Don’t Throw Away Those Cards! Creative Ways to Reuse Christmas Cards.

Have you ever noticed how expensive Greeting cards cost these days? I remember when they were all less than $1.00! Now, you are lucky to find one under $5.00! I love receiving cards in the mail from family and friends, especially at Christmas time. Don’t you? It makes you feel special, feel remembered, and feel loved. However, I always feel so guilty throwing out the cards once the Holidays are over. Especially those that have photos.

I started to think about ways I could reuse the cards. So I have compiled a list of ideas to share with you. This is obviously not going to be a COMPLETE list, there are always more possibilities, just use your imagination! This list is a means to help get your creative juices flowing. I am also going to share some photos of a few simple projects I am working on with cards I received this Christmas.

IDEAS for Reusing your Christmas (and other greeting) Cards

• Bookmarks (Cut a strip or section of the card, punch a hole, and add ribbon or other embellishments! You can even laminate it to make it sturdier. You might even write on the back who you received that card from along with the date).
• Gift Tags (Cut out rectangle sections of the card or circles or even use cookie cutters or craft punches. Punch a hole and tie on string or yarn or ribbon. You can write the To and From section on the backside).
• Die Cuts (Cut out sections of the card you like and reuse them on new cards that you make or for Scrapbook pages, etc.)
• Floating Ornaments (One of my favorite things to do is take a photo from a card someone sent me and make a floating ornament with their photo then gift it back to them the following year, so special! Click here for directions on how to make a floating ornament.)
• Other Orament ideas (You can also just cut out parts of the card and laminate them, punch a hole and tie on a ribbon to hang it on the tree. Or you can Mod Podge a design or photo from a card onto an ornament surface such as wood slice with a pre-drilled hole. Click here to learn more about wood slice ornaments.)
• Coasters (Cut out circle shape designs or photos from the cards and glue down to the inside of Mason Jar lids. Then use Clear Coat Expoxy/Resin on top to protect the card. There are many tutorials for this on Pinterest and YouTube.)
• Collage (You can cut pieces of the cards you like, photos from the cards, and/or use whole cards and make a collage. Your base could just be a piece of cardstock or poster board. You can even frame your collage and hang it on the wall. You could also use a floating frame and add a cute phrase on the glass with vinyl – use your Cricut or other cutting machine.)
• Framed Card (Sometimes you have a beautiful card you want to keep. You could find a frame to put the card in. You might even matte it first and/or add embellishments from other cards.)
• New Cards (You can make new cards using pieces or elements from the cards you received. Cut out the parts you like and add them to new cards you make using a die cut machine such as a Cuttlebug or possibly your Cricut or other cutting machine. You can embellish your cards in many ways, ribbon, sequins, brads, washi tape, etc. You can get together with a group of friends and create cards to give to Veterans or Nursing home patients. Now this would be a great project!)
• Gift Bags (You can use cut out pieces, designs, and photos from your cards and attach them to plain gift bags to create something special to use for a gift to a special friend or family member.)

I hope this list has you thinking about what you can do with all yoru Christmas Cards and maybe you’ll think about using them to create new cards or gifts for next year instead of throwing them out! I’d love to see all the ideas you come up with, so please tell me about them in the comments or share your ideas with me on My Pinterest Page. Here are a few of the projects I am currently working on with some of the Christmas Cards I recieved this year.

For the framed art in the first photo, I used elements from two different cards. It was very simple! The second photo is a gift tag I can use for next Christmas. The last photo is a bookmark I made using my Cricut and photos from a friend’s card. The Mason Jar lid is not finished, but it will be when I add some epoxy and it will make a cute coaster for my Craft Room. The ornament is a floating ornament with my great nephew’s photo and I added his name in vinyl using my Cricut. These projects are all very simple projects that make great little gifts! I hope this blog post has inspired you to get creative! I look forward to sharing many more craft blog posts with you this year … maybe even a few video tutorials (that’ll be stepping out of my comfort zone for sure:) Once again, Happy New Year and keep on crafting! ~Kristina~