Christmas Craft Made from Recycled Christmas Cards

Instead of tossing the Christmas cards you receive in the mail each year, you can turn the Christmas cards into fun holiday crafts. Here are just a few ways you can recycle old Christmas cards by turning them into something new and useful.

Christmas Card Boxes: You can turn old Christmas cards into little gift boxes that you can use for gift giving the following year. The little boxes are perfect to hold small gifts like jewelry or money. To make a box, cut two rectangles from the two pages of the Christmas card. Use the back page of the card to make the bottom of the box. You can use this box template as a guide. Then make the box top using the colorful, printed side of the cover of the card. If you tape the boxes instead of gluing them, you can cut the tape and store them flat for the next year.

Christmas Card Structures: If your kids like to build card houses, they will love making structures with Christmas cards. The trick is to cut slits into the cards so they can be joined by sliding the cards together. You can build tall structures that will not fall apart. To start, cut all your Christmas cards into equal size rectangles. Then use this template to cut slits into the cards. Store all the cards and the template in a box and add to your collection each year. The template will be handy to use each time you have new cards to cut.

Christmas Card Gift Tags: A very easy craft to make using Christmas cards is gift tags. Just cut your cards in any shape and punch a hold into the tag. Then use ribbon scraps to make a loop through the punched hole. Write who the gift is for on the blank side of the tag and tape the tag to the package by taping down the ribbon, allowing the tag to hang freely.

Christmas Card Doll House Miniatures: If you have a child who owns a doll house, you can cut Christmas cards into miniature cards to decorate a doll house. The mini cards can be hung along the doors of the doll house or can be placed on top of the fireplace mantle. You can also cut images out of the Christmas cards to use as decoration in the doll house, such as a Christmas tree or Santa peeking out from the fireplace.

Christmas Card Candle Votives: Cut strips of Christmas cards to fit around small jars like baby food jars or jelly jars. Glue the strips around the outside of the jars then put a votive candle in the jar. You may want to punch a few holes in the strip of card before you glue it to let the glow of the candle shine through. A round hole paper punch is fine, but a star shape paper punch will be even better. You can also add a bit of glitter to the card if you like.

Once you start using Christmas cards for crafts, you might find that you don't have enough Christmas cards to go around. What you can do is stock up on boxes of Christmas cards when they go on sale after Christmas. Then work of Christmas card crafts all year long so you are ready for the next holiday season!

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