Happy New Year! It’s good to get back with you after taking two weeks off for the holidays. My family's Christmas was very quiet, but full of joy. Time to relax, watch Hallmark Christmas movies – way too many – and eat a Christmas cookie or two. Or, three. 😊 And then, quietly welcoming in a new year. I always wish folks a healthy and happy new year, but this year, those words take on a much deeper meaning.
Cookies by my daughter, Laura. Seriously, they tasted as good as they looked.
Are you taking down your Christmas decorations and trying to figure out what do you with your old Christmas cards? Stop – don’t throw them away, because I’ve got a super easy craft for you that makes great use of these holiday cards.
I found this craft via an email I received from the magazine, Midwest Living. It was part of a series they called “40 Easy Christmas Crafts.” It had several cute ideas, but this simple card wreath is the one that really caught my eye. I like the idea of reusing my cards rather than tossing them in the trash. Plus, it’s just so darn cute and easy to do. In case you’d like to check out the complete list of 40 ideas at Midwest Living, here’s the link to it:
Are you ready to have some fun crafting together? Let’s get started. 😊
WHAT YOU'LL NEED
Old Christmas cards – Look through your old cards and choose the ones you’d like to use. Cards with big, bold, simple graphics work well. Would you like to make a winter wreath that you can use now and throughout winter? Then chose cards with wintery scenes of snowmen, snowflakes, and snow-scapes; think whites and blues instead of reds and greens.
12x12 piece of cardboard – My wreath is about 11 inches in diameter, so I used a piece of cardboard that was 12x12. Make your wreath whatever size works for you or the space where you’d like to hang it and chose a piece of cardboard the appropriate size.
Plates – Or, whatever you want to use to draw the large circles for your wreath. I used a dinner size plate that measured almost 11 inches to draw the outer ring and a smaller lunch plate measuring 8 inches for the inner ring.
Adhesive to attach the cards to the base – I used my old stand-by from my scrapbooking days, a product called Hermafix. You could use tape, Aileen’s Tacky glue or any adhesive of your choice.
3D Pop-dots – Pop-dots are another scrapbook product. They are a double-sided adhesive that I used to attach the smaller circles on top. They are about 1/8th of an inch tall and add a "pop" of dimension to the wreath.
Pom-poms – I used red, green and white sparkle pom-poms in three different sizes, purchased from Amazon.
Aileen’s Tacky Glue – I used tacky glue to attach the pom-poms to the wreath. You could also use a hot glue gun if you’d rather.
Ribbon or baker’s twine – This is used to hang your wreath.
Circle-makers – You can use any method or tools you have on hand to make your circles. I used yet another scrapbook tool, a circle template, to make my large, 3-inch circles. I used a 1 ¾ inch circle punch for the smaller circles.
WHAT YOU’LL DO
1.) Create your cardboard wreath base. Draw the wreath using the two different sized plates. Cut the wreath out.
2.) Make your circles to decorate the wreath with. Have fun choosing the best parts of your cards to decorate with. I ended up using thirteen 3-inch circles and seven of the smaller 1 ¾ inch circles. Make as many as you need for the size of the wreath you’re creating.
3.) Place the larger circles on your wreath base. You’ll want to play around with them just a bit to figure out exactly where you want them to go. Overlap them somewhat, making sure the cardboard base does not show through.
When you have figured out how you want all your circles placed, begin to attach them to the base. As you move about the circle base, watch how you place and overlap them, trying not to cover up any cool parts of circles you want to show. Glue all large circles down.
4.) Place the smaller circles strategically on the layer of large circles. Attach them using two or three pop-dots on the back of each. If you don’t have pop-dots, attach using whatever adhesive you used for the larger circles.
5.) Figure out where you’d like the glitter pom-poms to go on your wreath. Glue them on. If you use tacky glue as I did, be generous with the tacky glue. Once you have glued them all on, allow the wreath to lay flat until the glue has thoroughly dried to ensure they are securely attached.
That’s it, the basic wreath is done. It’s very cool as is, but I decided to take it up a notch. Why? Because any excuse to use felt is what I’m all about. 😊 The wreath is real cute hanging on a door handle, especially one as beautiful as the antique bronze one shown in Midwest Living. (I’m guessing their wreath is smaller than the one I created, sized to fit said door handle.) But, that’s not where or how I would hang my wreath and that’s why I made mine bigger.
Once I did that, I felt the middle of the wreath looked a little empty. I decided I needed to fill it with something and settled on a felt heart with an embroidered snowflake topped by a sparkly button. I found the picture of what I wanted to add to my wreath via a quick Pinterest search. It was just a random picture with no instructions, but very easy for me to recreate.
THIS IS HOW I DID IT
I started by searching my felt stash for what I needed. I found some bright, Christmas green felt and got started. I drew a simple heart pattern about 3 ½ inches wide. I cut out the pattern, pinned it to two pieces of felt, traced and then cut out two hearts.
Then you want to pin the two hearts back together, matching edges up. To sew them together, you can use either traditional six-strand embroidery floss (on the left) or Pearl cotton thread for this project. I chose to use white Pearl cotton thread, as shown on the right. Using a simple running stitch, sew all the way around the pinned hearts, about 1/4 inch from the edge.
As you can see, the snowflake design is very simple; I embroidered it on simply by eyeballing the sample and then sewing. I back-stitched the snowflake, and used the lazy-daisy stitch to create the mini-ovals at the ends of the X portion of the snowflakes.
Final touch, sew on a button in the middle, if you have one, to bring it all together.
Using some green Pearl cotton thread I had on hand, I hung the heart from the top of the wreath in the middle. First, cut a piece of thread at least triple the length of the distance you want your heart to be from the top of the wreath. Thread the needle and then make one straight stitch on the back of the heart, at the top, in the middle, where it dips down; don’t pull the thread all the way through the felt. Check out this picture to see what I mean:
Slide and center the heart in the middle of the thread. Leaving one end of the thread free, carefully poke the needle and the other end of thread between the layers of circles and the cardboard base; pull the thread through and bring the two ends of the thread together. Tie a secure knot or two. And now you have a lovely felt snowflake/heart decorating the middle of your wreath. 😊
GETTING YOUR WREATH READY TO HANG
To hang the wreath itself, you’ll need to attach some ribbon or baker’s twine. If using ribbon, carefully separate a top circle or two from the cardboard base, slide the ribbon through, and then refasten the circles to the base. Bring the two ends of the ribbon together and tie a secure knot or two.
I decided to use baker’s twine to hang my wreath. Using the same method as for attaching the felt heart, I threaded my needle with the baker’s twine and carefully poked it between the circles and cardboard base. Bring the two ends of the baker’s twine together and tie a secure knot or two. Whether you used ribbon or baker’s twine, your wreath is now ready to be hung!
FREE GIVEAWAY OF SUPPLIES!
What do you think? Might you want to make one of these recycled Christmas card wreaths yourself? If you’re interested, but you’re saying to yourself, “I don’t have any glitter pom-poms or felt,” well, I can help you out! I am able to put together some of the supplies in a mini-kit that you can get from the library using curbside pickup. Kits will contain the glitter pom-poms, green or red felt and thread to match, white Pearl cotton thread, one button, baker’s twine, and a needle. All you have to do is email me at graib@cidlibrary.org and let me know you’d like a mini-kit. Please specify whether you’d like red or green felt, and what color baker’s twine you’d like. I have red & white, green & white, or red & green to choose from.
Please, I’d love to give these supplies away to some folks ready to do some winter crafting. Help me, to help you. 😊 It’s very cold outside and a great time to be indoors creating.
EVERYDAY READING BOOK LOGS
How’s your reading going these days? Have you set any reading goals for the new year? Do you need a little incentive to read more? I’m going to share with you a really cool reading log my daughter, Laura, found online. This is a great way to keep track of the books you read this year, as well as sneak in a tad bit of coloring fun.
Laura found the reading log at a website called Everyday Reading. It’s the website of a young lady named Janssen who loves books and also happens to be a children’s librarian. Per her website, she “shares reviews of her favorite books, makes suggestions for how to incorporate reading into your family life, and creates lists of the very best books for different ages and interests.” Janssen offers two different reading logs for 2021; the one above that Laura used, and the one below right. It's always nice to have choices. 😊
Here's the link to the Everyday Reading
website:
FYI, you can’t print the reading logs directly from her website. They will ask you for your email address and then send you an email with a link to the reading log. You can always unsubscribe from future emails after you get your reading log.
You can write the name of books you’d like to read on the spines and then color them in as you read them, or, you can write them in as you read. Either way, this a fun spin on adult coloring and ties in nicely with books and reading. Win, win.
That’s it for now. I always like hearing from you. Remember, you can reach me at graib@cidlibrary.org.
As I referenced at the beginning of this post, my wish for you this new year is good health and happiness. In actuality, I’m ordering up an abundance of both for you all!!
Take care. Stay safe. 😊
I found this card in my stash of old Christmas cards.
I think it's beautiful and just couldn't bring myself to cut it up to use in the wreath.
I've hung it up instead and intend to enjoy it's simple beauty
and message for awhile longer.