It’s nearly our favourite time of the year again! As a stationery lover, Christmas time is by far the best season for fancy handmade wrapping paper, beautiful Christmas gift tags, and the most lovely artist designed Christmas cards Australia has to offer. If you’re like us here at The Nonsense Maker you have probably been stocking up on beautiful stationery throughout the year and now is your chance to let loose!
The flip side of being a person who loves to give greeting cards, is that when you receive a special handmade Christmas card or a birthday card by an Australian artist you often can’t bring yourself to throw it away, or even pack it away into a box. That is why we’ve compiled a list of our top ideas on how to display your handmade Christmas cards, all year round!
Begin by displaying greeting cards on a shelf
Unlike letters, love notes, or emails, greeting cards are designed to be displayed. They are printed on cardboard and folded to stand up on their own (or at least the high quality greeting cards do), and they are small enough to fit on your mantel without getting in the way. If you don’t have a mantel, a bookshelf or even a shelf in your wardrobe make wonderful temporary homes for your Christmas cards. We would argue that all greeting cards start their journey here, before either being reused, recycled, or moved to a more permanent home.
How long should you keep a greeting card?
Let’s start out by answering this age old question, what is the socially acceptable amount of time to display a Christmas card? We recommend displaying all greeting cards for at least a week or two after receiving them. Remember that even though they may not have much written in them, or the design doesn’t particularly inspire you, a greeting card is still a gift. A thoughtful gesture like taking the time to write a card always deserves some recognition.
As for greeting cards with wonderful personal messages, or particularly beautiful handmade greeting card designs, try one of these longer term solutions.
Hint: if you struggle to write thoughtful messages in your Christmas cards, read our blog on what to write in a Christmas card for some inspiration!
Framed greeting cards
A handmade Christmas card is essentially a mini art print of a local artists artwork, with the added bonus of having a lovely sentiment attached if it has been written in. The Nonsense Maker’s Christmas cards are all a standard C6 size (11.4cm x 16.2cm) so they fit into a regular small frame. If you have an awkward size Christmas card, or a bigger frame, you can cut a piece of coloured paper to match the frame size and position the card in the centre, sandwiched between the paper and the glass.
Framed greeting cards are small, which makes them great for padding out or filling up those little gaps in your gallery wall. Or, if you have enough of them, you can make up an entire gallery wall just of greeting cards! For more information on setting up a gallery wall and tips on framing, check out our article on tips for decorating with wall art.
Temporarily framing handmade Christmas cards
Handmade Christmas cards are undoubtedly wonderful, but we understand you might not be into having that Christmas cheer hanging on your walls every month of the year. That is why we love Corner Block Studio. This awesome Australian design brand, run by Brisbane couple Natalie and Leith, have invented a card frame which lets you quickly and easily swap out greeting cards and hang them beautifully and professionally on your wall. All frames are handmade from recycled Australian hardwood and sustainable Queensland hoop pine, and can be used over and over and over again!
More creative ways to display Christmas cards
If framing your Christmas cards feels like a step too far, but you still want them displayed nicely over the holiday season, here are a few crafty ideas you can try this December.
Christmas cards displayed on a string
Like a lovely sentimental washing line, this is a classic Christmas card display option. You can either hook the cards straight on, or attach them with pegs or paper clips so the Christmas designs are the right way up.
Christmas cards displayed on a pin board
Create a giant Christmas card collage by taking all your favourite handmade Christmas cards and arranging them on a pin board. To get you started you can group the designs in colours, or in themes like Australian Christmas cards, animal Christmas cards, or food themed Christmas cards. Don’t be afraid to overlap the deigns for a messy creative collage look!
Christmas cards displayed on a Christmas tree
If you have a big Christmas tree in your home your special handmade Christmas cards can double as handmade Christmas ornaments! Hole-punch the top of the card and thread some ribbon through it, using this to tie the cards to the tree branches. This also works really well with unique Christmas gift tags!
Display Christmas cards displayed in a jar
This is a fun way to turn your favourite handmade Christmas cards into a unique table setting for Christmas lunch. Find a jar that is at least the size of the greeting card and carefully curl the card so it fits through the jar opening, with the illustration facing outwards behind the glass. You could then fill the jar with lollies, tinsel, or battery powered fairy lights to make it extra fancy.
Display Christmas cards displayed as coasters
For the slightly more involved crafty people out there, you can turn your favourite Christmas cards into unique handmade coasters by first trimming the design into a square or circle, and then gluing them onto a tile of the same shape and size. Next coat the top with a layer of resin and leave to set.
Use these ideas to transform your last calendar
All these tips and tricks can also be used to display any unique handmade gift tags you receive, or to display artworks from last year’s calendar, making room for a fresh calendar to take its place!
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