Hey everyone! I’m Nicole of Lillyella and I’m thrilled to be stepping in on Scoutie Girl this week to share a fun and easy post-holiday craft project with you. I’m sure I am not the only one who cringes just a bit when it’s time to throw away all the pretty holiday cards you received throughout the season, so today I’m going to show you how to make a lovely keepsake ornament out of them.
What you’ll need:
- Greeting cards
- Hole punch, 1″ – 2″ (I used 1.5″)
- Clear drying craft glue
- Cardboard
- Ribbon or cord
- Ruler
- X-acto knife
Begin by punching circles from your cards. If you do not have a hole punch, you can use something round to trace around, then cut them out by hand. You will need 20 circles for each ornament.
Next draw an equilateral triangle the size of your circles. Click here to download a printable PDF of triangles for 1″, 1.5″ and 2″ circles.
Cut the triangle out of a piece of thick cardboard.
On the back of each circle, trace around the triangle. Using a straight edge and an X-Acto knife, score each line by gently cutting into the paper, but not all the way through. You can also use a scoring tool. Fold the three sides up as shown.
To form the ornament, begin by gluing 5 circles together with the points of the triangles all facing the same direction. This will be the top.
Make a loop out of ribbon or cord for hanging the ornament and thread it through the middle of the five circles before the glue dries.
Glue another five circles together to form the bottom.
Next, glue the 10 remaining circles together, side by side with points in opposite directions. Then join the last circle to the first. This will form the middle of the ornament.
Glue on the bottom followed by the top and you’re done!
Hang this pretty little ornament on your tree or a doorknob, or make it without the ribbon loop to display on a shelf or table. Make a few in different sizes for a nice display or even fill them with scented herbs before gluing the top on.
You can make this keepsake anytime of year using birthday and anniversary cards, or even decorative papers — get creative!
I hope you’ve enjoyed my crafty contribution here on Scoutie Girl! You can visit my blog to find more fun projects and lots of other handmade goodness. Have a safe and happy new year!
about nicole
Nicole Young quit her day job in May of 2008 to sell her jewelry on Etsy full time after opening her shop, lillyella, a few months earlier. She spends 18.5 hours a day attempting super human feats of time management balancing her shop, her blog and her personal life which includes one newlywed husband, four cats, two turtles, seven little birds and one gigantic “art barn” in progress.
About tara gentile
This is a wonderful tutorial … a perfect one for me to try with my children. Thank you for sharing.
Love this! I was literally just searching for something to do with my cards when I saw this link on twitter. Excellent!
This is in fact a great project to do with the whole family, and a fun tradition to start making one after each holiday. A great way to remember years past. Have fun everyone and thanks for letting me share today, Tara!
happy new year!
nicole
Wow! so cute! It looks a little difficult to put together but that’s a great change to my lazy brain ;P
Thanks for sharing Nicole!
I mean challenge but change it is too after lazy holiday days
i was just looking at the cards and thinking about how sad it will be to throw them away. this is a cool way to keep bits of my favorite ones.
WIN!
I absolutely love these. I can’t wait to go home and make these!
Wonderful! I made something similar years ago with my 3rd grade class and forgot about it. Thanks for the poke!
I love it! Really beautiful with such clear instructions. Excellent tutorial, Nicole!
Love this! What a fabulous idea! Thanks so much for sharing it!
I’ve always been curious how to make these. Thanks for sharing!
Great idea!
I have a “basket” made from vintage Christmas cards. Once upon a time, probably 1970s, one crafty lady cut out the cute illustrations from her Christmas cards, punched holes along the sides and wove them together with yarn.
It’s one of my favorite Christmas decorations.
I absolutely couldn’t wait to make one of these as soon as I saw the tutorial. I just posted it to show off your project on my blog! http://www.knucklesalad.com/2010/01/lillyellas-christmas-card-keepsake.html
Just finished mine (finally found time) It came out so beautiful! This is definitely going to become a holiday tradition. Great job on the tutorial. Stop by the blog if you want to see it! http://amandajeanne.wordpress.com/2010/01/03/craftiness-christmas-card-ornaments/
I love these! I saw a picture of one of these somewhere last year and wondered how they were made. Thanks for the easy to follow tutorial, I am going to try some out!
Wow – I’ve got to get a hole punch like that. Beautiful ornament! I made some smaller ornaments with my cards – Shimmering Christmas Card Ornaments.
I made these in my Camp Fire group in the early 80′s! Thanks for taking me back. I have to do one now. Would be nice to make one with the photo cards people send.
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Great tutorial, I made one of these yesterday. I think it turned out pretty good. Thanks for sharing. Oh and here’s the post on my blog with my snazzy new ornament: http://fabricyoyoqueen.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-cards-ornament.html
I have kept every card I have ever received, well since I was about 8 anyway. So as you can imagine, I have a huge stack of cards just waiting for interesting ornaments like this, to transform them from old memories to new ones. Thank you for sharing this amazing idea. Best Wishes, Lynda
I learned to make these over 30 years ago in school we used old used Christmas cards, back then they put alot of glitter on the cards. When the light hit them they sparkled like crazy. You could probably make the ones you make today by spraying adhesive on it and throwing on some glitter. We also used to make bowls with lids from Christmas Cards, crocheted together by crochet thread and we would put candy in them and give them as gifts, I will try to make up a pattern for anyone who wants to try it.
That is so sweet. My youngest loves to do seasonal crafts and this one reminds me of Christmas crafts we used to do at school growing up….thank you for sharing it
I love these, I have to make one, or two, or three
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Can’t wait to try these! Something to cheer me up after the holidays are over. May give them out as gifts next year!
My friend and I made 15 of these yesterday. I scored while she glued, and we took turns punching out the 300 holes. We used a combination of cards and gift boxes, because they’re a dollar for three big ones and the provided a lot of circles. We used three packs, plus about 25 cards. I also made one out of pokemon cards for my boyfriend haha.
We also punched out holes of the white part of the card, then scored them, and then wrote a little message in the triangle like “to Steve From fred Merry christmas 2011″ It looks great if you have neat tiny writing.
Also, we used hot glue. It worked out fine and it was a lot faster.
Thanks so much for the tutorial!
just i like so much greetings card.
When I was a kid these are how we decorated our trees. Thanks for reminding me. I haven’t seen them in ages.