Recycle Old Christmas Cards

I'm always looking for ways to recycle or reuse things, especially paper items. I found this listed on Frugal Girls a few days ago and thought I would give it a try. Sometimes you can find places to give your left over cards, like nursing homes, etc to use in craft projects but that depends, often, on the craft director at the place. Here is a simple way to reuse your Christmas cards and make a small gift for friends also.

Make bookmarks!

Stampin' Trimmer (#126889)
1/16" Circle Handheld punch (#101227)
3/16" Cornere punch (#119871)
about 12" ribbon, 1/8" - 1/4" wide per bookmark

For each book mark, trimmer off the back half of the card and discard.

The size of the bookmarks will vary depending on the picture/image on the card. For some cards you will be able to cut one nice bookmark. For other cards, you will be able to cut 2 or 3 bookmarks.

Decide what portion of the image you want to use on the bookmark.

Cut that section out using your trimmer. Punch a hole near the top of the bookmark with your handheld hole punch. Thread the ribbon through the hole looping the end. Round the corners with your corner rounder to give it a finished look.

With some cards you can make 2 or 3 bookmarks, depending on the card design. The width of the bookmark is not really that important as long as the proportion looks good.

You can add words, greetings or stamped images to the back of the bookmark, if you wish.

These are great to give in cards that you send throughout the year, next year's Christmas cards or your local school library.