Turning Christmas Cards into Ornaments
By J. E. Davidson
This craft is a great way to recycle those
beautiful Christmas cards you received last year and tucked away. If you
don’t have any old cards, go to the dollar store and buy some
inexpensive cards in assorted designs. You’ll also need scissors, white
glue, glitter, scotch tape and narrow Christmas ribbon.
Cut the designs from the front of the card. Cards with large pictures of
snowmen, Santa, Christmas
wreaths, candles, or other holiday objects are easier for little hands
to cut around. Cut around the outline of the object and remove it from the
card. If the card has small objects in it, like a winter scene, cut the
picture into a circle, oval or diamond shape, whichever suits the picture
best. It might help if you make cardboard templates to help the kids keep
the shape symmetrical. Frame the picture with the template and draw around
the inside of the shape for a cutting mark. They could also just cut them
in a free-form shape around the picture.
Put a line of white glue around the outside edge of the card. Shake the
glitter on the glue and let it dry. You can add sparkly accents to other
parts of the picture if the design calls for it. Lay the ornament to dry,
and once it is dry, cut a piece of ribbon about 6" long. Double it
over and tape the ends of the ribbon to the back of the card.
Another way to attach the loop would be to use a hole punch to make a hole
at the top of the ornament. Tie the ends of your piece of ribbon together.
Push the folded end of the ribbon through the hole in the ornament, making
a loop, then pass the knot back through the loop and pull it snug.
To add an extra touch, make a small bow out of the ribbon and glue it to
the top front edge of the ornament.
If you lay the ornament in a disposable pie tin or paper plate before
shaking on the glitter, you can fold a crease on one edge and pour the
unused glitter back in its container when you are done. This also makes
the project a little less messy, but you are going to end up with glitter
everywhere, regardless! Don’t fuss about it, let the kids have fun and
get the vacuum out later.
Let the kids hang the ornaments on the Christmas tree and be sure to ooh
and aah over how beautiful they are. If you want, write the kids’ names
and the year on the back of the card. The ornaments
also make great hang tags for Christmas gifts!
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