Chipper Crafts: Recycle Old Christmas Cards for Tree Ornaments

Now that Turkey day has passed, it’s time to start preparing for Chipper’s favorite Holiday: Christmas! Why is it Chipper’s most loved holiday, you might ask? Because it’s a time of giving and receiving; a time of family; a time of carols, bright lights and cheer!

This Christmas, think about making your own gifts and ornaments! Not only is it environmentally friendly, it’s a lot of fun to do and a great way to teach kids how to reuse rather than always consuming the new! Also, a special custom gift made by a loved one is something any family member will cherish.

Recycle Christmas Tree Ornament Crafts

Another way to be environmentally friendly thisHoliday Season is to buy a living Christmas tree! It will smell divine, filter the air and can be planted once Christmas is over! The earth could always use another tree and they aren’t too hard to take care of (no worries to those non-green thumbs out there!). Plus, best of all, they aren’t as expensive as giant cut trees! Yes, they tend to be smaller, but with all the added benefits, take it into consideration this year.

what you need

To make ornaments, first gather any old Christmas or Holiday cards you have saved (usually located in a old shoe box under the bed somewhere). Then find some extra string, ribbon, thread or pipe cleaners to hang them. Any extra pieces of wrapping paper can be used as well!

Old Christmas Cards

Besides the cards and string, all you need is a pair of scissors and a little bit of tape. Then it’s time to get creative! Cut out stars or circles or use some Holiday cookie cutter shapes as a guide. You can draw your own shapes on the back as a cutting guide or just go free hand! Use as much of the cards as you can by using the back to cut out ornament shapes. You can even tape pieces together (see double star ornament below) or add things around the house like buttons, sparkles, and pompoms.

Poke a hole using your scissors

Cut off front of card

cut out a shape around decoration

tie the string!

then hang! Voila, ornament!

Use the back of the card to make small decorations!

make as many shapes as you can fit!

Then cut out!

Double Star Tree Ornament

Lastly, poke a small whole in your ornament once it’s cut out. Then put a string or ribbon through the hole and tie (you make have to use a pen or the pointy end of your scissors to get through the hole depending on how thick you string is). Now you can hang your ornaments and have a beautifully decorated tree this Christmas!

Make a candy cane by taping some wrapping paper onto pieces of cards you didn’t use, then cut it out. You won’t need a string for these–just hang using the curve!

Tape or glue back of card to wrapping paper

Candy Cane made from old wrapping paper!

Keep in mind, this is only ONE way  to make home-made ornaments! Please follow our blog for more ideas in the following weeks or follow us on Pinterest for all kinds of Holiday ideas! Let’s Go Chipper this Christmas!