How to Recycle Christmas Cards Into a Wreath

Reduce, reuse, recycle those cards into something decorative and festive.

If you save your holiday cards from one year to the next, you may have a stack of great cards taking up space with no real purpose. This project is creative recycling at its best!

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Cards
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Cardboard
• Grommets and setter
• String, ribbon or wire
• Ink pads
• Glue gun and sticks
• Decorations

1. Stacks of small, medium and large cards plus sayings I want to use.

   Separate the card fronts from the backs.

   As you separate them, sort the card fronts by size; large, medium and small works fine--you don't have to be exact. If there are any cute sayings or personal messages on the inside of the card you want to use, place these in a separate stack.

2. This pile of leaves is more fun to deal with than those outside.

   Cut a pointy oval (or two) from each card front.

   Use the smallest card you have as a general size guide for all the rest. Try to get 2 leaves out of each larger card and pick the most colorful part of the card to use.

3. A small touch, inking the edges, but it will make each leaf pop out from the others.

   Decorate the card edges.

   To unify your leaves before adding them to the wreath, drag the cut edges across an ink pad to tint the white core of the card stock a festive color. You can never go wrong with gold, silver, red or green. Brown will give the cards an aged, antique look; black would look very trendy and modern.

4. I didn't use all of the leaves, but that's okay: spaces will reveal themselves as I glue.

   Lay out the leaves in a pleasing shape.

   No one ever said that a wreath has to be round: if you want a square, oval, diamond or any other shape it will make you card wreath all that more interesting. Arrange them overlapping so you know what size to cut your base.

5. The hole that is cut out of the center makes an excellent stand for the glue gun, later.

   Measure and cut a base out of cardboard.

   Keeping with the theme of recycling, a large cereal box or small mailing box will work best for this. Measure the diameter or overall dimension of your wreath and cut a shape just smaller than this as your base. Cut a hole in the center to make it a bit more wreath-like.

6. Hid the knot from the hanger on the side to be covered.

   Designate the top and add the hanger.

   Set two grommets about 4 inches apart at the top of your shape. If you are doing something that is narrower than 4 inches, set a single grommet at the top and use a sturdy enough ribbon or wire to support the finished wreath. Loop your string, ribbon or wire through the grommet(s) and tie securely.

7. Starting on a side instead of the top or bottom helps you keep a more random arrangement.

   Attach the leaves.

   Working one leaf at a time, work your way around the wreath, layering them just as you did when you sorted them out the first time around.

8. Apply glue to the tip of the pieces to be inserted then slip them between the leaves.

   Add finishing touches.

   If you saved some of those sayings and messages from the inside of your cards, trim them into shapes with longer stems so that you can insert them into your wreath arrangement. Also add any other decorations such as mini ornaments, ribbon curls, or whatever else strikes your fancy.

Tips & Warnings

• A small yet full wreath will be more pleasing to the eye than a larger, sparser one.

• Glue ribbon to the edge of your cardboard to neaten up the side view.

• To add dimension to your wreath, squeeze out a small mound of glue onto the cardboard and let it cool. Apply fresh glue along the edge of the glue glob to stick the leaf on.

• Spray your wreath with a sealer if it will hang outdoors. Even then, it should be at least somewhat protected from the elements since it is paper.

• Instead of hanging it, place it flat on a table with a votive candle in the center.