Recycled Christmas Cards: Friends and Family Tree Garland
The project I created for today’s post uses recycled Christmas cards to make a Christmas tree garland that takes some time to put together so I wanted to post it now to give you ample time to gather all the materials so you can create your own.
I have been saving all the Christmas cards I have received for many years and have quite a collection and like to use them to make festive decor for my home for the holidays, like these votive candle Christmas card accents for my holiday dinner table setting. I love to find ways to re-use them. Here is another way I have recycled Christmas cards.
I have been working on this Friends and Family Christmas Tree Garland for a while now and happy to say, it is done. My plan was to make use of all the photo cards I have gotten since I am not a scrapbooker.
I thought how nice it would be to wrap my tree with all the friends and family who live far away and that we won’t see during the holidays. Decoratively displaying the garland will bring them a little bit closer at least in spirit.
Now I can use it to decorate my home for Christmas and add to it every year. If you have all the materials gathered you could get this done in a day – I just took the long way around.
The recycled christmas card garland is quite easy to make. First you need to figure out how long a garland you want. Estimate how many cards, sequins, beads, and jump rings you will need, then begin creating it in stages. 1. Cut the cards. 2. Punch holes in sequins and put on jump rings. 3. Make wire loops for the beads 4. Assemble it.
supplies needed:
- 24 gauge wire
- 1/8″ hole punch
- Fast Grab Tacky Glue
- Deckle Edge Ruler
- Needle nose pliers
- Wire cutters
- Jewelry making pliers
- Large jump rings
- Christmas Cards – traditional and photo cards
- Variety of beads
- Scissors
Gather your Recycled Christmas Cards
1. Cut greetings and images from the front of cards until you have enough to make a garland the length you need. Cut the images out in all different shapes for more interest. I chose to make my garland red, green, and white and only used cards in those colors.
2. Punch a hole in each side of every cut-out.
3. Cut a variety of greetings from the front of cards and keep in a separate pile.
Since I wanted all white greetings, I used the inside message for my garland, but you can use the front greetings as pictured above also.
4. I used a deckle edge ruler to give my cut out greetings a decorative edge. You could also use pinking or scalloped scissors. Punch a hole in each side of the cut-out.
5. Cut out the photos of your friends and family from all the photo cards you receive.
and punch a hole in each side.
Sequins
This step is optional, but I wanted to add a little glitz. I layered a green sequin onto a red one and used Fast Grab Tacky Glue to adhere quickly.
Then I used a hole punch to make the center hole bigger for a jump ring to go through.
Add a large jump ring to each sequin.
Beads
Create the beads with wire loops to connect the cards. Thread wire through bead –
and then make a wrapped loop. For more detailed directions on how to make a wrapped loop with wire, go here
Repeat on other side so that when you are done your bead looks like this. Repeat on all your beads.
Assemble Your Christmas Card Garland
Attach the beads to the jump rings and close with needle-nose pliers.
I used pearls and a variety of different styles of red and green beads.
Display
Over doors, windows, mantels…
Mirrors…
and your Christmas tree.
Garland is really just the start (or maybe finishing touch) for all of your Christmas decorating. Keep on exploring!