Thursday 17 November 2011

Recycling A Christmas Card Tradition

My friend Audrey and I decided last year that we would save each others Christmas card with the challenge of recycling them to create our cards to each other this year.  The aim was to re-use every bit of the card....even the envelope!

This was Audrey's card to me last year


This beauty arrived in a plain white envelope with a white address label, with our names printed on it!

So I set about making my card, I carefully peeled off the deer (saving it for my envelope) and added a vellum flower  which was embossed with white powder onto two different colours of vellum using Penny Black's  "Christmas Pride" 40-075. The finishing touch was the sentiment from the clear set '"Winter Wonders" 30-087.   Here is the result


My only problem was that it now was too big for Audrey's original envelope, so a few scraps of coloured paper were added, the label coloured with distress inks and the deer strategically placed to hide our names....it looks a bit thrown together but at least I can say I used every last scrap that Audrey sent me.



This was a fun recycling challenge, we aim to carry on this tradition for a few years yet, so I will wait with baited breath to see what Audrey does with this card for next year!

5 comments:

Barb said...

What a neat idea, Cathy! I love the way you changed her card by turning it and adding that GORGEOUS flower! The deer on the envelope was a brilliant idea too! Hope you'll share how she changed your original card too! So fun! :)

Lin said...

I LOVE this idea, Cathy! I may try this (in secret, to surprise her) with a card-making friend! Sending hugs, sista!!

Elizabeth Allan said...

Stunning use of vellum!

Mel G said...

Simply amazing Cathy! The flower is absolutely stunning!! And what a fun way to recycle!!

Paula (PEP) said...

Amazing to use ALL of the pieces including the envelope. The vellum flower is a real stunner & I love the way you thought yourself out of the envelope size difficulty.
Paula (PEP)