You know, it’s hard to have all those gorgeous Christmas cards perfectly on display. If you’re like me, you don’t have anything yet to display those lovely cards from people you love. Or perhaps you’re miss popular and your current system is getting overloaded with holiday cheer? Why not make an easel, or five? I made a paper easel a few months ago, and I don’t know why I don’t have more around the house (other than general lack of shelf space). They’re the definition of 30 second crafts.
Display Holiday Cards with a Paper Easel
It’s incredibly straight forward, you’ll be wondering what the heck I’m doing here with all these silly step-by-step photos, but I was enjoying myself while putting these stands together.
Download the template (provided below) or make your own. You can use a bone-folder and scissors, or you can get fancy and use your desktop cutter (silhouette, cricut, etc). I’ve provided artwork for both! You’ll want pretty paper that has a lot of body to it. If you want to get technical, I would recommend an 80# cover-weight paper or heavier.
Fold your paper in half nicely. Seriously a bone folder helps a lot. If you don’t have one and plan on folding more than one of these. I’m very partial to the teflon bone folders myself.
Place the template on top of your paper and cut. If you’re being really meticulous, you can tape the template on before cutting. Easy right?
Voila. Make a bunch in different sizes when you get confident in your cutting skills. I love how gorgeous these turn out.
Make a merry Christmas wonderland with all your Christmas cards. Heck, once the season is over, use your awesome easels to showcase children’s artwork, upcoming wedding invitations, etc.
This tutorial/freebie is free for personal use and should not be distributed/republished without the express consent of Make and Takes and Melissa Esplin.
Thanks! This is also handy for school presentations!
I’m big on recycling and repurposing as part of an environmentally-friendly lifestyle so this is a fantastic idea. I can see this being used all year-round as well. Kids’ artwork, a rotating table of family photos, school awards. How much better is it to recycle extra foam board, cardboard, or card stock rather than having to buy a bunch of easels? Easy on your pocket and the earth!
What a cute idea. I usually just tape them to our coat closet door. After the holidays, I create an ornament out of that year’s cards; as a sort of rememberance of years past.
http://whatthedogate.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-very-first-giveaway-turning-your.html
(It was actually a giveaway last year, but the post does include step by step instructions for making these card ornaments.)