Do you hate throwing your Christmas cards away every year as much as I do? This year I decided to try to come up with some way to preserve our Christmas cards, as well as find a way to organize all the Christmas letters I've been faithfully filing away for the past six years. I decided to make an album for our Christmas letters using decoupage to decorate the covers with this year's Christmas cards.
I love decoupage. It's so easy to do and so versatile. It's really hard to get it wrong. I started by finding something to paste the Christmas cards on. I had some dark red card stock (next to the paper at the office supply store) that seemed heavy enough to withstand all the gluing. Next I cut our Christmas cards into all different shapes and sizes. I cut out little characters, scenes, holiday greetings, and even signatures of loved ones who had sent the cards. I next arranged the cutouts, overlapping one another, on the card stock, and started applying them one by one with the decoupage finish.
There are several kinds of decoupage finish available. You can find a variety at your local craft store. I have two different kinds: Plaid Royal Coat Antique Decoupage Finish, and Mod Podge Gloss-Lustre. The first one gives an antique-like appearance. The paste yellows when it dries, making your collage look aged. The more you apply, the yellower it gets. The Mod Podge dries clear. I used the antique finish and was quite happy with the result. You use the finish to actually glue the individual pieces on with a paintbrush, and then when you're finished (adding scraps here and there to fill in the blank spots), you brush a coat over the entire page. After it dries for about 10 minutes, you can apply another coat. I found that adding several coats made the pages sturdier?more like a album cover, like I wanted. I had just enough Christmas card cutouts to cover two pages, one for the front cover, and one for the back cover.
After the pages were dry, I used a three-hole punch to punch holes in the covers. I decided I would use wide fabric holiday ribbon to tie the covers together. That way every year I could untie the bows and add new letters to my album. I used 2 1/2 -inch-wide wire satin ribbon (dark red). I liked the wire ribbon. It was easier to adjust the bows and looked really nice. It was also leftover from my holiday gift making this year, so I didn't have to buy any extra.
When the covers were ready, I arranged our Christmas letters from oldest to most recent, and punched holes in all of them. I then placed them between the covers and inserted the ribbon through the holes and tied big red bows to hold them together. I chose not to string ribbon through all three holes?just the top and the bottom.
I was really happy with how my keepsake Christmas album turned out. It was easy, took only about two hours to make, and I didn't have to buy anything extra to make it. After you buy the decoupage finish (about $5 a bottle), the uses for it are almost limitless. You can apply it to almost any surface, giving you the opportunity to create timeless keepsakes in a variety of ways.
Originally published at Suite 101. Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com
Going on a family vacation can be considerably more expensive... Read More
Valentine's Day...the day of love right? Many years ago, 22... Read More
If you're looking for ways to decorate your home in... Read More
Forty years ago when I was growing up on our... Read More
Turkey ... Stuffing ... Cranberry Sauce ... Pumpkin PieThis is... Read More
It's not only the candy that puts smiles on kids'... Read More
It's impossible to remember what gift is traditional for each... Read More
Remember when no one started Christmas shopping until after Thanksgiving?Wisconsin... Read More
Things have come a long way since a Christmas ornament... Read More
If you*re like me, the holidays always have a way... Read More
Twentieth through the twenty-fourth anniversaries traditional gift is china. Vintage... Read More
On July 4th 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration... Read More
Birthday celebrations date back as far as biblical times, when... Read More
The Holiday season has officially begun and Christmas is almost... Read More
Did you know that after Christmas, Valentine's Day is the... Read More
If you're looking for great ways to decorate your home... Read More
North Pole- The word is out! Due to an "unpublished... Read More
Mother's Day is the day when sons, daughters and husbands... Read More
For many people the end of a year is a... Read More
A Creative Dream Come TrueA hush falls over the room... Read More
Of all the holidays throughout the year, the Fourth of... Read More
Trying to fit all the planning and preparing and celebrating... Read More
I love this time of year -- decorations on the... Read More
Halloween ? so starts the Holiday Season. The average American... Read More
Holiday spending can be a wonderful time. We shop for... Read More
Originally this was going to be a list for my... Read More
It can be very hard to find that one perfect... Read More
Why is it that whenever you go to a holiday... Read More
Gift Baskets are an ideal gift for nearly any occasion.... Read More
It's your home/your apartment and you want to make it... Read More
Selecting the right gift for a special someone is sometimes... Read More
How many times have you heard a friend say about... Read More
Are you bored with the routine of city life? Do... Read More
Some time ago I received a gift from both of... Read More
Last Christmas, Uncle Albert promised his neighbor, Wilson, to find... Read More
With all the travel, gift buying, last minute cramming at... Read More
Few things are more thrilling for a trick-or-treater than walking... Read More
The Holiday Season can be a wonderful time of year,... Read More
Thirteen years ago I became quite intrigued with the idea... Read More
"It is therefore recommended ... to set apart Thursday the... Read More
The last Monday of May since 1868, has been designated... Read More
If you are like me and are a very lousy... Read More
One of the tools I use as a professional organizer... Read More
As we reach the time of year when Christmas items... Read More
This is my daughter's first Christmas. Naomi will be nearly... Read More
MADRID ? For millions of Americans, this Fourth of July... Read More
When Halloween comes around and you want to throw a... Read More
1.) BEGIN NOW !!!Don't save your shopping, decorating, cooking, wrapping,... Read More
Do you know how to save money at Christmas and... Read More
History of OrnamentsIn A.D. 336, an early Roman calendar first... Read More
Halloween is an exciting night for children and a busy... Read More
Do November's Thanksgiving experiences have you dreading the December holidays?... Read More
Abraham Lincoln said ? "All that I am, or hope... Read More
"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!" If... Read More
I can recall from my days in England, watching television... Read More
A birthday gift is the opportunity to show your loved... Read More
Mother's Day is the day when sons, daughters and husbands... Read More
When we think of Holiday shopping, we think of all... Read More
First, a disclaimer:This article requires information about John the Baptist,... Read More
What do you get for the man who has always... Read More
No matter what the season, packages make a statement even... Read More
"Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving... Read More
So Christmas is a few months away. Seems like a... Read More
So you ate, drank and spent too much over the... Read More
At the end of the movie "Braveheart," William Wallace is... Read More
Valentines Day is one of the most enigmatic of holidays,... Read More
Holiday |