Using Your Christmas Cards for Décor

What do you do with all those lovely holiday greeting cards? On idea is to use them in your holiday decorating. For example we can use them by displaying them on tabletops, the mantel or in a special holder. This bow-shaped holder has clips for about 16 cards. It was sold through the Book-of-the-Month Club many years back:


Here nativity cards I received in previous years are displayed this year on two interior doors:



You might also want to give special focus to a special card. One way to do this effectively is to frame them. They can then be hung on the wall or placed on a table or bookshelf. Many friends and neighbors, noting my own sending them nativity-themed greeting cards (and the use of a lighted nativity and star in the living room window), send me nativity cards also. Here are some of my nativity cards which I have framed.


I received this one in the 1980’s. I found this old-looking frame for it and used it each Christmas in my displays.

This is a greeting card from calligrapher Maria Thomas of Whitinsville, MA, who sends out a calligraphed card each year. It hangs year-round in my dining room.
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Here is a drawing of her studio used for her greeting card one year by artist-blogger Karla Nathan of Karla’s Cottage http://karlascottage.typepad.com/karlascottage/

This is one of the vintage postcards in my nativity collection.


Saving special cards from year to year may even lead to your starting a new collection. In my Dec. 6 post I told how a snowman card I received in December 2005 from my late brother inspired me to start a small snowpeople collection. Here is another snowman theme card I had received from my father in 2003. Framed, it makes a nice display item.


Greeting cards are also used for various crafts. I have given away groups of greeting cards to people who use them for making bookmarks and other items. Some are even sent overseas for teachers to use with their students. On of my recent thrift store items is this nativity ornament. When turned over you see that it was made from a used greeting card. The crafter cut out a round disk then hot-glued it to a circle of gold metal. A loop of string serves as a hanger.


Do you use your greeting cards as part of your holiday decor? Or, perhaps you use them for craft projects?

Remember Karla's Cottage Holiday house tour toorrow, Wednesday December 12. See you there and here as well!