Did you see Princess Nebraska’s What To Do With Leftover Christmas Cards post, about making gift tags out of Christmas cards? This appealed to me because I like Christmas cards so much and always have a little trouble throwing them out. (But like Princess Nebraska, I don’t actually want to save them.) This way I have a TRANSITIONAL CRAFT. I especially loved how she made some initial gift tags by snipping out a large letter (like the M in Merry).
So I decided to try it. The first decision was what kind of punch to get. I decided I needed at LEAST five different punches. Then I narrowed it down to my favorite, because who knows if I’m even going to do this? I always use to/from stickers, and I have a lot of fun choosing/using them, too, so maybe I’ll have a lot of fun punching out shapes but then won’t want to fuss with threading them on a ribbon and/or won’t want to give up my cute to/from stickers. So I chose just ONE for starters: the “real estate sign” shape (in our area, real estate signs are rectangular, but the punch is not):
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| (photo from Amazon.com) |
It seems about gift-tag-sized. Maybe a BIT skimpy. I won’t really know until I have to write on them next year. (I also considered the 2.25-inch scallop-edged circle, the wavy-edged circle (but someone on Amazon needs to review it and say how big it is), the gorgeous but expensive 3-inch lacy oval (the one negative review doesn’t scare me off—of COURSE hers is defective, of COURSE it’s not DESIGNED to chew up one side of it every time), and the merchandise tag (but it might be a little small).
I took some of the cards I got this year and made a first batch:
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| Here’s all the first batch, punched and freehanded alike |
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| Closer-up of some of them |
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| Closer-up of some more of them |
I found that my favorites were the ones I DIDN’T use the punch for: the two red doors, the cats (I didn’t freehand those: the shapes were layered for dimension on a fancy card), the plump mouse, the Christmas tree. But I also like a lot of the punched ones. And my scissor skills are insufficient for most cutting-out tasks (like if a straight line is involved), but the blade on my paper trimmer was bent or something (had I let the children use it? yes, I had, like some kind of ROOKIE), so I didn’t feel like doing much without the punch. What I’d kind of like is a straight-edged punch (like this rectangle), but it’s hard to spend the money on something so plain.
I think what made this project so fun was that I’m not good at visualizing things, so each card/punch was a fresh surprise. The punch I was using let me see what I was going to get before I punched, and so it was fun to budge the card around and see how it would change the results. I was also surprised at how some cards yielded GREAT RICHES, and others NOTHING—and they weren’t always the way I’d have guessed. Also, sometimes the BACK of the card had the best thing: a small picture that looked very nice surrounded by lots of white.
I’ve put all the tags in an envelope and tucked them in with the box of wrapping paper, so they’re going to be fun to discover next Christmas!
After that post, I bought something called a 2-inch scalloped edge (I think), which the reviews said was closer to 2.5 inches. It’s a little small for packages, but about the size of gift bag tags. I figured that was a good compromise – to/from tags on packages, pretty punched circles tied on gift bags.
Also, I might glue some of them on packages (with a glue stick?) instead of using twine.
Now I hear about this – right after I tossed a bunch of Christmas cards we received – sounds like my luck. What a clever idea though!
I may have to scout around and see if any of the stores are still trying to sell off some cards to try this.
Brilliant! I was just thinking that it’s time to start taking down the Christmas stuff, but putting it all away at once is depressing. And I also don’t like throwing away all the cards but don’t really want to keep them either.
I loved Elizabeth’s post so much that I saved ALL my Christmas cards this year (well, okay, not ALL – some were, let’s face it, ugly. Or, to be more FAIR, not my style. Or overly religious. Or both.) instead of just saving the ones with cute families and babies (which is ALL families and babies cards – they are ALL cute). And NOW, you have done this TOO, and it makes me want to do it myself even more! Such a great idea.
My friend Julie does this, and I thought it was a great idea, but… I still save all the Christmas cards. *hangs head*. I know. I have issues.
I really want punches so that I could do All The Crafts, but I still haven’t been able to spend that much on a punch. I am going to do it one of these days though, I swear.
This was an inspired idea. I love it! How do you use those gift tags on packages though? I mean, I get gift bags and the like, but most of what we wrap tend to be packages. I’m sure there is a perfectly logical answer to this that I’m not thinking of.
Also, you get way more CARDS than we do. We get almost exclusively the single sheet photo cards (which is also what we send.)
Leann- My Artistic Vision is that I’ll use that thin curling ribbon around the package, and thread one end of it through a regular-hole-punch hole in the gift tag before the last knot. Or I MIGHT just tape the tag to the package? I’m not completely sure.
Gosh I love this idea. My mom used to freehand the tags from cards every year. This year, though, I thought about it, but we only got 18 cards. And many of those had writing on the inside or were just photo cards. I’m thinking I might try to find some dollar store packs of cards this coming year and do it in advance.
Despite coming from a family with fancy wrapping and hand-cut tags, I totally adopted my husband’s family’s way of doing things. Wrap the package and write the name directly on the paper with a Sharpie. At least I use a black one or a silver one, depending on the paper. They don’t do that.
My mom did this, albeit not with punches (she cut rectangular tags with scissors), and I have continued the tradition.
We don’t make holes through which to thread string or ribbon, though. I just tape the tag to the wrapping paper, usually right near the bow — and if something is written on the back, the whole tag is taped down, and writing goes on the front.
Since I’ve been doing/seeing this for 50-ish years (I’m almost 55), it doesn’t seem like such a novel idea to me.
I have some Christmas cards I simply cannot part with, can’t even make tags with them because they’re so beautiful. My intention is to someday put these in a scrapbook, as a sort of historical celebratory record.
I’ve also been known to use a scrap of the wrapping paper to make a tag if I don’t have anything colored appropriately (or if I forget to purchase a mini gift card), especially with gifts for other occasions, like baby or wedding showers, birthdays, etc.
I should also add that I don’t make tags ahead of time; I keep the old cards in a box and thumb through them, looking for a candidate card to use, once the gift is wrapped. Then I can cut it according to the gift’s size, wrapping paper’s colors/theme, etc. Probably more time-consuming when wrapping, but it’s an activity I enjoy and doesn’t take THAT long. Old cards don’t take up THAT much space, either.
Brilliant.
Totally FUN! I want to try!!
I love those red doors…hahahaha.
Fancy! I’m of the @MargieK school of card reuse and, as she did, learned that from my mother. My mother used pinking shears but I generally don’t, I sort of cut free-form arcs across the edges of the front of the old card and leave it at that (and tape it to the gift, writing on the front). I now also do this with the free sample not-really-cards that several organizations send us, i.e., hand onto them and use them as (large) tags. If the remarkable slackness of this ever troubles me (not yet), I’ll refer myself to your “Soothing Holiday Words” post and trust I’ll feel reassured.
So will this mean a new category added to holiday card scoring–points for the reusability factor? :)
Crafty Beth- Oooooooo, good thought!!