recycled cards Archives - Carolyn Hasenfratz Design

*Bookmarks made from recycled greeting cards*

I love beautiful images on greeting cards, and it’s very satisfying finding ways to get more use out of the card images when the special occasion is over. My Dad also gets a lot of unused greeting cards in the mail for marketing purposes. We don’t like to waste things if we can help it so I make a lot of paper craft projects that make use of upcycled greeting cards.

One of the easiest things to make out of a nice greeting card is a bookmark. In this tutorial I’ll show you how to make beautiful bookmarks while learning a number of paper crafting skills you can use in all kinds of future paper craft projects.

Tools and Materials

Paper cutter
Scissors
Pencil or pen
Corner rounder (optional)
Scrap cardstock
Scrap chipboard
Craft knife
Self-healing cutting mat
Bookmark template diagrams: Page 1 Page 2
Glue sticks
Squeegee or bone folder for burnishing glued paper
Assortment of greeting cards to recycle
Decorative papers and found images for collaging
Scrap paper for your surface while gluing and painting
Hole punch
White gesso or paint
Metallic paint
Painting supplies: small brushes, palette knife, water container, mixing surface, rags, etc.
Thread or ribbon for the top
Optional embellishments: rub-ons, rubber stamps, stickers

To start out I’ll show you two ways to make rounded corners for your bookmarks.

Make a window template – Method 1

If you have a corner rounder, try this. Use your paper cutter to cut scrap cardstock into rectangles of different sizes and shapes.

Round the corners with a corner rounder decorative paper punch.

*Cut out rectangles then round the corners with a corner rounder punch*

Trace around the rounded rectangles onto scrap chipboard.

Place the template onto a self-healing cutting mat and cut out the bookmark shapes to make windows.

Make a window template – Method 2

If you don’t have a corner rounder punch, try this. Download and print out the bookmark template diagrams I made (Page 1 Page 2). Cut out and paste the bookmark shapes onto scrap chipboard, then cut out with a craft knife.

Next, trace the bookmark outlines onto the greeting cards where you see an image or design that you like, then cut the bookmarks out.

*On the left, bookmarks ready to start partially covering with collaged paper pieces.*

Add collaged paper pieces

Cover the parts you don’t want showing, like text from when it was a greeting card, with torn or cut papers. If you’re not sure where to start, tearing out paper for backgrounds and cutting out images for the foreground helps me get started if I don’t have any other ideas.

*Tearing paper scraps to size to cover up writing from the greeting card.*

Add embellishments

If you have any further embellishments you want to add, place them now. For example this image shows a rub-on being applied over the collaged paper.

*Applying a rub-on image to a collaged bookmark*

Some other embellishment suggestions:
Stickers
Rubber stamps
Sentiments and words either stamped onto paper or cut from other cards
Postage stamps
Small images stamped in black ink and either cut or torn out
Punched paper shapes

*Painting the edges with gesso and paint*

Paint the edges

To give the bookmarks a finishing touch, paint the edges with your favorite metallic paint.

On some of my bookmarks I brushed a slightly wider edge first with white paint mixed with clear gesso. I wanted a bit more transparency than I was getting from white gesso straight out of the jar. You can experiment with what you have to get an effect that you like.

Add ribbon or thread to the top

*Thread ribbon, twine or thread through the top hole*

Two ways of making gift tags from paper scraps and free downloadable files that I’ve prepared. Rubber stamp credits for left image: “Love” and tiny heart by CarolynHDesign, butterfly and notebook texture by 7Gypsies, “celebrate” by Making Memories. Right image: “You are loved”, flower and butterfly by Fiskars, decorative border by CarolynHDesign.

Here is another entry in a series of articles I’m working on about things you can make from old greeting cards and paper scraps. Tags are a useful thing to make and keep on hand for gift giving and gift presentation. Great presentation is one of the best parts of getting a gift – some thought and care makes a gift personal and special.

Instructions – Method 1

Download and print out the template Gift Tags Set 1. Loosely cut out the tag shapes from the template and with the glue stick glue them down to the backs of parts of old greeting cards. Burnish well with a bone folder for a tight seal. To keep surfaces clean and to prevent ink and toner from getting onto surfaces, place the pieces you burnish between two pieces of clean scrap paper.

Trim around the outer edge of the tags to cut out. Now you have a tag with To: and From: printed on one side and a design or a plain color on the other, depending on what was on the recycled card.

*After trimming*. *Some of the tags are interesting as they are. Most will need some more decoration.*

Add strips of decorative paper to the sides of the the tags that need more decoration.

Give the edges of both sides of the tags a decorative treatment, with rubber stamps and/or paint markers.

Now they are done and you can write them out and tie them to the package with ribbon or twine.

Instructions – Method 2

Cut a bunch of tag shapes out of scrap cardstock and greeting card parts. If you think you will make a lot of tags, you might find it helpful to make yourself a set of templates for tracing tag shapes out of scrap chipboard or other thick paper scraps.