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I love finding ways of reusing and upcycling items instead of them going to landfill. And today’s tutorial is a very easy and quick way to reuse items that you may have a lot of already. If you are anything like me you may be loath to throw away your holiday cards each year. However, they may not be recyclable if they have glitter or shiny surfaces. Or they may have a lot of sentiment for you. So what do you do with your old Christmas cards? Well, why not turn them into a practically free card display, which is a simple Christmas decoration? Here is how to make an upcycled Christmas card garland for decorating around your house this festive season!
How To Make An Upcycled Christmas Card Garland
I am all for a zero waste Christmas. And so in recent years I have bought and sent fewer and fewer Christmas cards. But I must admit, I do like to save the ones that I am sent. Some I will keep permanently due to their sentimental status. But a lot have shiny, glittery surfaces. And I know that these are unlikely to be recycled. Instead they go to landfill, where the plastic they contain may take up to a 1000 years to degrade!
See my other tips and ideas for how to have a zero waste Christmas.
So by reusing and upcycling my old greeting cards, I am trying to make something new and useful from this resource. If I can utilise these cards into other DIY Christmas crafts then it will certainly save them going into the trash.
This Christmas card garland is an easy way to make a plentiful display of card bunting for parties, fetes and around the home over the holiday season.
So what do we need to make this easy holiday card Christmas garland?
You Will Need
- Old Christmas Cards
- A Pen or pencil
- Sharp scissors
- A round object to draw around – I chose an espresso cup, but you can choose something bigger or smaller if you wish.
- A sewing machine
You can sew these garlands by hand, but a sewing machine makes the whole thing incredibly quick and easy.
How To Make The Garland
Take your old Christmas cards and draw circles around your circular object. You can pick random scenes from the front or try to get perfect pictures central to your card circles. I needed 42 circles for my 58 inch wide mantlepiece (1.5 metres)
(It’s better to draw your circles on the back, but I drew mine on the front to demonstrate)
Take 2 cards and stick them together back to back to ensure that each side has a picture.
Thread your sewing machine – I prefer to use white thread, but you can use whatever colour you like. Leave a 6 inch (15cm tail of thread before you sew, then sew over the first pair of circles right down the middle.
As the first circle is almost through being stitched, place the second circle directly next to the first, so that there isn’t a gap between the circle pairs. Keep sewing through the middle of the card circles, each time you get to the end of one circle, immediately place the next.
Very quickly your garland will build up until it is long enough to run along the length of your mantle. Leave a tail of a final 6 inches of thread before cutting your threads at the end.
Attach the garland securely to your mantlepiece with tape, nails or drawing pins. And enjoy!
Other Uses For The Garland
If you wish, you can also use this garland as a Christmas card holder. Just add some miniature clothespins and attach this years cards onto the gaps between the card circles.
Or you can use this garland to decorate and wrap around your Christmas tree.
Why not hang the garland across your window as a festive display?
Other Posts Of Mine You Might Like
Have you enjoyed this post on how to make an upcycled Christmas card garland? Then you may also like these.
- Zero Waste Projects For Your Home
- Fabric Scraps – How To Use Every Last Piece.
- Upcycling Old Clothes
- Easy Christmas Sewing Projects To Start Making Today
- Ways To Upcycle Old Towels
Are you going to make this DIY Christmas Garland? I love to see your projects and see your colour choices. Do comment below, or tag me in your makes on social media. Find me at
Instagram: @ARoseTinted
Facebook: A Rose Tinted World
Twitter: @ARoseTintdWorld
And please do pin this post for later!
Very cute idea – practical, eco-friendly & a great way to decorate in a more meaningful, personal way. Love it! Also far better than the cardboard vertical card holder we’ve used for years that crams cards together so you can’t really see them and the slightly nudge will knock half of them out. xx
Thank you Caz! x
What a fab idea. It’s a great way to reuse cards and it looks really cute too x