By Karen Hendricks

Sending and receiving Christmas cards is one of my favorite things about the holiday season. From glossy, glittery greeting cards to customized family photos, and even a few handmade cards created with stamps and inks, I cherish them all. And for many years, I’ve collected each holiday season’s cards and saved them in giant tins and baskets. But the collection is getting a bit unwieldy at this point…

So thanks to two projects, my son and I have found new ways to reuse these beautiful cards.

Last year in school, my son learned how to make a Christmas card ball, using principles of math and geometry–how cool! He has become slightly obsessed with creating these gorgeous decorations, so he made them as gifts for just about every family member between last year and this year, and he received plenty of hugs in appreciation. Aren’t handmade gifts a million times more valuable than store-bought ones?

Each ball requires 20 circular images cut from Christmas cards, so you can imagine the number of cards he recycled! You can make a circular template, about two inches in diameter, or use scrapbook tools such as a circle cutter.

Here are two of his creations:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though it’s January, he’s still creating… so I took inspiration and joined him the other day. I was anxious to try a new “toy” I recently purchased–the Creative Memories Tag Maker. It’s a “punch” that creates a perfectly-shaped gift tag–how handy! I used portions of the Christmas cards, my son’s scraps, to create colorful gift tags. I feel like I have a head start on next year’s Christmas preparations, now that I have gift tags made. (I don’t usually work this far in advance!)

Sorting through the cards brought back many fond memories of family and friends as we admired illustrations, set aside personal photos for safekeeping, and read the messages and signatures. Between my son and I, we discovered new life for quite a few old Christmas cards.

For information on the Creative Memories Tag Maker, click here.

For a YouTube video explaining how to make Christmas card balls, click here. Please note: the video instruct you to use glue sticks but we used staples instead.

How do you display, enjoy or reuse Christmas cards? Feel free to share your ideas, below by clicking “comment.”