Save those Christmas Cards

And recycle them into a Christmas ABC book!

When we were expecting our first daughter, my husband's mom gave us an ABC book that she made out of Christmas cards. She had made one for each of her children when they were young and was passing down my husband's to us. I decided then I wanted to make one for my nephew. I started collecting our Christmas cards. And my parents'. And my husband's parents'.

Five years later, I had enough cards.  I'm telling you...it took forever because so many people send out family picture cards or Christmas emails.  So now it is no longer just my nephew in that family, but 2 nephews and a brand new niece.  I do have some left over cards, but you need a ton to be able to choose for each letter and then the number.

My husband's mom made hers in 1" binders with page protectors and red and green paper.  I made mine in an 8x8 scrapbook with page protectors (had to buy 2 refill packs to add to it) and Christmas scrapbook paper.  Both are super easy.  Hers has more room on a page and is cheaper by far.

The one I made for my nephews and niece

The one made for my husband

Here are some hints I used/realized:

• Group similar cards (i.e. angels, snowmen, etc.)
• Leave letters that have multiple words (S is for Shepards, Star, Snowman, Snow, Snowflake, etc) for last
• Use a business card template for the wording, I only had to cut a few smaller
• Wish I would have used less patterned paper for the backgrounds, some are too busy to read
• Let glue dry for a at least 45 minutes to ensure it doesn't make the page protectors go wavy.  (You can see it in mine on pages "X" & "Y")
• I had to go to the dollar store and pick up a few cards for letters I didn't have, like "Y" (yule log).

The kids loved these books and gazing at each picture.  It does take some effort in collecting and sorting out each letter, but it is pretty simple after that, just cutting and gluing.

Here is the Christmas ABC document I created to help me sort out cards.  It is just what I gathered from here and there so it is rough.  There are repeats, some very closely worded, and some without rhymes.  You can really do whatever you can come up with.  The ones in bold are the ones I ended up using with the cards I had.

Start collecting those Christmas cards now (ask family and neighbors for the fronts of theirs too), or your kids might be graduating from high school by the time you get enough.

Heads up: Also you may be able to score cheap some cards the day after Christmas at the store.  And  I saw a Christmas card at Wal-mart that had children holding hands around a world - perfect for letter "U".  Don't know how much it was though.  Some cards are way too expensive.

Christmas Ornaments

Growing up with 8 siblings required our family to be a little creative when it came to finances. One thing my mother did was make our Christmas ornaments. I really enjoy having a very beautifully decorated tree (that matches) and looks gorgeous but sometimes it is fun to have a very personalized Christmas tree. The great thing about looking at a very homemade Christmas decorated tree is that floods of memories and good times come back when you look at it every year. So for this post I'll be showing you how to make your own group of choir singers from soda pop cans. The other cool thing about this particular ornament is you can make each individual choir member look like each member of the family. I didn't think of that until after I made these so they don't really look like anyone I know-they're just and interesting group of people!

I started with a 6 pack of sodas. The easy part-drink them. They must be empty. Then rinse them out.
Then, step on them sideways like this. (above) They work best if you can manage to get the bottom of the can to not be seen but I really can't give any tips on how to get them to turn out any specific way (as you can see...)
Then I painted them a solid color. If you want the choir to match that is fine. I went with Orange, black, green and brown. I painted the faces peachy color for skin.
Then using a sharpie I drew in facial expressions. I also colored hole that you drink out of pink (or red) to mimic the inside of the mouth.
Then I added hair (all brown yarn). You can use whatever color you choose for hair.
A last detail I added was choir books complete with a song and notes.
I planned to give these to some friends so I wrote 'Merry Christmas from our family to yours, Dec. 2011' on the outside of the choir book.
I also used green felt to cut out circles for their hands (they are wearing green mittens)

This is a fun project, I let my 3 yr old paint her own but the older kids get the more creative they get with their details. It would make a fun night of family time! I hope you enjoy. Happy Holidays!