Using and Re-using Your Christmas Cards

Good afternoon! As I type this message, I am watching the snow fall. My house is mostly decorated and the Christmas cards are rolling in... at last, it is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Each day from now until Christmas, I will be posting simple tips and ideas to help make your Christmas scrappy! I thought I'd kick it off with some ideas for preserving and re-using all those Christmas cards you will be receiving in the next month or so (I usually don't get mine out until February). Hope you enjoy these simple tips as much as you enjoy receiving all the cards!

Lisa

Using and Re-using Your Christmas Cards

Behold the Christmas card! For most of us, cards are as much a part of Christmas tradition as the tree itself. It is that one time a year you hear from loved ones both near and far, and in hearing from them, gather them to your family celebration through the spirit of their well wishes.

If you are like me, all those wonderful photos and cards make for a big dilema at the end of the season - what to do with the cards! I do have friends (like Jodi) who are wonderful at saving cards. I, on the other hand, tend to end up with so many shoe boxes full, that at some point I break down and throw them out. Here are some simple tips for recycling and preserving your cards that I've found helpful through the years.

• First, remove all the photos and photo greetings from the cards. Create a special book that you preserve these photos in. Make simple layouts 2 - 4 pages in length where you display these photos each year. By having these photos in one book, you'll be able to look through the years and see your friends and their children grow and change. How fun it will be to reflect on their hair styles and clothing over the years;
• Use your favorite cards to make gift tags with. Cut the images from the card then punch a hole in one corner. For added fun, embellish the images and write to/from on the back side with stickles glitter glue. These simple tags, attached with a fabric ribbon, add a festive and scrappy look to all your packages;
• Use the images from your cards to fashion homemade cards with. Cut out images and mat them with Wausau pearlescent or metallic cardstock. Pop the images off of your card with a 3d foam adhesive tab. Outline designs with stickles glitter glue and stamp a simple message on the inside. If you don't wish to keep these cards for your own use, you can donate them to someone in the service, or bundle them up and give them as hostess gifts next Christmas;
• If "making" something out of your cards is more than you had in mind, donate the cards to a worthy cause. St. Jude's Ranch for children has a Christmas card recycling program that helps raise money for their programs. Simply cut the front of your greeting cards off and mail to St. Jude's Ranch for Children, 100 St. Jude's St., Boulder City, NV 89005-1681. They also offer the recycled cards for sale. You can click on the title of this post for more information.

Hope that you find one or more of these ideas helpful. If you have something special you do with your cards each year, post it in the comment section. We'd love to hear your ideas!

Be sure to check out all our festive products on http://www.scrapbuglane.com/. Don't forget, our Basic Grey Mellow paper is on sale this month, so be sure to grab some before it is all gone!