Sharing and Showcasing Christmas Love!

Hey, look – it’s my DesignTies blog partner, Victoria! What’s she been up to lately?

Don’t you think it’s fantastic to get Christmas cards?! I certainly do!! What a wonderful way to share the Christmas LOVE!

Before I even get the mail into the house, I’m unceremoniously flipping through unwanted bills and junk mail, eagerly looking for Christmas cards from much-loved friends and family members. The pleasure I feel when there’s a card in the mail box bubbles in my tummy and makes me smile – you know what I’m talking about!

So given my love of receiving Christmas cards, you may be surprised to hear that I’ve never searched out a way to display them in a way that properly reflects that love.

BAD ME!!

The common sense place to display cards would be on my mantle… but I like to decorate mine with fir & spruce branches. Cards don’t stand up very well in the green stuff!

Some people I know clip their cards onto a ribbon draped across the window or wall. While I did consider this option, it just doesn’t capture the look I’m trying to achieve in my Christmas decorating.

So I Googled it (I love Google, almost as much as I love Christmas cards!)… “displaying Christmas cards”… and came across a fantastic blog post by Liz at Shorely Chic. If you haven’t seen it you HAVE to check it out!!

So much beautiful inspiration!

Here… take a look at a couple of my favourites from Liz’s post:

So with so many lovely ideas to inspire me, what did I do with my beloved Christmas cards this year? Here… let me show you my solution…

I took a framed iron architectural piece I covet (but haven’t found a permanent home for yet) and hung it temporarily (I used one of those great 3M removable hooks – no holes in my plaster walls!) on a wee wall next to the front door. This is the perfect place because when we enter the living room from the kitchen… the very view you’re looking at above… there are all the cards, perfectly displayed for all to see! Lovin’ it!!

Red ribbon & bows decorated with faux cranberries make it festive and hang the frame in place. 

When I receive a card I simply hole-punch it, slip a piece of ribbon in the hole and hang it on one of the iron curly-cues :-)

It’s perfect!

Look… here’s my special, very pretty silvery card from Kelly! Thank you K!! Yours is in the mail. Really! And look at the lovely card that Michelle from A Schematic Life gave me!! Michelle’s renderings are so beautiful and this Christmas inspired one is no exception!

Here’s another look at my Christmas card display, updated with those we received today!

How are you displaying your Christmas cards?

Thanks for letting me share a little of my own Christmas love, Kelly!

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And thanks V for sharing your project with us! I’m going to have to find a better way to display my cards – all six of them! ;-) And if you’re like me, you don’t want to throw away your cards after the holidays, but what can you do with them? Well, here are some ideas…

I can’t for the life of me remember where I recently saw Christmas cards used to create bunting. I read the post, commented on the post, and now I can’t remember what blog the post is on! If it’s yours, please let me know so I can link to it.

Wendy! It was Wendy at Desire to Decorate! Thanks for leaving the comment and refreshing my feeble memory! I love the bunting that Wendy created with her son, Liam:

To see more of Wendy’s beautiful Christmas decorations, click here.

Here are two other ideas for creating bunting from cards, starting with Cards By Paula (directions here).

Another variation by Arren Williams via HomeSense:

Also from Cards By Paula, gift tags (directions here).

And how about this wreath using holly-leaf shaped Christmas card cut-outs (from Good Housekeeping).

So there you go – great ways to display your cards this year AND next year!