I love getting cards. I love the fact that someone went to the time and the trouble to pick out a card, write some stuff in it and actually mail it to me. It doesn’t matter if they are birthday cards, Christmas cards or even business greeting cards, I love them all because it means someone took the time to think of me.
I am passionate about the whole recycle reuse concept and, after I have enjoyed reading and looking at the cards, I immediately set my sights on breathing new life into them.
For the smaller size Christmas cards I am a fan of cutting the back off of them, punch a hole at the top right corner of the front of one and using them as a gift card. When I receive both personal holiday cards and company Christmas cards I use them as part of my Christmas decorations. The bigger and brighter they are, the more I enjoy decking the halls with them.
Here is how I make a greeting card Christmas tree:
1. I take a large piece of felt and cut it out in the shape of large rectangle about 16 x 16 inches.
2. I then cover the front a 14 x 14 piece of old cardboard.
3. I wrap the excess material in the back and staple it.
4. I then take my cards and I begin arranging them in the shape of a Christmas tree. Just put them on a slant and overlap them until you have the angled corners sticking out until you create a tree shape.
5. I then take a solid piece of holiday ribbon and glue it down the front of the tree.
6. I use whatever I have on hand to make the tree stump.
7. For a finishing touch, I add snow to the bottom of the tree by gluing some poly cotton fiber fill to by board.
8. If I am really feeling creative, I dig up some of my previous year’s “gift cards” or Christmas cards that have not yet been repurposed and look for ones that have gifts on them and cut the presents out and place them under my tree.
There you have it! A Christmas card tree.
I have also used cards as decorations. A few years ago I ordered a Gallery card that was black with a foil star on the cover. I had about 4 cards that I made a mistake on when addressing them so I cut the star out and hung them on my Christmas tree. They came out really nice and the foil just lights up when the sun comes through my window. It makes the tree sparkle.
My granddaughter, a very creative and artistic young lady, decided to make use of the beautiful Christmas cards we receive every year. She exercised her creativity by designing her own cards using cut outs from those we received. She carefully cut out the ornaments, stars, peppermint sticks, wreaths. snowmen, snowflakes, etc. and carefully arranged them on a cardboard background, to which she added beads, bows and sparkles in addition to an assortment of other decorative ideas. The result ….. ORIGINAL AND BEAUTIFUL.