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Making my Christmas cards go further!

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By Practical Frog
One of my frugal habits is to wait until January to grab my Christmas cards! Cards that were $5 for 5 will be 50c and so on and so forth. I simply pop them in with the Christmas decoration when I'm putting them away and then when Christmas rolls around - there they are waiting for me at an inth of the price and none of the hassle!

This time I thought I was being clever and used some of the envelopes in the new packs to return last years card in (see my post on adding depth to Christmas card giving!) and then of course I ran out of last years cards and needed to use the new ones - but I had run out of envelopes that fitted them... What to do? Run to the shops? More cards? More envelopes? More money?

Then I had a better idea - why didn't I just cut the card to fit the envelope I had?

Here's what I did...

Cleared some space on my Christmas card writing space!!!



Extracted the new cards from their packs on a cleared space

Found enough envelopes to do the last 6 cards - even though they are too small for the card.

Held the envelope over the card to see where I needed to cut the card in order not to ruin the image but to still get it into the envelope.

And then simply cut the edges of the card off to fit!

Just like a bought one! And I didn't have to go to the shops just for 6 cards or 6 envelopes!


I have done this in the past with birthday cards that get separated from their envelopes for various reasons! Most random patterns work well. Most pictures don't. The printers have already centred them and cutting them up can make it look a bit "butchered". The idea is to be subtle enough that people don't realise that they are holding a card that has been altered!

When I recycle cards that have no usable envelope or are a weird shape and wont fit into a standard envelop, I make one out of a piece of A4 printer paper and a bit of sellotape (sticky tape). It always fits perfectly and takes only a few seconds to make a new envelope for the card. If you wanted to you could always use decorated paper to make your envelopes even more special!

Merry Christmas! May all your cards fit your envelopes! 
Score card:
Green-ness: 4/5 Pretty green to use up old supplies of Christmas Cards
Frugal-ness: 5/5 for not spending more than a few $ on cards each year (postage not included!!)
Time cost: Probably a bit more than usual as I have to muck around with each card to make an envelope or to make the card fit the envelope...
Skill level: Cutting and pasting - my favourite!
Fun-ness: Always great fun to spend a few hours cutting and pasting
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Comments

Anonymous said…
I learn something new every day. I never would have thought to trim the cards. They turned out great.
17 December 2012 at 03:34
Practical Frog said…
It took me a while to see that solution too! But it worked well! - Kxx
18 December 2012 at 09:25
JACS Team said…
I also pick up cards and wrapping paper after Christmas if it cheap. I keep all my xmas / birthday cards and wrapping implements in a suit bag and hang it in a spare cupboard. So when I need to wrap something there is always cards, scissors, sticky tape and a pen all ready to go.
25 December 2012 at 20:32
Practical Frog said…
Ah - good idea! I have mine all in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet now. The Christmas bits that I pick up now will be packed away with the Christmas decorations so when I get them out next year, they will be sitting there waiting for me without any fuss or hassle! - K xx
26 December 2012 at 13:52
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