I have a pretty big stash of recycled Christmas cards in my basement. It keeps building year after year, and also includes old ‘thank you’ cards, birthday cards and more. Now I’m certainly not a hoarder, but when it comes to cards, the crafter in me says “Keep!” After all, the colors, words, images and patterns on old Christmas cards can certainly be recycled for some new craft project.
After taking a look at some of these old cards, I realized that – with a little crafting magic – I could take these holiday cards and upcycle them into Valentine’s Day cards. Now I’m not a scrapbooker or handmade card maker, but I do love collage. And in just a few easy steps, with a few simple materials, I made a whole host of brand new Valentine’s cards from these recycled materials. Here’s how you can too:
Craft materials:
– scissors
– glue
– sequins
– permanent markers
– construction paper or cardstock
– recycled Christmas cards
– optional: paper trimmer, decorative scissors
How to recycle Christmas cards into Valentine’s Day cards:
1. Select Christmas cards that are more on the neutral side, without splashy letters, holiday themes or images. These will be your base.
2. Cover up any inside writing or Christmas messages by cutting a piece of pink or red construction paper or cardstock to fit the inside of the card.
3. Cut cardstock to fit over any holiday writing, glue, then write “Love”, “Be my Valentine”, or other Valentine’s Day messages on top in permanent marker. Or, cut the letters that spell “Love” from colored, patterned paper and glue onto the card.
4. Sort through your stack of Christmas cards for solid colors and patterns, and cut out many hearts of various sizes. Consider using decorative scissors to add ornate edges to your hearts.
5. Glue the hearts down to both the outside – and inside of the cards – overlapping the differently-sized hearts.
6. Attach sequins to various parts of the Valentine’s Day cards with glue, highlighting areas you want to emphasize.
7. Let dry. Consider adding decorations to standard-sized envelopes as well.
That’s it! This is a great Valentine’s craft project to make with kids, with wonderful, colorful, creative results (more unique than any Valentine’s card you’d find in the stores), and teaches kids about recycling old things into new. Plus, you can finally find a way to use up that stash of old cards!
And, of course, once you’ve created recycled Valentine’s Day cards, don’t forget about the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day and more.
Happy crafting!