Christmas Family Crafts: Christmas Card Holder

By Sirena Van Schaik

Every year, thousands upon thousands of people send out Christmas cards and thousands upon thousands of people receive them. They open the envelope, make an appropriate noise as they slide the card out and then they wonder what they should do with them. What exactly is the etiquette behind Christmas Cards? Do you keep them for the whole holiday, right up until January 1st or can you just read them and toss them?

I could probably give you an answer but it is up to each and every individual on how they display or keep their Christmas cards. If you are like me, you probably save them. They stay out all Christmas and then when I pack up the decorations for the year, I stuff them in the boxes that all my decorations go in. There they sit, year after year, piling up in the box until I finally have to take them out and file them somewhere else. I can’t bring myself to throw them out, especially the ones with a nice message or ones that were handmade.

But enough about my packrat habits, let’s talk about this great craft that will give you a wonderful way to display the current Christmas cards that you received this year and also use all the Christmas Cards from previous years. This craft is pretty simple to do and it will help you cut down on some of your clutter, even if it is only in a box.

What you need:

• Thick string: I prefer to use a colored string for Christmas. Make sure it is string and not yarn because you want something that won’t fray.
• Old cards: You can also use printout images if you prefer but you don’t need to.
• Clothespins: About ten should do it but if you receive a lot of cards over the holiday, you will need a few more.
• Scissors
• White glue

Directions:

1. Sort through your old cards and cut out the images that you like. Try to make them about the same size and shape.
2. Take a clothespin and glue the image onto the one side of the clothespin so it can still be opened.
3. Cut a long piece of string, at least three feet, more if you are going to do more than ten clothes pins.
4. Tie a knot in one end. You can actually make a loop before the knot and this will be the loop that you use for hanging the card holder up.
5. Allow the glue to dry.
6. Thread the string through the metal coil on the clothespin so the pin can slide freely down the string and it won’t fall off when you open it.
7. Finish by knotting the other end of the string, creating a second loop.

You can hang this string wherever you like and when your cards come in you can hang them with the decorated clothespin. You are left with a fast, easy and beautiful Christmas card holder that you can reuse over and over again.