I love receiving holiday cards in the mail, but I've always wondered what people do with their cards after Christmas. While I enjoy every card our family receives, I must confess they end up stuffed in a drawer after the holidays until I feel detached enough -- usually by March or April -- to put them in the recycling bin. (Please tell me I'm not the only person who does this...!)
At a crop last January, I saw a lady putting all the cards she received that year into a scrapbook. My girlfriends and I actually balked at this idea -- we were struggling just to keep up with our kids' scrapbooks, much less other people's cards! -- but the more I consider it, the idea is interesting. Scrapping every card may be excessive for the average person's schedule and storage capacity, so I searched the web for another solution.
I found an awesome blog post by Ali Edwards about her seasonal tradition of scrapbooking the cards she receives. Instead of keeping each entire card, she uses a square punch to cut out photos, kids' artwork, handwritten messages, and beautiful images. The effect is stunning and makes quite a beautiful page:
Ali's 2004 Card Mosaic
Ali's 2008 Card Mosaic - with flap to accommodate more punched images
Since we all love our Cricuts, here's a few ideas on how to customize Ali's idea for our special obsession:
- Make a facing title page (like the 2004 example) with the year and a favorite image cut from a Cricut font or shape cartridge.
- Make a scalloped background with a cartridge like Elegant Edges or Fancy Frames.
- Receive handmade cards and can't bring yourself to cut them? Take a photo or scan the card, print a copy, and make a punch to include in the mosaic.
- Full pages too big? Adapt Ali's idea to work as a mini-album.
What do you do with your holiday cards? Keep them? Toss them? Make something with them? Leave a comment with your creative ideas!
Have a happy, scrappy weekend,
Jessica
What a great idea!
ReplyDeleteI could never scrap every card, but I never throw away any card that is hand made or is a photo card. I do scrap those and I make gift tags by cutting pretty image off the "regular" ones :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's funny - that's been on my mind lately as I begin receiving this years' cards. So thanks for some great ideas to save my brain and save holiday sentiments!!
ReplyDeleteI don't do a lot of scrapbooks but I do have an idea for your Christmas cards. I don't have the heart to throw the beautiful cards out so I take the card and make another card. I cut them down and cut little pieces out of them with the cricut or spellbinders and raise them up on dimensional and mount them on my own card stock. They come out just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI have a box that I have put my cards in. EVERY CARD. Then when I stumped on a piticular card that I making I take down the box and llok thru them hoping to spot something that I can use or maybe get an idea. I have somet9imes recycles my cards and used them and changed different things on the orignal card to make it my own.
ReplyDeleteI keep the handmade cards and put them on a bulletin board above my craft desk and eventually into a keepsake box of 'idea cards'. The other cards I confess I do put into a ziploc bag and put them into the Christmas box when I take things down. However, if I'm looking for extra decorations the following year I will put them into my frames on the mantel. I also have seen them used as tags by cutting up part of the card and writing on the back. I do love the idea of a collage to keep as a reminder! It seems like less and less people are sending cards now so I do appreciate the ones people take the time to send :)
ReplyDeleteLove that idea! I always cut up the parts I like and repurpose them into custom gift tags or custom cards, depending on the size of the image. Have been doing this for years and it works great! Thanks for the awesome tip!
ReplyDeleteXO ~ Amy Jo