A Homemade Christmas

If you find a page that’s uniformly bright or deep in color with few images, use that as the backdrop for other images you can layer on top of it.

Make a decoupage card. Cut out holiday shapes—simple trees, snowmen, or stars—and affix them to your card. You can opt for a very simple, elegant look, such as a single Christmas tree with a star at the top, or make it more elaborate, with multiple overlapping images. A sealer will keep the finish smooth.

Hang a stocking. Poke two small holes, one at either side of the card, then string baker’s twine in a swooping line across the top of the card. Glue the shape of a stocking you cut from a magazine to the line.

With a hole punch, cut out little circles from silver- or golden-colored pages and use them as shining accents.

Magazine pages make an excellent source of paper for all kinds of holiday projects. Save them up all year, then pull out your stash as December nears and have some fun.

Use single pages to wrap small presents.

Tape or glue pages together to create a collage-style wrap for larger gifts.

Cut out cardboard shapes and glue colorful pages to the front and back, then attach a hook or string to make ornaments.

Fold and glue individual pages to make envelopes (find templates online). Last year’s calendar is another good source of envelope paper.

The key to achieving a polished look is restraint and appreciation for blank space. Rather than randomly gluing all types of images on the card, try sticking to a palette of two or three colors at most and one primary image with a smattering of embellishment.

Recycle Cards of Christmases Past

Greetings come around again when you reuse this year’s cards for next year’s holiday décor.

Giving and receiving holiday cards is a thoughtful way to express your appreciation to those who are important to you. Here are a few creative ways to reuse and enjoy these cards once again—and it’s much more satisfying than just placing them in the recycling bin!

Next year’s cards: Some of the cards you receive will delight you, so why not transform and send them back out to please someone else? Find the images and designs you like best—perhaps an angel or a particularly cute Santa or Rudolph caught your eye—and cut them out. Once you go through all your cards, you’ll end up with a pile of great images that can be remade into next year’s Christmas cards. Glue the images onto plain cards now, so they’re ready to go, or wait until inspiration hits you next Christmas. The Pop-Up Cards (#ulink_570c2362-8c32-54ed-afca-11dcdfb6d076) and the Collage Cards (#ulink_570c2362-8c32-54ed-afca-11dcdfb6d076) are also great ways to show off your favorite images.

Gift tags: No need to buy gift tags when they can be easily made from last year’s cards. The sturdy cardstock is just the right weight for gift tags. Just make sure the back side of the card you cut is blank to leave space for filling in the name of your gift recipient.

Garland: Gather together your favorite Christmas cards from seasons past, and splay them over a ribbon. Or cut off the fronts of the cards, discarding the backs. Punch a small hole in one corner of each card front, then string and thread a piece of colorful ribbon through all the holes. Now drape your garland along a fireplace mantel, around the stairway banister, or around the Christmas tree. For a vertical garland, glue the cards in a straight line down a ribbon and hang alongside a doorway.

Advent calendar: Choose twenty-five of your favorite cards from years past and present, and detach the front of the card, recycling the rest of the card. On the back side of the image, decoratively write, stamp, or paint the day of the month. Hang all of the cards on baker’s twine with clothespins or paper clips with the numbers facing forward. As you count down to the big day, turn the cards around to reveal their merry images.

Original artwork: If you admire a handmade card, honor the artist by framing the image. If it’s holiday-themed, you can display it every Christmas as part of your holiday décor.

Place mats: This project is super-easy (great for new crafters or kids). Pile last year’s cards on the table and start cutting away. Place the pieces together in different shapes and sizes, and use colored construction paper as a backing. Glue your pieces to the construction paper, and take it to the copy shop to be laminated. Now you’ll have festive place mats to use every holiday season.

Bookmarks: Slice up your cards into long rectangles, punch a hole in their tops, and thread a ribbon through. Tie a knot and cut off any dangling ends. Keep these holiday bookmarks for your own use or slip one into a book you’re giving as a gift. They’re also nice decorations for the outside of a package that contains a book.

Recipe cards: Write down your favorite Christmas recipes on the blank back sides of cards, and keep them for your own use or to share with your friends and family.

Charitable reuse: The children’s non-profit organization St. Jude’s Ranch recycles Christmas cards into cards that are sold to raise funds for the program. Just send your cards to the following address:

St. Jude’s Ranch for Children Recycled Card Program

100 St. Jude’s Street

Boulder City, NV 89005

Go Hi-Tech

Send season’s greetings in no time with these virtual solutions.

Homemade and hi-tech: Can they coexist? Yes! With just a little creativity, digital greetings can capture the spirit of Christmas. They may lack the tactile pleasure of a card, but virtual greetings can convey all the warmth and festivity you’d put into a handmade card. Virtual cards save paper and shrink your carbon footprint! And they let you reach out to many more people swifty and easily.

Email: The easiest way to send a virtual Christmas card is by email. Use a holiday color scheme for your text or add a festive background to make your message more attractive. Attach a family photo or a scan of your child’s holiday drawing. Or create a digital drawing of a winter scene and have the entire family include their signatures. Then hit “Send.”

When sending an email message to multiple recipients, always remember to enter the email addresses into the Bcc (blind carbon copy) line. Your acquaintances will greatly appreciate that you respect their privacy.

Video: If you’re up for a slightly more involved, Web-engineered virtual greeting, videotape yourself and/or your family singing a favorite Christmas carol, spreading peace and joy, or sharing family gossip. Most digital cameras have video-taking capabilities, so all you have to do is upload the video onto a website, like YouTube or Vimeo, and send the link to your family and friends. Also, most computers come equipped with simple video-editing programs, so don’t be afraid to get creative and let your inner director thrive!

E-cards: Though not as personal, there are a number of clever greeting card websites that may appeal to your aesthetic and humor. Most sites are divided into categories: funny, cute, traditional, or religious. With a little research, you will find some amazingly elaborate holiday scenes complete with soundtracks. You will also find hilarious, highly polished videos of elves dancing (with options such as placing a picture of your head on a dancing elf’s body), kittens singing, and chimps acting as St. Nick.

Some possible drawbacks to sending e-cards are that your recipients will often be asked to register on the site before being allowed access to your greeting, and many email programs might tag these messages as spam.

Blogs: If you don’t already have a blog, now is a great time to start one. A blog lets people know what you’re up to and, especially during Christmas, is a nice place to express your best wishes to all. Create-your-own-blog websites like WordPress, Blogger, and Tumblr make it easy to set up and maintain a blog just by registering with your email address. Write a blog post that lets friends and family know what you’ve been up to during the past year, share photos of projects or recipes you’ve made, upload some photos and videos, and give your recipients a view into your life. Just email your link when your blog is set up. If you want to keep your blog private, make sure to protect it with a password that you share only with friends and family.

Social Networking: Social networking websites like Facebook or MySpace are great for connecting with friends past and present. By convening all of your friends in one place on the Web, you can easily send a group holiday greeting or you can write individual notes. It’s up to you!

Text or Tweet: If you’ve been too busy to put any effort into a holiday greeting, your last-ditch effort can be sending out a text message or a tweet (on Twitter) to your friends and family with the simple message, “Merry Christmas!”

Chapter

TWO

TRIMMING

Light the Candles (#ulink_944847b9-b465-5a1f-8151-802fe7b77da6)

Make a Stocking (#ulink_a42bd569-1210-5eed-868d-a4a3cc431f4c)

Hang an Alternative Stocking (#ulink_69cd6360-065d-57fb-bc7a-c3fc0f342757)

Decorate with Leaves and Branches (#ulink_57303f70-1e8a-5e58-b878-e2523fdf4f91)

Weave a Wreath (#ulink_6c027546-bfea-5ae4-96e2-d5475117f9ca)

Grow a Holiday Plant (#ulink_91a030f1-06f7-5d79-a1b6-18547edba9af)

Go for Garlands (#litres_trial_promo)

Make a Snow Globe (#litres_trial_promo)

Craft an Advent Calendar (#litres_trial_promo)

Get an Earth-Friendly Christmas Tree (#litres_trial_promo)

Host a Make-Your-Own-Ornament Party (#litres_trial_promo)