How to Make a Book Out of Greeting Cards

At Christmastime, many people find their mailboxes overflowing with seasonal greetings and well wishes for a prosperous and joyous new year. For many people, these greeting cards are a cherished part of the season, and creative card recipients use these holiday greeting cards to add to the festive decor in their home. What do these creative people do when it is time to take all of the decorations down? Instead of throwing the impressive stack of beautiful greeting cards away, some use the cards to make a book.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Old greeting cards
• White paper
• Scissors or paper cutter
• Scrapbooker's glue
• Rubber band
• Ribbon (optional)

1. Wait until the season has passed to make your greeting card book. The celebrations always end too quickly anyway, so there is no reason to rush. Enjoy the greeting cards in their intended fashion throughout the season.

2. Sort your greeting cards. If there are any that have extra special sentimental value, you might like to set them aside rather than incorporate them into the greeting card book you plan to make. You also should remove any cards that are designed in a postcard style, made from a photo, or otherwise oddly shaped and designed. The greeting cards you will use for your book should be fairly uniform in style and size.

3. Lay an open greeting card on the table. Open all of the other greeting cards and lay them on top of the first card, one at a time. You will have a stack of open cards.

4. Grasp the stack between your hands and evenly align the bottoms of the greeting cards by tapping the stack against the table as you would straighten a stack of paper.

5. Use a pair of scissors or a paper cutter to trim the tops of the cards to make all the cards in the stack the same size.

6. Trim a stack of white paper to the same size as the greeting cards with which you are going to make your book.

7. Apply scrapbooker's glue to attach white paper to both sides of each greeting card in the stack. Let each card dry and then re-crease each card so that the greeting card assumes its folded shape.

8. Stack the paper-covered greeting cards together again, one on top of another.

9. Fold the entire stack in half. Use a strong, wide rubber band to hold the cards in place. The rubber band should rest in the center of the cards, right along the crease.

Tips & Warnings

• Cover the rubber band with ribbon to add a decorative finish.
• Greeting card books can be used in a variety of ways, including as journals or as memo books. Use your greeting card book for whatever you'd like.
• Use caution as you trim the cards with the scissors or paper cutter.