Repurpose your Christmas cards and gift wrap this year.

When the holidays come and go, that means its time to clean it all up and put everything away. Of course, every year our family always wonders what to do with all those thoughtful and pretty Christmas cards and leftover and used gift wrap. This year, I vowed to discover some clever repurposing ideas for reusing my gift wrap and Christmas cards. Here are some of the most unique and useful ideas I came across.

Repurposing Ideas for Christmas Cards and Wrapping Paper

1. Card Gift Boxes – Make gift boxes from old holiday and Christmas cards that can be used to package small trinkets like jewelry and ties!
2. Paper Holiday Card Garland – The patterns and prints of holiday cards are perfect for making a festive paper garland that can be used year after to year to save your cards.
3. Wrapping Paper Wrapped Candles – Use wrapping paper to make decorative pillar candles for a table centerpiece or to gift.
4. Card Bookmarks – I always love it whenever someone gifts me a book with a bookmark inside!
5. Christmas Card Wreath – Use this year’s Christmas cards to make a wreath for the next holiday season.
6. Wrapping Paper Bows – Stay away from those plasticized paper bows and instead make your own from leftover wrapping paper.
7. Festive Card Centerpiece – Use Christmas cards for a pretty and decorative centerpiece.
8. Wrapping Paper Wrapped Tin Cans – Turn recycling into practical storage containers.
9. Christmas Card Trees – This is a really clever idea to make decorative paper trees from cards.
10. Wrapping Paper Beaded Curtain – Use all that used wrapping paper to make paper beads and turn them into a beaded curtain.
11. Card Gift Tags – An obvious idea it to use cards to make DIY gift tags.
12. Card Luminary – A awesome idea for a decorative centerpiece.
13. Wrapping Paper Decoupaged Drawers – Leftover wrapping is perfect for decoupaging furniture pieces.
14. Geometric Card Ornaments – Make pretty ornaments from all this year’s Christmas cards.
15. Gift Toppers – Use Christmas cards as pretty gift toppers for brown paper wrapped packages.

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Top Image: Montclair Made

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If this is your idea of gift wrap, you really need to read on.

‘Tis the season we generate entirely too much trash. The EPA and Use Less Stuff estimates that from Thanksgiving to Christmas, the garbage we toss out increases by more than 25%, including food waste, shopping bags, packaging and – you got it – wrapping paper. Not to mention the bows and ribbons and frills, all of which add up to an additional 4 million tons in our landfills.

Here’s another option: go outside and source your trimmings from nature.

Stock up on recycled craft paper for the basic wrap-up, and use natural elements to provide the bling-factor. (Side note, old newspaper can fill in nicely here as well.)

Leaves and a bit of velvet ribbon adorn this bag, and the tag was made from a chop saw and birch log.

Invest in some baker’s twine and it will last you a forever.

If you could only smell this one, wrapped in craft paper, ribbon, raffia and rosemary.

My personal favorite: a bark wrapped gift, with acorns fixed to a black velvet ribbon and craft paper.

ALSO CHECK OUT:

See also…

DIY Alternatives to Traditional Holiday Gift Tags
11 DIY Alternatives to Traditional Christmas Trees
The Perfect DIY Gift: Mason Jar Photo Candles

Images: meddygarnet

The post 5 DIY Alternatives to Traditional Holiday Gift Wrap appeared first on EcoSalon.

While we generally avoid traditional paper gift wrap these days, a Berkeley MBA and mom has developed a line of more responsible coverage for those gifts: reusable, recycled bags.

Josie Gaillard’s Living Ethos made its debut in San Francisco this summer in selected boutiques. Now, the versatile and vivacious eco-chic wrap is available on the web.

What makes this attractive paper one to chase?

The sustainable gift bags come in 30 varied prints that are as attractive as upholstery fabrics. But instead of being assembled with cheap cotton, they are a high quality fabric born of recycled plastic bottles (hurray) and come with coordinated grosgrain ribbons also made of the same PET materials (hurray, again!).

They can be reused countess times – for gift-giving or storage – which is the goal when it comes to paper products. Just yesterday, I presented a bottle of wine in one, and the recipient returned the bag to me to use again. That was special.

The bags come in four sizes – mini, small, medium and large to fit small items like books and trinkets to larger gifts such as wine, clothing and toys. $28 for set of four. They are sewn locally in the Bay Area and the shipping envelopes also are reusable.

It’s all part of Gaillard’s effort to make it easier for consumers to “live their ethos.” Gaillard, a solar energy marketing professional turned entrepreneur, has a passion for product design and promises more stylish, sustainable goods to come.

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