I like to save old Christmas cards to recycle them into new and useful items. In my recycled gift tag post, I cut them to create cute little gift tags that can be used on packages. This year I wanted to use the old cards to create some Christmas ornaments that I could send along to the troops overseas. I know they may not have a tree but they could hang these little ornaments on a knob in their vehicle or hang it in their living area. Maybe the small decoration would remind them of Christmas and bring them a little joy for the holidays.

Materials needed:
Old Christmas cards
Small hole punch
Scissors
Glue
Small crochet hook C (2.75 mm) works well with the small holes
Scraps of yarn (aran, ww, or even sport yarn will work)

Cut two cards to match so that you have front and backs the same size. Any size will work. Glue the two together with right sides facing out. Let them dry for several hours.

Once dry, punch holes evenly around the outside edge fairly close to the edge. I used a small hole punch so my holes are small so I used a C (2.75 mm) crochet hook to stitch around my cards. If you use a regular size hole punch you may want to use a larger hook. Trim the edges and round the corners of the cards before beginning your stitching. Rounding the corners of the cards before stitching is very important. If you have a sharp corner and you can always do 2 stitches in a corner hole to make the stitching look more even.

Attach yarn at upper center just to the left if you can, otherwise you can just start at the center hole. Single crochet loosely in each hole around until you reach the top center. If possible, end at hole just right of center, chain 12 for hanging loop and attach to beginning single crochet stitch with a slip stitch. Weave under end at back.

On the snowman card, the holes didn’t come out even to start the loop at right of center. If this happens on your card, just chain the 12 stitches for the loop after joining to the first stitch as I did on the snowman card loop.

If you don’t crochet, this recycled card project could be stitched with a large yarn needle by doing a whip stitch around in the holes with the yarn. This would be a fun kid’s craft project for Christmas too.

Here is a photo of the front side and then the back of two of the card ornaments I crocheted.

Click on any photo to super size it.

Here is a photo of the recycled Christmas card ornaments I have crocheted so far. You can hang these as ornaments or add them to a gift package for an added decoration. This is a fun recycled craft idea and also is a great way to re-purpose old Christmas cards. Enjoy!