Quick Crafts: Recycling Old Greeting Cards

If you happen to have a bunch or even a stash of old greeting cards at home, have you ever thought that you can recycle them and turn them into "brand new" items, with enough time and a lot of creativity on your part?

Greeting Cards: What Make Them Ideal Craft Materials

Greeting cards have different sizes and textures. 

Old greeting cards can be turned into different items, depending on their size. 

Just think: there are rectangular cards that would approximately be the size of A5 paper, as well as smaller ones. 

There are also square greeting cards and pop-up ones. There are even greeting cards that rival the size of broadsheets! 

If you have craft punchers in shapes like circle, star, heart, pine tree, etc., you can isolate a specific part of a greeting card and cut it with a craft puncher.

Greeting cards have festive colors.  

You're in luck if you've received greeting cards for Christmas for many years. 

Holiday greeting cards vary in artwork and designs -- from religious themes to winter scenes, to fancy decorations and humorous references to holiday traditions.

Using old greeting cards can be frugal.

In some craft projects, you may not need anything but a pair of scissors or paper cutter and a stash of old greeting cards.

Old greeting cards with glitter can be decorative.

If you want that "oomph!" to your DIY projects, look for greeting cards with glitter among your stash. 

You can incorporate 3D elements into old greeting cards. 

If you buy manufactured ephemera and die cuts, they can be incorporated into old greeting cards to create 3D effects by using glue dots. 

Having said all of the above, here are 5 ways to recycle old greeting cards:

Turning Old Greeting Cards Into New Ones 

If you have cardstock, patterned paper, die cuts, ephemera, scrapbook scissors, craft buttons, and stickers, you can make new greeting cards out of old ones.

Making Boxes Out of Old Greeting Cards

You can create a charming jewelry box with the whimsical theme of an old greeting card. 

If you can apply techniques like decoupage, you can take a plain cardboard box and use old greeting cards to decorate it.

Making Christmas Tree Ornaments Out of Old Greeting Cards

This project can help you cut costs for Christmas decorations. 

Incorporating 3D effects to old greeting cards will brighten up a Christmas tree.

Turning Old Greeting Cards Into Bookmarks 

This DIY project is relatively easy, and will delight children and adults alike who enjoy reading.

Making Gift Tags Out of Old Greeting Cards 

This DIY project is one of those "hacks" that can be used to reduce your gift giving budget. 

Just think of all those huge greeting cards in your stash that can potentially be turned into gift tags with paper cutter or scissors.

And attaching a gift tag recycled from an old greeting card works for a variety of packaging -- gifts placed inside a box, a paper bag, or even a jar.