Do you have old Christmas cards that you can't seem to part with, but you really have no idea WHY you are keeping them? I know lots of people that do and THIS is the perfect craft for all of us. Ornaments for your tree (or for a friends) that are so simple to make! Instead of old cards, I used some of the Christmas card fronts that National Geographic sends to lure you into buying their beautiful cards. It worked so well! Completely free, and I was using something I would have normally thrown away.
This idea I found originally on Martha Stewart's website, so I can't claim too much credit for "discovering" this craft, but I can take credit for doing it, successfully, and slightly modifying it. Hooray!
You will need:
- Christmas cards (or just their fronts)
- Hot glue gun (or other quick drying adhesive)
- Yarn/thread
- Small circle to trace
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Pen
Before beginning, let me tell you that the way I did this varies from Martha Stewart's "Holiday Card Ornments." I designed mine so that you can use 10 circles (1 card front) and not 20 circles. I did this just by cutting out the middle row of 10 circles. So if you want to make yours bigger, take a look at how she does it!
Pick your cards well. If you look at my selection of cards you'll see that I had some I did not end up using. They were fairly monochromatic- black and white, with a splash of red. Those pictures cut up wouldn't have looked as festive, so I skipped those and used the more colorful, detailed images.
Trace your stencil to create rows of circles on your card. I would suggest drawing the circles on the back of the picture so that you don't get pen marks on the pretty side. On each card I was able to fit 12 circles (3 rows of 4) and then choose my favorite 10 to use. Keep in mind what your picture looks like and if there is one particular part of the picture you want to keep in tact. I made my circles about 2" big. If you have a circle cutter/punch then you can use that. Mine was not staying locked at 2" so I had to do it by hand with some good ol' Fiskars and it worked just as well, even though the edges weren't perfect.
After you cut out your circles, draw an equilateral triangle that fits inside your circles. Mine was about 1 1/2" on each side. It's easiest to make a triangle template out of paper or cardstock and then trace it onto each circle. These triangle lines will be the lines that you will fold on. If you have a scoring blade, score on these lines before folding them for a neater fold. Guess who doesn't have a scoring blade? Me! Still turned out fine, so don't worry about that. Once all of the triangles have been drawn/traced, fold towards the side of the card that you want to show (see picture above).
Now it's time to glue them together! I used my hot glue gun on a low heat setting and put a small dab on one flap of one circle, then stuck it to another circle, with 2 top points touching (think of the way pie or pizza slices meet in the middle). Create a rounded ring of 5 folded circles using this method then repeat. Once you have two pieces like this, use the hot glue to attach the available flaps to one another. Now your ornament in constructed! To really make your ornament polished looking, shellac it before moving on to the next step.
Next, use a small hole punch (like an eyelet hole punch) or a large needle to create a hole to thread pretty yarn or thick ribbon through. Tie it up and your ornament is complete.
Hang it on a tree, top a package, or give it to a friend! Hopefully you were as successful as I was, if not more so! I would love to see your completed ornaments or other Christmas card projects. Submit then for Let's Brag Thursdays and maybe you'll see them posted soon! :D Happy crafting!
Some other ideas:
- Every year when you send out a Christmas card, turn on of those cards into an ornament. On the string, attach a small piece of paper the says the year. This way you will have a collection of all your your Christmas cards too!
- Use these ornaments as jar/vase fillers, instead of the traditional glass ball ornaments.
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