Reusable Upcycled Santa Christmas Card

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Challenge number 4 in our 12 Days of Christmas DIY Challenges is to use a cereal or other cardboard box and supplies you have in your home to make a Christmas Card.

Earlier I posted my first response to this challenge -
a Reusable Upcycled Snowman Card.  

But I also decided to make another of my Reusable Upcycled Christmas Cards that I designed and made last year.  They are made of card covered in fabric and have a clear plastic pocket on the inside where you can slip in a piece of paper with your greeting on.  The card is designed with the idea that the recipient can remove the greeting and replace it with a new one to resend the card to someone new the next year! I printed labels to sew on the back of my cards to tell people what the idea behind the cards is! 

Here's how to make this Reusable Upcycled Santa Christmas Card for yourself!

You will need:
A cereal or other cardboard box,

Some red fabric and a scrap of white fabric.

Some gold, silver or black buttons for the ..buttons!
A length of black ribbon and a soda can ring pull for the belt buckle.

And a piece of clear plastic for the greeting pocket. You can cut this from packaging when you buy clothes or sheets!

First of all cut your card. You can cut any size you like, but I cut mine 11 x 15 cm  (4.5 x 6"). Then cut two rectangles of fabric larger than this piece of card. Cut a piece of clear plastic 8 x 10 cm (3 x 4").

First lay your strip of white fabric centrally on the right hand side of one of your red pieces of fabric. (fold the fabric in half like a card to help with this) and pin into place. Stitch around all 4 edges using a tight zig zag or applique stitch.

Thread your ribbon through your ring pull to make the 'buckle' for Santa's belt, then lay your ribbon across the whole width of the card with the buckle over the white fabric.

My ribbon was wider than the ring pull so I just folded it in half so that it fitted.

Hand stitch the two buttons onto the white fabric strip above the belt.

  This is also when I add in my logo and information on the back of the card - printed on fabric then appliqued onto the main fabric.

Take your other red fabric rectangle and fold in half to determine the inside left and right of the card. Pin your piece of clear plastic to the middle of the right hand side. Then applique or tight zig-zag stitch around the two sides and bottom edge. Leave the top open so you can slip in your paper greeting!

Now your pieces are ready to put together.

Use a glue stick to glue your three layers together with the right sides of the fabric facing outwards and the cardboard in the middle.

Once your layers are stuck together, machine stitch around all 4 edges just inside the cardboard edge.  I save old blunt machine needles for sewing through things like card - it might be an idea to use an old rather than a new needle for this!

Trim the edges with pinking shears to neaten.

 Now fold your card in half and it's ready to add a greeting and send to someone special this Christmas!

So that's 2 cards made for this year. I think I'll have to get to work making more!! There's still plenty of time before Christmas!  Why don't you have a go too! The idea is that these cards can be reused again year after year! Much more eco-friendly than the usual cards that are only single use!! (although do often get upcycled as gift tags or boxes!)

To see the video setting this challenge, other ideas for cards and to add your own project to the linky, go here!

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Each day a challenge will be set by means of a video and blog posts giving some suggested ideas and crafts. These posts will also contain a linky party for anyone and everyone who wants to join in to link up their projects - both past and present, that answer the challenge.  The linky party can be found on all our blogs and we'll  try and come up with different ideas and tutorials for the challenges too. So please to visit us all, and then share your ideas with us as well! We're looking forward to seeing how these challenge are met!

Ready, Steady....Let's Christmas Craft!


The 12 Days of Christmas DIY Challenges is brought to you by

Jill @ Creating my way to Success
Vicky @ Vicky Myers Creations
Anna @ Tea and a Sewing Machine
Pam @ Threading My Way
Anne @ Domesblissity

Previous Challenges
Challenge 1 - Upcycle old clothes to Christmas Decoration
Challenge 2 - Make a Christmas Gift from a pair of old jeans
Challenge 3 - Make a fun Christmas snack - use what you've got