and catching up all found in Christmas cards.
I read every one.
And laugh.
And sigh.
And smile.
And wonder what to do with the card after I finish reading it?
Are you with me?
I add the card to a basket full of cards on a table for this Christmas season.
But then what?
Throw them away?
Toss them?
Make scrapbooks?
This year I tried something different, I recycled them into four simple projects. No stress-projects. Take an afternoon without any fancy tools, just a pair of scissors and tape and a little imagination and simply create.
And here’s the four projects I made.
1. Merry Banner
This banner could actually say joy or peace or noel.
To make it I simply used a ruler and traced letters onto the Christmas card.
Then I cut them out and clipped them to a ribbon with clothespins and hung them on a basket.
The letters are different sizes (so much easier and less measuring).
They are just the size of the card.
And no curves, only straight lines for easier tracing.
You could also punch a hole in the edge and hang them with jute twine.
2. Holly jolly house
This house was made from two different cards.
For the base I cut out a strip of card and folded it with two short sides and two long sides and taped.
Cards are perfect for this project because they are much stiffer than regular scrapbook paper.
Then I cut out a square for the roof and folded it in half and taped it to the top of the base.
I cut out four tiny rectangles for the chimney and notched two of them to fit over the roof.
I taped them all together and added a puff of “smoke” made from cotton batting.
3. Candy cane tags
This was the easiest project of all.
To make these tags, I used the back of cards.
There’s the cutest little PS on the back of some of the cards that makes the cutest tag.
You could use a tag cutter or paper cutter or you could go all old school with a pair of scissors.
Simply cut a rectangle out of the card with your design in the center.
Clip the corners off of one end to make the tag, punch a hole and add a ribbon.
4. Joy gift card box
I made this tiny box out of one card.
The front made the top and the back made the bottom.
Wouldn’t it be so cute for a gift card present?
Making the box is so much easier than it looks.
I simply cut out two notches on each side and folded the ends under and taped.
Then I repeated the same steps for the bottom of the box.
I kind of forgot how much fun it is to spend an afternoon with Christmas carols and a little creativity.
Do you have a fun project you’ve done with Christmas cards?
I’m off to check the mailbox for more supplies. 🙂
Brilliant- love this!
Genius, pure red lipstick genius
Great ideas! All of that creativity without a single cup of coffee or diet coke. :)
I hate throwing out Christmas cards and these are the best ideas to keep them around. You are so creative!
Love these ideas! I usually make gift tags out of mine...use them for next years gifts.
That darling, little house?!! I can't even! LOVE, LOVE!
Love, love, love your ideas! Thanks bunches for sharing!
I love all these suggestions and every one of your photos is adorable. Thanks for sharing some new ideas, you're the best!
I hope I get cards as cute as yours! I will be pinning so I remember these ideas for next year (or maybe even this year!). Have a Merry Christmas!
Uhhhhh, could you actually SHOW the steps involved? Well, I can figure out the gift tag craft without visuals but I need help on the rest. One other thought, hole punching the cards and hanging them on the tree ...
Thank you for a great idea. Love the little house and "smoke"! Have to get right to this and dress up my packages. Merry Christmas Doreen
And the letters out of cards, got that figured out too. It's just when you get all three dimensional on me... HELP!
GENIUS!! And loving your red stool!!
Such cute ideas. I love the banner. My grandmother used to cut the cards into squares and then crochet them together to make bowls to hold nuts. At my former school, we would donate all of our Christmas Cards to the moderately disabled classroom at the high school and the students would spend the fall cutting the cards apart and glue them onto green and red construction paper to make 'new cards" and the community would buy them from them. This would fund their community outings for the rest of the year. I'm thinking I could make bowls like my grandmother did but hole punch them and use ribbon to "crochet" them together.
I've gotta say....I love you. Okay, this blog. I look forward to your posts, and read every one of them. They are short, funny, engaging and creative. Thanks for all the great ideas! Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Really cute ideas!!!
You are so wise! Thank you for the great ideas! I must agree with Suzanne, your blog is simply the best, and always puts a smile in my heart. I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years!
Wonderful ideas - I never considered any of these - just perfect. Thanks! And Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! https://doodlet.me/
I'm off to copy your genius ideas! Happy, happy, joy, joy!!
Loving those Merry letters! I am doing this today! Thanks for the great idea.
I keep cards from year to year and when I do finally toss them out, it breaks my heart. I love your ideas for reusing them. I especially like the letters -- they made me smile. I think a banner made out of the cards is an excellent idea. Thank you!! You rock!!
Pure genius! I love all of these ideas. I used some of mine to decorate my simple wrapping paper this year. I've also used them for gift tags. I used to scrapbook all of my Christmas cards with photos, but the past few years I've kept it simple and punched a hole in the top and put them on a metal ring. This post makes me want to start crafting again! Have a wonderful Christmas Karianne!
I especially like your banner. Great ideas!
I have learned to continue this through the year, making mostly gift tags that turn out to be appropriate for Birthday gifts and wedding gifts and such!! Who knew?!?! Happy Christmas to ALL!!
Hello KariAnne. My ex-father-in-law had a signature gift wrap. He was an engineer so he had blue prints he would use to wrap packages. Then he took greeting cards he'd saved from prior years, cut off the fronts and taped that to the gift. He wrote the recipients name on that. It was beautiful and elegant and his signature blue package was usually holding tins of salmon that he had caught and had canned for us. Unique gifts from a unique individual.
This is so nice. So thoughtful and genuine. What a nice man.
Just be grateful I'm not your neighbor! I'd be banging on your kitchen door saying "Karianne, what can I do with this old washboard"? " How about this old scrap of wood"? xoxoxox
Great ideas....thanks for sharing! I've made similar gift tags before, but I use the front of the cards and cut out the scenes from the cards. This year, I gave a Christmas snack mix to our SS Class in Mason jars and I cut out circles from Christmas cards to put in the top/lid of the jars to make them more "festive". They turned out so cute and I had lots of good feedback about them! I love your "Merry" banner....that's a really great idea! I even have letter stencils that I can use to trace them.... That would also be a good idea for adding an initial to a gift you are giving - either the person's first or last name initial. Thanks again for the ideas...Merry Christmas!
Love the idea of using them for letters!
Another brilliant KariAnne moment! Love all the ideas! I would love to be your neighbor too! We could do road trips to Magnolia in Waco and any spot in between. Have the Merriest of Christmas with your family and your church family! You are truly a jewel! Smiles, alice
Great ideas, KariAnne. I especially like the MERRY on pegs (as we call 'em here!). Funnily enough, I posted only today about framing Christmas cards to create temporary festive artwork. I've also been cutting festive shapes out of old cards on the Cricut to make card toppers for this year's Christmas cards. Gotta love a bit of recycling! ;-)
Darling! I will save my cards for next year. More clear instructions on the box?---just love it!! :) Jane x
Thanks for idea. After Christmas, i'll be using my cricut machine to cut out words & letters
These are such cute ideas, Karianne! I saved my cards last year thinking I could do something with them...and as usual, you've inspired me! Thank you!
How about Decoupage? I love doing that with cards. Looks great on an old piece of wood.. I went to Gatlinburg this week, Dollywood.. The lights were out of this world.. How do I send you pictures?
My precious friend, Jean, shared with me years ago that she kept Christmas cards in a basket on her table. Each evening as her family would gather for dinner, they would remove the top card from the basket and pray for the ones who had sent the card. The card would then go to the bottom of the stack and they would repeat this process each day through the year. This sweet friend is now in heaven after a brave fight against breast cancer.
Thank you for a Christmas card ideas ;) Merry Christmas!
Such fun ideas - I especially love the letters. A great way to recycle and still preserve a bit of the original memory! Now if I could find a way to recycle the lovely handmade cards a friend sends. I just can't bear to throw them out...