DIY Holiday Card Display

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Farmhouse Style Holiday Card Display

One of my favorite Christmas Traditions is giving.....whether it be gifts or cards I absolutely love it.  Finding just the right item for everyone on my gift list and then watching their face as they open their gifts or sending them cards to let them know how much they are cared for and imaging a smile when they open their card makes me happy.

When I was little (I mean like under 6-years-old) my mother had an old suitcase filled with cards.  They were cards she had kept from my father, from her parents and from friends.  I used to love to play with those cards.  The playing consisted of taking each card out and just looking at them, feeling them (so many had little ribbons or gems or were 3-dimensional in one way or another) and I just loved it.

You don't really see cards like that often anymore but I did find some on a recent trip to Walmart.  The cards are from Lily Pad Press and they are absolutely darling.  There are ribbons, gems and trinkets on each card and once I saw them I knew I had to buy some.  I bought one for my husband and one for a dear friend.  I imagine the one I bought for my husband eventually being placed in a small suitcase and tucked away with other cards for a future grandchild to go through and enjoy.  I say a future grandchild because my youngest son is 11 and for the life of me I can't see him finding any joy in looking at pretty cards so I'll just wait it out.

Cards are a gift in and of themselves.  They can be funny or warm and fuzzy and for the ones that I'm on the receiving end of, I love to display them.  In years past I've used garlands and added wooden clothespins (they can be used for just about anything, right?) but this year I decided to carry out a farmhouse style theme and made a holiday card display from a salvaged piece of wood and a few other items I already had on hand but start to finish it was done in under 30 minutes (not counting drying time for the paint).  

I love how it turned out and as an added sweet bonus I wrapped up some M&M (with peanuts, of course) Fun Size packs in American Greetings' tissue paper, added some ribbon and attached those to the display for guests to grab as a little somethin' somethin'.

American Greetings #MerryAndBright Sweepstakes

How-To Make a Holiday Card Display

Supplies:

Wood - I used a shelf I had salvaged from a cabinet I took apart to make my faux fireplace but you could go to the hardware store and get a piece cut to size.  The one I used is 11 inches by 33 inches.

Paint - white milk paint and red craft paint

Paintbrush - large brush for applying the milk paint and smaller craft brush for painting the letters

Printer for printing out the J and Y or letter stencils

Pencil

Small wreath - 4 ½ inches

Heavy twine

Red craft ribbon

Craft bells

Baker's Twine

Staple gun and staples

Hot Glue

Directions:

Using a dry-brush technique coat one side of wood and edges with the white milk paint.

Print out the J and Y (you can download the Microsoft Word version here) and trace over the letters directly on to the paper.

This should leave an imprint in the wood.Add the twine to your board in a criss-cross fashion.  

I started with a staple on the back of the display to hold everything in place and then proceeded to wrap the board in twine stopping occasionally to add another staple to the back.

Using a small craft brush fill in the imprint for the J and Y in red.

Once dry, add a small wreath to the center for the O.  I added ribbon to hold this in place and hot glued the ribbon to the top of the board and also to the back.

Weave baker's twine through the bells and add at desired interval.

Add clothespins to hold cards and treats.Do cards and card-giving have a special meaning to you? I would love to hear your stories and for more giving inspiration, super fun ideas for elfing friends and neighbors, gift wrap ideas, printables and more check out the American Greetings Make it Merry and Bright website! There are honestly so many great ideas there my to-do list just got bigger (in a good way!).  Enter the giveaway above (near the top of this post) and use this Ibotta offer to get $2.00 back on an American Greetings Cards purchase.