Do you hover over the recycle bin clutching tightly those gorgeous (and expensive) greeting cards given to you? Or do you hoard them away out of guilt of tossing something so pretty? It's especially hard when the cards are adorned with all those sparkly doodads and whatnots! If you want to do something useful with the cards, we've got you covered.
Recycle. Send us your used cards and we will use them to remake them into something new to send to people in need of something to brighten their day.
Cut them into gift tags! Remove the decorated/un-personalized portion of your holiday, special occasion or birthday cards. Cut out shapes (circle, star, the shape of a tag, a heart, rectangle, or any other fun shape you and your scissors can manage), punch a hole and add some string. Ta da - you’ve just made something yourself, saved some money and you’ve reduced waste! Great job!
Create a decorative holiday or birthday banner/garland. Remove the fronts of your cards and punch 2 holes in the upper right and left corners. Note: you can use the card as is, or cut the card into different shapes, such as circles, triangles, banner shapes, scalloped edges, etc. Make as many as needed for the sentiment you’ll be displaying, i.e. you’ll need 14 bases for “Happy Birthday” (don’t forget the space in between words!). Print out large letters on your printer (using the color, size and font to match your project), cut them out and glue or use double-sided tape to attach to the banner.
Use a shaped hole punch (i.e. hearts, stars, circles) to make your own confetti. If you have a cutting machine, you can also cut confetti shapes with your machine.
Make a bookmark. You can make these as simple or complex as you desire! Simply cut 2” x 6” - 8” strips out of the card. Optional: punch a hole in the top to add a ribbon or tassel and decorate with stamps, pens, paper scraps, stickers, etc. These make a great add-on to any gift.
Wrapping paper. Good things come in small packages, and so does the ability to wrap them in recycled material! Cut the card to the shape of your box and glue or tape to the box. Greeting cards are thicker and will likely need a stronger glue - make sure you aren’t adhering directly to the product packaging to hinder any returns.
Remove the embellishments for another craft project. We love a good embellishment! Grab a mason jar and start filling her up with your recycled card embellishments. You never know when they’ll come in handy for another project!
Use to label items in your scrapbooks, photo albums, yearbooks, planners, journals or memory books.
Make gift card holders. For a standard gift card size of 2.25” x 3.37”, start by cutting your card to 4.875”h x 3.75”w, centering the design over the middle of the cut. Using a ruler, score a line along the width, 1.375” from one end of the card and 1.125” from the other end to allow overlap. You can now fold your holder shut and tape closed on the overlapping seams (double sided tape works great). You can cut out an oval shape(or use an oval punch) at the top of the holder to help grip your gift card inside the holder.
Reuse. Remove the front of the card and either glue onto a new piece of cardstock or if the back is blank, reduce waste even further and use the backside as the area to write your sentiments!
Congratulations! You’ve reduced waste, saved money and made something amazing!