Craft: EASY Ornaments Using Recycled Cards

Isn't this gorgeous? I made half a dozen of these in an afternoon with Big Littles meddling with stuff and Little Littles pulling up on my legs and playing by my feet! I has so much fun making them too!

The pictures are fairly self-explanatory, but I thought I'd pass on a few tips I figured out... the slick card material doesn't work as well as matte paper as it slides around pretty easily when done. If you are having trouble fanning them out, gently squeeze the top and bottom brads. You can store these flat! For this reason alone, I'm seriously considering converting from all of our old glass ornaments!! :)

To make a single ornament, you will need: a Christmas card to cut into strips, scissors, two brads, some ribbon for hanging, a hole punch

If you want to make it a project for your kids, you can draw lines on the back of the paper to help them know where to cut. I think it could work for ages 6+.

Now I've been saving pretty cards for years but it seems that the tradition of sending out holiday cards is going the way of cassette tapes and pagers. :( If you are short on suitable cards, you can use plain paper, or get some of that pretty scrapbooking paper. I also think they would make a very nice gift for mailing, as they can be kept flat and you can give the recipient instructions on how to fan them out into an ornament. Don't you think grandma would just love to get some homemade ornaments from her grandkids?

Here are the pictures of the process, step by step: