Junk Mail Christmas Card Upcycle

When  get the mail I try to open and dispose of everything right away.  Bills go in one spot to be paid, magazines go to the family room to be read, and junk mail should go directly into the recycle bin.  Every so often, something in the junk mail catches my eye and goes into the "crafty" pile.

A couple of days ago, we got a mailing from Consumer Reports - the typical "send a gift subscription" pitch that every magazine sends at this time of year.  Included in the envelope were two "postcards" to send to the recipient if you ordered a gift subscription.  I thought the image was very nice and decided to save the gift notice to make a card.

The first thing I did was to trim off the message at the top.  The remaining picture measured 3 1/2 x 5 7/8 inches and I trimmed it to 3 1/2 x 5 inches.  I trimmed different amounts from each side to keep the main parts of the picture intact (if I had trimmed it all from the right side the little red car would be cut off awkwardly, if it was trimmed all from the left side the house would be chopped off).

Since the 3 1/2 x 5 inch size was not proportional for an A2 card (normally the layer would be 3 3/4 x 5 inches) I set about finding a way to add a border to even things up.

I punched a scrap paper with this Martha Stewart border punch with a scalloped snowflake design.  The punch is called "Skylands Snowflake."

I liked the border effect but I needed to trim the image a bit more to make everything align properly.  I cut about 1/8 inch from the top and the bottom of the picture so it would center properly on a 4 x 5 1/4 inch mat layer (in dark blue here).

Once I had the sizes figured out, I decided to use some glittered cardstock for the border.  This is the Core Couture cardstock by Core'dinations.

I punched a section of the border on a scrap piece of the glitter cardstock.  Then I adhered it to the picture, centering the border design.

When I trimmed the straight sides the ends looked a little untidy.

I trimmed the edges so finish the curve of the border. 

I added some gems at the two ends to finish the cuts on the border and also added a few more with a slightly larger gem in the center.

I added Diamond Stickles to the rooftops, along a few of the land contours and on the snowman.  I left this photo dark so you could see the sparkle the Stickles create.

The blue mat layer is shimmer cardstock from The Paper Company.  The front and back are two shades of blue.  I had worked with the dark blue side right up until I was ready to assemble the card.  I flipped the mat over and found that the lighter blue was a better match for the colors in the picture.

The card base is white gemstone cardstock, also from Core'dinations.

Why not take a second look at some of your "trash" - there may be some crafting potential in the things you toss!  There were two of the gift post cards in my mail so I am adding one to the giveaway box for someone else to try an upcycle.

November Giveaway update...

Here are the updated contents of the box that one lucky reader will win at the end of the month.
in the box so far...

1.  2 sheets of the sticky paper I used for the glittered ornament card
2.  A new set of the same Inkadinkado Autumn Leaves stamps I used on the card
3.  An 18 inch piece of the brown leaf ribbon - enough for a few cards.
4.  A small bag of plastic gems like the ones I used on the crystal glass.
5.  Two pieces of the blue holographic paper I used for the fish on the wreath.
6.  A small piece of the white and silver mesh I used for the nets.
7.  The "gift subscription postcard" that you can use to make your own upcycled project.

All comments on posts in the month of November will be eligible for a random draw at the end of the month.  One lucky reader will receive the small priority mail box full of bits and pieces.

You can leave a comment on every post to increase your chances but please just leave one per post and make sure that you give me enough information so I can contact you if your comment is drawn.


The Thanksgiving Shopping weekend is drawing to an end - did you buy a little or a lot? (or nothing at all...)



Blitsy is celebrating their first anniversary and they have a huge assortment of  items on offer this week - some of them have been "blitsed" (sold out) but there are still a lot of bargains to be found.  You need to check back if something you wanted is marked "blitsed" because they sometimes add more items to a category and the item is then available to order again.


The Cricut.com deal for Sunday is a discount of up to 30% OFF all physical cartridges!

Don't forget about the Creative Memories "Stuff Your Stockings" sale - you can read all of the details in the post HERE.  The sale ends at 10 p.m. Central Time on Monday, November 26th (tomorrow).

Have a wonderful Sunday - there is talk that we may soon have snow here.  It is definitely much colder and windy - winter is arriving!


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