Tuesday Tutorial: Christmas Card Saver

Every year we receive so many wonderful Christmas cards from friends and family. And every year I don't want to throw them away, so I put them in a box and put them away with the Christmas decorations. And then they just sit in a box year after year. So sad!

My older sis had put together a book of Christmas cards many, many, years ago - I think it was a craft at Church that her class did. I vaguely remember it, but was fascinated with the idea of "putting Christmas cards into a book". So this year, I was thinking about that book she made and decided to put all of our cards from this year into a book. This way, we can keep track of cards and update letters and pictures and such from each year. Like the December Daily Art Journal, you can pull these out each year and leave them on a coffee table or in a basket to look through. What fun! So, here's a quick tutorial I came up with on how to put a Christmas Card Book together :)

First, gather all your Christmas cards, update letters, pictures and a few envelopes.
Next, gather your supplies:
- Glue or adhesive (I use Tombow rolling permanent adhesive)
- Scissors or a rotary cutter, ruler and cutting mat
- Hole punch
- 2 pieces of Christmas-themed ribbon (several inches each, depending on how many cards you have) or two 1.5" jump rings (you can get these at WalMart or Staples - if you have a ton of cards that need to go into the book, you can make two or more books or purchase 2" jump rings at Staples)
- Optional: one piece of 5"x7" chipboard to serve as a sturdy back cover, and materials to make a front cover such as chipboard and embellishments
Next, separate your cards into three piles:
- Pile 1: Cards that are one sided and do not open (like photo cards or postcards)
- Pile 2: Cards that open and do NOT have writing or a picture on the inside left panel - we will be cutting these and covering up the inside left panel.

- Pile 3: Cards that open and DO have writing or a picture on the inside left panel-- these are ones that you do NOT want to cut or cover up any part of the card. These will go into the book as they are.

Now, take the cards in the second pile (that you do want to cut) and cut off the spine of each card, so as to separate them into two different pieces.

Next, put glue (or rolling adhesive) on the back of each of the fronts of the cards. Glue this to the back of the back of the card (once it is glued, you can see the writing and message on one side and the front of the card on the other side).

So, you will have one single card piece now - below is the front and the back.

Next, punch two holes in the left side of one of the cards - one hole about 2" from the top of the card, and one about 2" from the bottom of the card - both about 3/8" from the left side of the card (see picture below).

Use the card you just punched holes in as a guide to punching the holes in the rest of your cards. Since your cards are probably all different sizes, center the cards so that the holes are punched in the middle of each card (see picture below).

If you have a lot of update letters and/or pictures, punch holes in envelopes as well. You can then put the letters and pictures in there without having to punch holes in them.

All cards punched

Now, begin putting the cards on the binder rings, or threading the ribbon through each hole. I did one of each in the picture as an example, but ended up using the ribbon because I liked how it looked so festive :)

Finished binding (Example of one of each, ribbon and ring)

I made a cover for mine using a 5"x5" piece of chipboard, a picture I had taken of our Christmas card display this Christmas and a tag where I wrote "Christmas Cards 2009". A cover is completely up to you, but it might be helpful to somewhere document what year the cards are from.

Voila! A great way to keep all your cards together so you can look at them each Christmas.