Recycled Christmas Cards Placemats ~ Green So Easy

I keep all the Christmas Cards we get every year. I keep the photo ones, and the regular ones.

This year I noticed my stash of cards was getting a little thick, so I decided we should make a craft from them.

Since I was going to be hosting a Christmas Dinner, doing place mats seemed like a perfect idea!! I hope you enjoy Squish's Recycled Christmas Card Place Mats!

We started with some Recycled paper. I bought a big roll of it. I plan on using it for all of our wrapping and crafting needs.

I laid it our on our floor, and taped the ends down. I then laid out some colored paper.

I cut some shapes using Christmas Cookies and Sponges. I actually will probably use thicker sponges next time, but in a pinch this worked okay.

I made sure I had a bath ready to go. (We were painting right outside the bathroom too so I was sure to contain the paint to one main area.)

I then stripped the Squish down to his diaper. In the future I will either use a disposable for the craft, or if I am not going to take pictures, I may just let him go at it sans clothing.

I released the Squish, and let him go to town. I got in on the fun too, and we had a blast. The paint was washable and non-toxic.

If you are going to do this project with a child as young as mine, I say embrace the mess and just have fun!

After a bath and a day to let the paper dry, I folded the brown paper in half, and cut it into 3 segments. I then cut those segments in half using the fold as my guide.

The nice thing about this project is it really is a kids project, so perfection isn't needed!

I selected 6 cards from our stash to use for the place mats, cut some ribbon, and glued them on.

I took them to a Office Supply Store, and trimmed them down, then had them laminated in an 11x17 sheet.

I am pretty happy with how they turned out!

I know my guests and family also enjoyed them. I love how you can see Squishy's footprints on them too! Fun times!!

We can use these for years to come. And as we have more children, we can add to our collection of Recycled Christmas Card Place Mats!

Thanks for reading my Recycled tutorial. Green so easy, even a Toddler can do it!

This week I am joining in Skip to My Lou's Made by You Mondays. It is my first time linking up, but I hope it isn't my last!