Recycling Christmas Cards

The easiest way to recycle your old Christmas Cards is to take them all down to the nearest recycling point, but there are much more creative ways of recycling them.  Here are a few suggestions:

Cut them along the fold, and use the blank side of each for shopping lists, notes etc. (This is something which my parents always did, and I have adopted the same habit!)

Use the pictures to make gift tags for next year, using decorative cutting scissors to create an attractive edge (again, this is a simple idea that has been around for years, saves money, and takes minimal effort).

Cut up the pictures themselves, and cut out individual motifs and messages to make next year’s Christmas cards and gift tags.  This is a little bit more creative, and involves more effort than the one above, but will result in something that is unique, and less obviously recycled from last year’s cards.  If you use sticky foam pads or glue dots to stick on the individual elements, it creates an attractive 3D effect which you see on lots of the handmade cards in the shops, and is really simple to do.

Cut out individual characters from the cards (e.g. snowmen, santa, reindeer, robins etc.) and attach them onto the top of a lolly stick with sticky tape to make a simple stick puppet.  If you want to go the whole hog, you could also cut out elements of scenery (trees, houses etc.) from the cards too.  Alternatively you can use these elements to create your own Christmas scene on dark coloured card, and paint on a simple snow background.

Cut up the picture to make a simple Christmas jigsaw.

Cut the picture up into small pieces, (either squares or more random shapes) and use to make mosaic patterns, or collages, as shown here (don’t ask about the empty raisin boxes – they wanted to stick them on, so who am I to interfere with their creative innovations?)