Do you like to keep your old Christmas cards? It seems like something you ought to do because people you care about took the time to send them, but most of the time when we do keep them they just end up as clutter. These upcycled Christmas card crafts will help you put those cards to better use.
Selecting Cards to Upcycle
Not every part of every card is going to be useful for upcycling. You’ll want to keep the parts with pictures you really like, words that could be cut out and used on another project, things like that.
You probably won’t want to keep photo printed cards for upcycling projects, because the glossy paper isn’t the best to craft with (unless you want to use those family photos on gift tags for people in that family for the next year).
At the end of the season when we’re taking down the decorations I like to cut out words and images I like and discard the things I don’t think I’ll use in future craft projects.
Easy Upcycled Christmas Card Crafts
There are lots of really simple things you can do with cards to make upcycled Christmas card crafts, such as:
- cut out circles and stitch or glue them together to make a garland
- cut out different shapes to use as gift tags
- use pieces of cards a bookmarks
- use them in collages or art journal pages
- make your own cards using old cards as decoration
- cut a round that would fit inside the flat part of a Mason jar lid, glue on and decorate the edge with glitter or ribbon
- cut a card into strips and use as a puzzle for little kids
- if you have cards that match or that you can cut similar shapes out of, make a memory game
- frame a card you like or a collage of pieces of cards to become part of your holiday decor
More Upcycled Card Craft Ideas
Of course there are many more things you can do with holiday cards to make upcycled crafts.
WikiHow has great tips for making a greeting card into a tiny gift pouch, while Crafty Journey shows how to use cards (or leftover holiday scrapbook paper) to make a small box. Another box idea can be found at Sum of their Stories. Sew Many Ways turns a card into a triangular gift box, which might also be a cute ornament for the tree.
Better Homes and Gardens has a great roundup of crafts to make with old cards, including 3-D ornaments, wine bottle tags and Christmas card trees. So cute! And speaking of 3-D ornaments, there’s a great tutorial for one at What’s Up Fagans?
Check out these amazing journals made from greeting cards by Jenni Bellie Studio. Which reminds me of little notebooks I used to make out of paper boxes, but you could do the same thing with cards.
If you have a lot of cards, or have been saving them for years and want to do something epic, check out the Christmas card wreath from Crafty Sy, or try Jenny Herrada’s Christmas card star project.
I love these cookie cutter ornaments from Martha Stewart, which get bonus points for being two upcycles in one.
So there you go! 20 ways to make upcycled Christmas card crafts to get you started. I’m sure you can think of more. I’d love to know what you do with old greeting cards!
