10 things to do with those Christmas cards

Yep.  That pile of Christmas cards that you took down earlier this week.  What are you going to do with them?

DO NOT THROW THEM IN THE TRASH

Yeah, so you could just put them in the card/paper recycling.  But isn't there something better to do with them?  Here's my pick of the best:

1) Cut out nice bits of the images from the Christmas cards (fancy patterned scissors give a nice edge) to make gift tags ready for next year.  Smaller parts of images can also be used to stick on to card blanks to make your own Christmas cards next year.

thewoodenbee.com

2) Use the blank bits on cards (the inside front for example, on cards you aren't using for #1) for scrap paper for notes, shopping lists etc.

3) Cut them into triangles.  Next year you can simply stick these to a piece of festive coloured string to make Christmas bunting.

www.learning4kids.net

4) Use them for cutting practice for small children.  If you don't have any 3-5 year olds yourself, then simply tear the back off your cards, and donate a stack of fronts to your local pre-school or school.  Little children just learning to use scissors will relish the challenge of cutting around pictures, or just randomly cutting.

littlebinsforlittlehands.com

5) Small origami trinket boxes.  Follow this link for how to make a small origami box.  Cut the front of the card into a square, trying to centre on an interesting or focal part of the picture.  Cut a square about half a centimetre smaller from the back, to form the bottom of the box.  These can be used for gifts, or for hanging sweets from the tree next year.

www.kid-at-art.com

6) Cut out a series of images and stick them in a collage on to some construction paper.  You can embellish with glitter or stickers or whatever you like.  Cover on both sides with contact paper (sticky-backed plastic) to make A4 Christmas place-mats.

mamabzz.com

7) Cut rectangles from your cards, incorporating the key image.  Punch a hole at the top and tie some ribbon.  You could give these bookmarks to a school or library at the beginning of December to hand out.

thefrugalgirls.com

8) If you make items in jars for Christmas (cookie recipes, body scrubs, preserves etc), then cut out pictures from your Christmas cards in circles to stick to the top of your jar lid.

scrapreusedandrecycledartprojects.blogspot.co.uk

9)  And all the rest!  I just found this amazing board on Pinterest which is full of outstanding Christmas card upcycling ideas.  If you don't find something you love on here then... well... just look would you?



10) Go on then.  If none of these ideas is appealing to you, then you can just put them in the card/paper recycling or in one of the Christmas card recycling schemes being run at M&S, WHSmith and TKMaxx for the Woodland Trust.