The annual sending and receiving of holiday greeting cards starts as a pile of heartfelt messages that are proudly displayed and shared. This year, use these simple ideas to give last year’s cards a second life!
All you will need is a variety of holiday greeting cards, scissors, a decorative craft punch, a hole punch, some glue, a long piece of string, and some scraps of ribbon.
Make place cards for this year’s holiday dinner.
Hold your holiday card horizontally, so that the fold is at the top. Cut the card into half or even thirds, depending on the desired size of the place card. Add a label to the front of each card, or use a paint pen that will be dark enough to be legible. Write the name of each guest on the label or front of the card to identify each place setting.
Turn holiday cards into classic gift tags.
Choose holiday cards that have whole scenes or words. Use a plain gift tag and a pencil to trace the shape of your holiday gift tag. Carefully cut out the tag by following the pencil marks. If your card has writing on the back, use the scrap paper to create a blank tag and glue it onto the back of the decorative tag. Punch a hole at the top of the gift tag, and secure to your gift with a short piece of ribbon.
Decorate more than the door frame.
Using the decorative craft punch, cut circular shapes from your cards. Each globe will use 5, 6, or 7 circles, depending on the size of the globe (we used 5 circles per globe because it makes a nice star shape). Fold each circle in half so the designed side is facing inside. Once all of your circles are folded, glue them back to back until you complete one globe. Punch a hole in in the flap of each globe. Then string them onto the string, one by one,
tying a small knot in the string to hold each globe in place.
Dress up your tree with recycled cards.
For this craft, you will need a clear tree ornament. Simply cut your holiday cards into a variety of shapes. Fill the ornament with the decorative paper scraps and replace the top to close the ornament. Then, pick the perfect spot on the tree for your upcycled holiday ornament.