Creating my way to Success: Christmas Cards

Showing posts with label Christmas Cards. Show all posts

More Upcycled Reusable Christmas Cards

Yesterday I made a few more upcycled reusable Christmas cards to post to family members.

I used a pair of old jeans I got from the charity shop for $1 and fabric scraps I already had, plus cereal boxes I've been collecting for a few weeks!

I stuck to very simple designs this year, making use of Christmas fabric I had.

If you haven't seen my reusable Christmas cards before - they have this message sewn on the back so the recipient knows the idea behind the card!

They have a clear plastic pocket inside where you can slip in a piece of paper with a greeting on.

I sent my first batch of these cards last Christmas, and I'm curious to see if this year anyone reuses them and perhaps returns one to me !?

To see the cards I made last year and a tutorial showing how to make these cards - go here.

And two more I made this year - you can see here.

Do you make your Christmas cards each year?

What materials do you use to make yours from?

To see lots of other ideas for an eco-friendly and budget Christmas - you can visit my page:

Christmas Shouldn't Cost the Earth

Or see this year's 12 Days of Christmas DIY Challenges

Reusable Upcycled Santa Christmas Card

Challenge number 4 in our 12 Days of Christmas DIY Challenges is to use a cereal or other cardboard box and supplies you have in your home to make a Christmas Card.

Earlier I posted my first response to this challenge -
a Reusable Upcycled Snowman Card.

But I also decided to make another of my Reusable Upcycled Christmas Cards that I designed and made last year. They are made of card covered in fabric and have a clear plastic pocket on the inside where you can slip in a piece of paper with your greeting on. The card is designed with the idea that the recipient can remove the greeting and replace it with a new one to resend the card to someone new the next year! I printed labels to sew on the back of my cards to tell people what the idea behind the cards is!

Here's how to make this Reusable Upcycled Santa Christmas Card for yourself!

You will need:
A cereal or other cardboard box,

Some red fabric and a scrap of white fabric.

Some gold, silver or black buttons for the ..buttons!
A length of black ribbon and a soda can ring pull for the belt buckle.

And a piece of clear plastic for the greeting pocket. You can cut this from packaging when you buy clothes or sheets!

First of all cut your card. You can cut any size you like, but I cut mine 11 x 15 cm (4.5 x 6"). Then cut two rectangles of fabric larger than this piece of card. Cut a piece of clear plastic 8 x 10 cm (3 x 4").

First lay your strip of white fabric centrally on the right hand side of one of your red pieces of fabric. (fold the fabric in half like a card to help with this) and pin into place. Stitch around all 4 edges using a tight zig zag or applique stitch.

Thread your ribbon through your ring pull to make the 'buckle' for Santa's belt, then lay your ribbon across the whole width of the card with the buckle over the white fabric.

My ribbon was wider than the ring pull so I just folded it in half so that it fitted.

Hand stitch the two buttons onto the white fabric strip above the belt.

This is also when I add in my logo and information on the back of the card - printed on fabric then appliqued onto the main fabric.

Take your other red fabric rectangle and fold in half to determine the inside left and right of the card. Pin your piece of clear plastic to the middle of the right hand side. Then applique or tight zig-zag stitch around the two sides and bottom edge. Leave the top open so you can slip in your paper greeting!

Now your pieces are ready to put together.

Use a glue stick to glue your three layers together with the right sides of the fabric facing outwards and the cardboard in the middle.

Once your layers are stuck together, machine stitch around all 4 edges just inside the cardboard edge. I save old blunt machine needles for sewing through things like card - it might be an idea to use an old rather than a new needle for this!

Trim the edges with pinking shears to neaten.

Now fold your card in half and it's ready to add a greeting and send to someone special this Christmas!

So that's 2 cards made for this year. I think I'll have to get to work making more!! There's still plenty of time before Christmas! Why don't you have a go too! The idea is that these cards can be reused again year after year! Much more eco-friendly than the usual cards that are only single use!! (although do often get upcycled as gift tags or boxes!)

To see the video setting this challenge, other ideas for cards and to add your own project to the linky, go here!

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Each day a challenge will be set by means of a video and blog posts giving some suggested ideas and crafts. These posts will also contain a linky party for anyone and everyone who wants to join in to link up their projects - both past and present, that answer the challenge. The linky party can be found on all our blogs and we'll try and come up with different ideas and tutorials for the challenges too. So please to visit us all, and then share your ideas with us as well! We're looking forward to seeing how these challenge are met!

Ready, Steady....Let's Christmas Craft!

The 12 Days of Christmas DIY Challenges is brought to you by

Jill @ Creating my way to Success
Vicky @ Vicky Myers Creations
Anna @ Tea and a Sewing Machine
Pam @ Threading My Way
Anne @ Domesblissity

Previous Challenges
Challenge 1 - Upcycle old clothes to Christmas Decoration
Challenge 2 - Make a Christmas Gift from a pair of old jeans
Challenge 3 - Make a fun Christmas snack - use what you've got

Reusable Upcycled Snowman Christmas Card

Challenge number 4 in our 12 Days of Christmas DIY Challenges is to use a cereal or other cardboard box and supplies you have in your home to make a Christmas Card.

I chose to make another of my Reusable Upcycled Christmas Cards that I designed and made last year. They are made of card covered in fabric and have a clear plastic pocket on the inside where you can slip in a piece of paper with your greeting on. The card is designed with the idea that the recipient can remove the greeting and replace it with a new one to resend the card to someone new the next year! I printed labels to sew on the back of my cards to tell people what the idea behind the cards is!

Here's how to make this Reusable Upcycled Snowman Christmas Card for yourself!

You will need:

A cereal or other cardboard box,

Some thick white fabric (I used white denim from an old pair of jeans),

Some ribbon for the scarf,

An orange fabric scrap for the nose and

Some black buttons for the eyes and ..buttons!

And a piece of clear plastic for the greeting pocket. You can cut this from packaging when you buy clothes or sheets!

First lay your ribbon lengthways across one piece of your white fabric and pin then stitch into place.

Fold your fabric in half as if it was the card to determine the front and back spacing of the card. Then stitch on the nose and buttons. This is also when I add in my logo and information on the back of the card - printed on fabric then appliqued onto the main fabric.

I machine appliqued around the orange fabric for the nose. but you could also hand-stitch it into place.

Take your other white fabric rectangle and fold in half to determine the inside left and right of the card. Pin your piece of clear plastic to the middle of the right hand side. Then applique or tight zig-zag stitch around the two sides and bottom edge. Leave the top open so you can slip in your paper greeting!

Your card is now ready to put together.

Use a glue stick to glue your three layers together with the right sides of the fabric facing outwards and the cardboard in the middle.

Note - because the colour of the cereal box was very bright and my fabric white - I added a piece of scrap white paper on top of the card so the colour didn't show through the fabric.

Trim the edges with pinking shears to neaten.

Now fold your card in half and it's ready to add a greeting and send to someone special this Christmas!

To see the video setting this challenge, other ideas for cards and to add your own project to the linky, go here!

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Jill @ Creating my way to Success
Vicky @ Vicky Myers Creations
Anna @ Tea and a Sewing Machine
Pam @ Threading My Way
Anne @ Domesblissity

Christmas Tree with Baubles - upcycled denim Christmas card

This is the last of my upcycled reusable and re-sendable Christmas Cards for this year. Using some green starry fabric and buttons for baubles.

The cards are reusable as they have a clear pocket on the inside where you can slip in a greeting written on a piece of paper. This can be removed and replaced to re-send the card to someone else next year!

I'll be sending all the reusable cards that I've made this year and I do hope that the recipients embrace the idea behind them and send them on to someone new next year! Maybe I'll even get one or two back??

Here are the cards I've made.