Upcycle Your Christmas Cards Into A Tree

In keeping with my "never throw anything out" theme, please don't get rid of your old Christmas cards. It's a waste to just trash those pretty pictures when you can turn them into something else beautiful. Think about trimming them down to make new cards, cutting them into ornaments or taking a stack of cards and making a one-of-a-kind Christmas tree.

Gather everything you need: a stack of old Christmas cards, your circle cutter, a hole punch, tape, scissors, lollipop sticks, a small piece of cardboard and a drinking straw.

Use your circle cutter to make a variety of sizes from the fronts of cards, each one just a fraction of an inch smaller than the one before. Center the cutter so the edges will be pretty and multicolored, since you obviously won't see the center of the circle.

This one I chose for the blues and yellows around the edge of the cut circle.

Cut a circle from the cardboard the same size as your largest circle. Punch a hole in the center of both the cardboard and the circle. Thread the stick through both holes and tape it on the bottom. The sturdier this base is, the better. Continue and punch holes in the center of all the circles.

Now you're ready to stack the circles. Cut a small piece of the straw to use as a spacer. Make it no more than 1/4 of an inch or you'll run out of room. 

Alternate circles and straw pieces over the stick.

Each circle is slightly smaller than the one before, so you'll see the tree getting narrower as you near the top.

Finish off the tree with a star on top. Cut one from another card, cut a matching star for the back and sandwich them around the top of the stick using double stick tape.

When you look down at it from the top, you'll see all the beautiful colors and patterns you chose while cutting your circles.