Free Christmas Crafts
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Recycled Christmas Card House
New Cards from Old
Christmas Card Angels
Christmas Card Basket
Mini Christmas Card Boxes
Victorian Icing Cards
Juice Lid Christmas Card Ornaments
Christmas Card Fan
Recycled Christmas Card Ornaments
Copyright 2004-2008 Jane Lake All Rights Reserved
These recycled Christmas card ornaments are so effective, you'll want to make a whole collection. Don't forget to save your Christmas cards this year to make some more crafts for the next holiday season.
What you will need:
used Christmas cardspencil
scissors
tacky glue
gold cord or ribbon
round template or large coin as shown below
optional: glitter hot glue sticks, glitter or sequins
Directions:
On the back of an old Christmas card, trace around a large coin (I used a Canadian toonie). Cut out this circle. Trace around the coin again, and this time draw an equal sided triangle on the inside of the circle, as shown on our template above. Cut out the triangle. Cut the face page from a used Christmas card. Use the coin, or your cardboard circle template, to trace 20 circles on the blank side of this card. Trace the triangle shape inside each of these circles, then cut them out.
On each circle, fold up the sides of the triangle. This can be a bit tricky at first, but with practice it is possible to fold up all the triangle shapes without having lines to follow. If so, you can skip tracing the triangles.
Set out the folded triangle shapes as shown in the pictures to the left. The top and bottom parts of the ornament are formed by gluing five triangle shapes together. The center section is formed by gluing 10 triangle shapes in a line. The second picture shows the triangles glued together, with the bottom section turned upside down to show you the back view. Tacky glue is much better than white glue for this project, because it enables you to attach one triangle to the next by pinching the side tabs together for a few seconds instead of using clips while the glue dries.
Sometimes there is a small hole at the center of the top and bottom sections; this is normal. You may use the hole in the top section to secure a gold cord or ribbon hanger. Just loop the cord to suitable length and knot the ends. Feed the loop through the top hole and pull through, securing the knot on the inside with a dab of tacky glue.
Once your ornament sections are dry and holding together securely, continue construction by gluing both ends of the center section together in a circular band.
Apply tacky glue to each outside tab of the top section and place on top of the center band, aligning all the tabs. It will not be an exact fit. Pinch together two sets of tabs until the tacky glue holds, then do another pair, until all the tabs are holding. Allow this to dry before doing the same with the bottom section.
Your recycled Christmas card ornament is now complete. If you want to recycle the back half of the Christmas card, make another ornament in the same way and spray paint in Christmas colors. You can add embellishments like glitter or sequins or give the ornament a more structured look by outlining each seam in colored or gold glitter hot glue.
If you turn the tabs the other direction it makes for a prettier smoother ball, but it is a little more difficult to put together. I tried making one 30 plus years after making them in school with my three year old and had that detail wrong :)
I tried to make this ornament from memory and used six pieces for the top, six for the bottom, and 12 around the middle. The results were a smaller ornament. I was puzzled by the size, so that's why I'm 'here.' The more I look at it, though, the more I kind of like it!
I've been trying to recollect how to do this project and am thankful that you were so detailed. I've gone through a lot of ideas and this one is the ONLY one that is really, really worth the effort. I do think that I will score the card to make the triangle shape. As you said it is a challenge to make a good fold with Christmas cards. Thanks
Where does one drop of used Christmas cards for recycling?
Check out your local Boys and Girls club. Also List it on Freecycle. A volunteer from the B/G club just requested old cards right before christmas.
i love doing this activity but i kept messing up ahahahahha
hot glue gun...
it's a must.
last year i used Elmers, and it took FOREVER with clips.
hot gun is the key!
i did it
I did this craft with my special needs class. They all have varying degrees of motor skills issues. Those that could, traced our play money toonies; those that couldn't used my cricut cutter to cut 1.25" circles.
I then gave every kid a triangle shape from our pattern blocks and they used it in the middle of their circle. This allowed them to press the sides of the circle against the block, creating the triangle fold in the middle every time...
I just thought I would post this, for teachers who may be discouraged by the need for the folding or were worried about the fine-motor skills necessary for this craft. (it was the small green triangle from the set)
Thanks for posting the instructions in such a clear manner. The photos really helped.
I forgot to mention... instead of using old Christmas cards, we use white tag board instead. This allows the students to draw their own designs inside the circles for a personalized ornament.
