Recycle Your Holiday Photo Cards

The Holidays are over and many of us have received adorable and unique holiday photo cards from friends and family. They looked great sitting on our mantle, hanging on the wall and displayed on our tables and refrigerators. But now what do you do with them? Here are a few creative ideas to help you recycle your photo cards and save them as keepsakes for years to come.

Create a Photo Album: Buy an inexpensive photo or scrapbook album or even a binder with sheet protectors and place the photo cards inside. Categorize them by year or by family. Categorizing them by family is great because you can look back and see how much the family has grown and changed over the years. You can also write notes or memories next to each photo. Get your kids involved and have them help you create the album.

Christmas Tree Ornaments: Purchase some large round ornaments in any color and size during the after Christmas sales. You can usually get them for half off. You can also recycle old ornaments that you might have otherwise thrown away. Cut out the photos from the cards you received and use a decoupage type glue that you can find at any craft store to apply the photos. Let them dry and store them away to decorate your tree for next year.

You can also cut out fun designs like trees, snowflakes and snowmen on construction paper and glue the photos on. Cut a hole in the top and use recycled ribbon from all of your holiday packages to create a hanging ornament. These are both great projects for kids.

Framed Photo Collage: Create a photo collage with your photo cards. You can cut the photos or leave them as is and arrange them in a collage design on a piece of construction paper or cardstock. Purchase an inexpensive frame or use one that you already have to display the photo collage. You can put it out next year at Christmas or keep it up year round.

Gifts: You can use the photo cards that you received from friends and family this year to make a gift for that friend or family member next Christmas or even for mother's day, father's day, Easter or Valentine's Day. Great gift ideas are coasters, placemats and framed photo cards.