Have you thrown away your Christmas cards yet? Please say you haven’t, because I’ve found the cutest use for them! I received a few Christmas cards that were such works of art I simply had to save them – I’m hoping to find frames for them during the course of the year and use them to decorate next year. This was a pretty special Christmas for us, and these three cards will help me remember it always:
But I really didn’t want to throw away my other Christmas cards, either. So I fiddled around with a technique I learned years ago from a friend of a friend who held monthly stamping/crafting parties at her house. We made boxes out of cardstock, and I thought maybe I could do the same thing with Christmas cards. It worked! And it’s super-easy after you’ve done the first one.
Just cut the back and the front of the card apart at the crease. Use a ruler and a pen or pencil to draw lines to diagonal corners, making an X in the center of the back of the front of the card.
Then fold the top edge of the card in until the edge touches the center of the X. Use something hard (like a ruler) to make the crease. Then repeat with the bottom edge, and with both sides.
The next step is to make four cuts from the edge of the card along the crease right up to the pencil or pen mark.
Then you fold the shorter pieces in and fold the longer piece over them, taping or gluing to anchor it. I used scrapbooking tape to make it easy.
To make the base of the box from the back of the card all you have to do differently is to make the pencil or pen marks on the inside where the message is, and when you fold the sides in fold them just slightly (2 mm) past the exact center of the X. This will make the bottom just a tad bit smaller so the top will fit over it perfectly.
These are the ones I’ve made so far, and I think with a bit of tissue tucked inside they’ll be just perfect for jewelry or gift cards.
I’m linking this up to Works for Me Wednesday, Whatever Goes Wednesday, and The Mommy Club Resources and Solutions.
More about this tomorrow when I post a recipe, but you should really scoot on over to The Kennedy Adventures, where Dianna is giving away a copy of my ebook!
Priced at just $4.99, it is now available in every format your little heart could desire at Smashwords, or, if you prefer, it’s also for sale in a Kindle version at Amazon or a Nook version at Barnes and Noble! It makes a great Christmas present, and Amazon will deliver it be email on the date you choose – how easy is that?
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Love this idea!!! Thank you for stopping by my blog!! Pinning this idea!!
That is super smart and cute. I pinned it.
These are adorable!
I LOVE this!!!! A fabulous example of recycling – upcycling!
Thank you! I’m pretty pleased with it, myself
Super cute idea! Great way to resuse the cards!
What a great idea! It’s so cute, so pretty, and so very, very easy. Wow!
Such a great idea! Thanks for sharing. I also like the cards you are wanting to frame!
OK! this is officially my new favorite hobby! The directions are clear and easy to follow. I also made a box from my scrap booking card stock and it worked out well, but the 12 x 12 sheet was a little wobbly. I fixed this problem buy cutting another sheet down just a little smaller than the box and it made the box much sturdier. Of course it’s not a place for storing cannon balls, but think of all the organizing opportunities! Thanks for this great idea!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! For some reason the 8 1/2 X 11 cardstock makes a MUCH sturdier box than the 12 X 12 – not sure why it makes such a difference, but I dropped Physics after one semester – I bet they covered that second semester