Crafts Made From Recycled Christmas Cards

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Do you recycle your Christmas cards (other cards work too)? When I was a child my mother bought some sandwich bags of decorations that were made by some church group. They were made with construction paper, Christmas cards, and curling ribbon. We had those for years and hung them up around the house every Christmas. When I was an adult, I made some of my own. Basically they were the cut out pictures on the Christmas cards, cut out with pinking shears. You could use any of the fancy scrapbooking scissors also. Then you cut two pieces of contrasting colored construction paper, also with the fancy edging, but the first piece just slightly larger and of the same shape as the Christmas card, and the second piece slightly larger than that piece. You can cut the Christmas card to any interesting shape that goes along with the picture. Then you take a paper punch and punch a hole through all three pieces of paper, and then tie the ribbon through the hole for hanging the finished decoration. Later when I worked as an activity director in nursing homes I found other ways to recycle Christmas cards and other greeting cards. These were used to make placemats. You would take a glass or can lid or other circular item about 4 inches diameter and make circles on the greeting card over the best part of the picture. Then you lay out some clear contact paper about the size of your placemat you want to make and start placing the cut circles on the placemat face down. If you want a two-sided placemat, place a second layer of circles face up on top of the ones you put face down. Then cover with a second piece of clear contact paper being careful to not get air bubbles in it. Finally, cut around the outside edge to make the shape you want for your finished place mats. What kinds of crafts have you made with recycled Christmas or greeting cards?