1. Winter Wreath

If you are now in need of a winter wreath after taking down your holiday one, this DIY will become one of your favorite ways to upcycle Christmas cards. You don’t need much to create this beautiful craft with your cards. A circle punch will come in handy if you have one; if not, you can find them in the scrapbook section at craft stores and some dollar stores may have them as well. I love this design over at bhg.com or this one that uses a holly stencil at goodhousekeeping.com.

2. Coasters

Some of the Christmas cards I’ve received have gorgeous family photos on them, and those are ones that I definitely don’t want to throw away! A wonderful way to display these types of cards is to turn them into coasters. It’s pretty simple too; if you have cardboard or corkboard you can cut out the photo and glue it to this for a sturdy backing. You will also want to use mod podge for the front of the photo to give it a protective coating. Check out zenforyou.dalefg.net for the complete tutorial.

3. Bookmarks

I haven’t thought of this idea before, but making a bookmark from your old Christmas cards is such a great way to make an inexpensive (free, really!) gift for someone. Many holiday cards have great quotes on them and would be perfect for a bookmark. I love this pattern that blogger Lori created on her bookmark over at blog.goodsmiths.com. Isn't it genius?

4. Keepsake Mini Books

If you would like to keep your Christmas cards intact to look over the memories later on, try this keepsake mini book idea from blog eighteen25.blogspot.com. It’s a great way to share these cards with your little ones when they are older, especially if the card has a sweet message from grandma and grandpa in it.

5. Gift Tags

How many times did you need a gift tag last year and just cut out a piece of the wrapping paper to write on and tape to the gift? Well, why not turn your old holiday cards into beautiful gift tags for any occasion?! You can use scissors to cut your gift tags from your cards, but a circle or tag punch would really help make this DIY much easier. Oh, now I want to go make these with my Christmas cards! Who is already reaching for their cards to make some of these crafts?!

6. Postcards

Many of these upcycle crafts are not only great for holiday cards, but for old birthday cards as well. I love this postcard idea from makingthishome.com; this is probably one of these easiest repurposed crafts I’ve seen! You’ll want to use thicker cards for this idea though, so they survive being put through the mail service.

7. Garland

If I had to choose one, I think this garland idea would be my favorite out of all of these upcycled Christmas card crafts. You can hang this year round based on what parts of the cards you cut, or you can make it a more holiday-inspired design to use next year for your Christmas tree, like Diane did over on inmyownstyle.com. Would you cut up your holiday cards to use for a garland?

I know you love these upcycled Christmas card ideas, but which one is your favorite?