Recycle Those Christmas Cards......

Recycle those Christmas cards and get some sewing experience for the little ones at the same time. This is one of our all-time favorite Christmas crafts! We do these every year! And every year this craft really speaks to one child or another at our home.

This year it was Ethan's year. From the first moment I pulled the supplies out he was READY! He had so much fun making them and has shared several with church friends already!

They are very simple to make. Take a Christmas card and cut the front and back apart. You will only use the front piece. Then take a hole punch and punch holes all around the four sides. Then using a coordinating piece of yarn (or two pieces like above) have them work a whip stitch all around the card. (I don't tell them they are doing a whip stitch.) I stay close by and help to make sure the yarn doesn't get knotted...because it does happen. We also use a plastic darning needle to make it go faster...but it can be done with no needle or you could wrap a piece of clear tape around the yarn tip to make it stiffer and therefore make it easier to "sew" in the holes. Then using a tail that we left at the top center when we started, and the leftover yarn, we make a hanger.

I don't think you can mess these up. They are so forgiving and yet so fun! The smaller ones can be hung on your tree but we generally hang them on interior doors or furniture like above. And the little ones LOVE to give these as gifts! They are always SO proud of their accomplishment and how can you not LOVE that!???