DIY Christmas Card Holder

In years past, I have hung our Christmas cards on a single ribbon strung from a poinsettia.  Each year we tend to receive more and more Christmas cards than the previous year, so I knew that this year I needed to expand.  I thought two long ribbons should do the trick as it would double our space, so I set out to make something.

What You Need

Board or canvas (mine is a 6 x 18 canvas from Target… only 9.99 for two!)

Pencil

Paint pen for lettering (I love the Sharpie brand paint pens)

Paint and paint brush OR Mod Podge and glitter for border

Ribbon to string cards

Ribbon to hang card holder

Staple gun

Clothes pins

Spray paint

Step One

Using the pencil, free hand whatever you want to say on the holder.  I loved the term “Merry Mail” since that’s exactly what it is, and I also decided to pencil in a border to paint later for an extra pop. 

Step Two

Once you’re satisfied with your lettering, use the paint pen to paint your letters.  I did several coats to ensure that it had a finished look.

As I said before, I love the Sharpie paint pens... here is what they look like for your reference.  :o)

Step Three

Paint the border using your paint and paint brush.  (I thought I was going to like the green border, but it turns out that it looked a bit awkward since the rest of the hanger was red, white, and gold.  More on that later.)  So anyway, if you want the glitter border, skip this step.

Step Four

After everything was dry, I wasn’t totally happy with the hand lettering as it wasn’t 100% centered on the canvas (which drove me insane) so I added a cute little snowflake on the right to balance everything out.

Step Five

Once the canvas is dry, flip it over face down.  Cut two equal pieces of ribbon that will hang from the bottom of the canvas to hold the cards.  You can do whatever length works best for the space where it will be hanging.  Ours hangs on our door in the kitchen, so I cut my ribbon to hang all the way to the ground. 

Take one end of one of the pieces of ribbon and staple it to the inside of the wooden lip of the canvas.  Make sure that the correct side of the ribbon is facing out before you staple.  Then take the end of the other piece of ribbon and staple it to the inside of the other end of the wooden lip of the canvas.  Again, be sure that the correct side of the ribbon is facing out before you staple, and also be sure to space your ribbons several inches apart to have ample room to hang your cards.

Step Six

Take the ribbon you want to use for the hanger and cut a single piece around 12-15 inches long.  Take one end of the ribbon and staple it to the inside of the wooden lip on the top of the canvas.  Then loop it over and staple the other end of the same piece of ribbon to the inside of the wooden lip of the canvas on the other end.  Be sure to space them evenly on the canvas, or it will look lopsided.

Step Seven

Spray paint your clothes pins.  I spray painted mine gold.  Once they are dry, clip them to the ribbons hanging from the bottom of the canvas.

It was at this point that I thought I was done, but I just didn’t love the green border with the rest of the hanger (mostly because none of my other Christmas decor in my kitchen is green).  Soooo…

Step Eight

For a glitter border, paint Mod Podge around the border and sprinkle loose glitter all over it.  Let it sit for a couple of minutes and then shake off the excess glitter on a piece of paper.  I did the glitter border in 3-4 inch chunks so shaking off the glitter would be manageable.  If you did the whole thing all at once and tried to shake the glitter off, I’m positive glitter would go everywhere.  Allow the Mod Podge to dry, and you’re done!

And if you shook your loose glitter onto a piece of clean paper, you can now fold the paper in half and dump the loose glitter back into the original glitter container so you can use it again.  Smart and not wasteful.  :o) 

Hang this baby up (mine is hung using an upside down command hook on the inside of the closet door), and you now have ample space to display all of your beautiful Christmas cards.  As a matter of fact, I’m going to need more clothes pins!  

And hey again, Beth!  Thanks for sending out your Christmas cards early enough so that I might have an actual card to hang for my tutorial.  ;o)

Happy crafting, y'all!

*Linking up with Home of Malones for Thoughts for Thursday and Amy and Jess for Bits of Cheer.