Today, we’re talking about how to reuse greetings cards! Often, greeting cards are pretty and sometimes even handmade and they are just far too nice to drop in the recycling bin. Thanks to these top greeting card recycling tips, you can make the most of those gorgeous handmade cards you receive for any occasion this year. Here are five fun recycling crafts to help you reuse greeting cards.
6 Recycling Crafts To Reuse Greeting Cards
Make Bunting
You don’t need to be a dab hand on the sewing machine to make bunting. If you have some old greetings cards, or maybe even a sheet or two of pretty gift wrap, make some that way. Use some jagged-edged scissors to cut out your triangles, before punching holes in them with a trusty hole punch and looping a little bit of curling ribbon through each piece. You can then hang under a single shelf, or drape over a mirror for a party or ‘just because’. Why not hang onto Christmas cards this year, too, making a festive garland to use during Christmas 2016? It may seem a long way off but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being organized. Instead, buy a pack of cheap cards and make one ahead of Christmas this year? We know it isn’t quite recycling but ssssh, we won’t tell anyone.
Create Gift Tags
In the world of crafts, this is an oldie but a goodie. Surely everyone knows that by cutting out sections of your cards you can make cute gift tags. In much the same way as you made your bunting (above), grab a hole punch and punch out some holes, before threading through some rustic string and tying to a gift. You can also save old birthday cards for friends’ and family members’ upcoming birthdays, adding twine and string to them to create rustic gift tags.
Make a Wreath
We love this idea we spotted via Pinterest – and it couldn’t be simpler. With a little bit of patience and plenty of red and pink colored greetings cards, you can make a lovely decorative item for your home ahead of Valentine’s Day. February 14 will no doubt be here before you know it as well, so get creative as early as possible and see what you can come up with.
Create a Festive Centerpiece
Yep, we’re talking about Christmas again! But December 25 will be here in a blink, so get your creative thinking cap on now to beat the rush later. Get hold of some Mason jars or other glass decorative jars and add a festive card inside one, cutting to size and pressing it up against the glass. You can then add the lids and tie a pretty ribbon around the top; these make gorgeous centrepieces for your dining table; add small baubles too, or artificial snow if you fancy something a little bit different.
Make Postcards
Want to send your friends and family a friendly note out of the blue? Hang onto your old birthday cards and magically transform them into quirky postcards. All you have to do is cut off the used 2nd page and then add a handwritten note to the back of the image and pop in the post!
Make Coasters
Select a clean, large tin can that has a diameter that will be large enough to hold your cups comfortably. You will use this for tracing circles onto your greeting cards. Place the can over the portion(s) of the picture(s) that you want to use and trace around it. Cut out traced circles cutting on the inside of the circles. Now you have simple cardboard coasters!
You could stop here but they would be more casual and for use only 1 or 2 times because the condensation from your beverage would start to leak through after a few uses.
To make your DIY greeting card coasters last longer, use a foam brush to apply a thin, even coat of Modge Podge to the cardboard coaster. This will serve as a layer of sealant. It appears slightly opaque when wet but once it dries it is shiny and clear. After allowing your first layer of sealant to dry completely (about 20 minutes), you can brush on a second thin, even coat of Modge Podge to get a better seal and a nice thick glossy coat. Allow to dry again completely. Now you DIY coaters are ready to be used. Enjoy!
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed these ideas for how to reuse your greeting cards. Do you enjoy eco-friendly crafts? Do you like these ideas for reusing greeting cards? Which is your favorite? We’d love to hear some of your card reuse ideas too. Let us know how you get creative and reuse old cards! Share you pics @familyfocusblog!
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The wreath idea is too cute! This would be a great idea for Christmas cards too, even the photo ones we get several of each holiday – what a great way to showcase everyone in the family!
Genius! Thank you, I have a stack of them right now and I was just going to throw them in the recycling bin. This is a much better idea, especially the postcards as new quirky greeting cards! 🙂
These are beautiful ways to recycle and repurpose cards. As much as they cost, I always try to find some way to reuse them. We always save Christmas cards to make gift tags.
I’m all about reusing and recycling. These are fabulous ideas!
Fabulous ideas. Will share them with my friends too
thanks
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