Recyling Old Greeting Cards

Many of us receive numerous greeting cards throughout the year, whether it be for birthdays or Christmas, or maybe a lovely thank you card from a friend. Instead of throwing out the cards into the rubbish or recyling bin, why not use some of the great images on the cards to create a new home made card. Once embellished, it will probably look more special than the original.



Art and Craft Supplies
Old greeting card
Craft knife and cutting board
Scissors
Double Sided Tape
Additional coloured card/paper to mount picture on
Blank card (packets available from craft shops and discount stores)
Embellishments e.g. stickers, ribbon etc.

Method

1. Cut out the image you want to use from your greeting card.





2. Cut out two pieces of card from your additional pieces of card in your preferred colours, each one slightly larger than the original image. For something a little different, I used a pair of craft scissors with a curved edge to cut the red card around the edges.



3. Put double sided tape on the back of the image and pieces of card. You could use glue but I have always found that you have a nicer finish with the tape. Sometimes glue can ooze through your paper and make it bubble and ruin the end look of your card.



4. Mount each piece on top of the other. Don't take the backing of the tape off the bottom piece (the gold piece on my card) just yet.



5. Apply some double sided tape to the back of your ribbon. The ribbon will be slightly longer than the card so the ends overlap on the inside of the card where you can't see them.
Tip: If you have trouble making the ends of your ribbon stick down to the inside of the card, I add a very small touch of glue and use a peg at either end of the card to hold down the ribbon until it has dried.



6. Take the backing off the tape and stick down your ribbon on to the card. Stick your picture on top of this.



7. Choose which stickers you would like to enhance the look of your card. These stickers have many types of borders and you can cut them to the length to suit your project. You may have other embellishments you wish to use, but remember that sometimes "less is more".



8. Voila - you now have a finished card. Microsoft Publisher has templates where you can print your own inserts which just need to be cut to size and adhered with double sided tape. Alternatively, you may just prefer to write on the inside of the card itself.






#papercraft
#cards
#card_making
#recycle
#cardmaking
#christmas



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