Upcycle Those Christmas Cards

If you haven't quite got round to recycling your pile of Christmas cards, why not upcycle them instead? I know that this is a bit late and most people took their decorations down last weekend, but even if you've already thrown away your cards, this is a great way to create your own gift tags during the rest of the year.

I love old fashioned, brown luggage/postage labels and already use them in my bib packaging, so I loved the idea of this label shaped punch when I read about it on the Offbeat & Inspired blog back in December. I immediately bought one online from Amazon and intended to use it to make some homemade labels for Christmas. Sadly I didn't actually get it until after Christmas, but when I was taking down all my Christmas cards last week I was thinking what a shame it was to throw them away when I remembered the punch.

It's so simple to use and strangely addictive, you find yourself wanting to punch label shapes out of everything! Now I have lots of labels ready for next year which I've packed away with the ribbons and Christmas wrapping paper. As it will be the first Christmas with a new baby, I think I'll be very glad that I was so organised!

I do intend to use it all year round to make pretty home made tags, like the ones made out of cereal boxes that Offbeat & Inspired originally blogged about that inspired me in the first place! Have a look at Sarah & Tiffany's beautiful tags here.