Christmas Card Village

I could not wait to do this project for Christmas this year. I read about it last year in a book called, Simply Green Giving by Danny Seo. I saved my favorite Christmas cards to make this very green and frugal craft. Older children can help put this one together, too.

Take a look at my Christmas card village:

To make your own wintery card village, here's what you'll need:

three greeting cards (for each house you want to make)

scotch tape

scissors

fiberfill

card stock or paper scraps from trimming your cards

tissue paper (optional)

enclosed tea light candle or rechargeable light

1. From your stash of cards, find three that are identical in size. If you have to trim a couple to make them all the same, be sure to save the scraps, as you can use those to make your window panes.

2. On one card, cut out a small window on each side. On the other card, cut out a window and a door. Cut down one side and top of a long rectangle for the door, being sure you can fold it to the side to make it look like it's half way open.

3. Using card stock or your extra card scraps, make window panes on your window openings. Tape the pieces on the inside of the cards. You can tape sheets of tissue paper if you'd like as well.

4. Tape the two cards together from the inside to create a box shape. 

5. Cut the third card in half along the existing crease and tape each half to the sides of the box. Attach the two pieces together to create the finished roof.

6. To make my houses look cute and whimsical, I put tape on the top corners of each roof. 

7. To create a snowy effect, place fiberfill around your card houses.

8. I also tried lighting up my houses by putting in an enclosed tea light candle. To make things safer, I think I would put in a battery-operated tea light candle instead. It looks so pretty at night!

I really enjoyed dressing up my coffee table with this simple decoration. These paper houses can be made for other seasons by using other types of cards--Easter, Thanksgiving--you name it! And what can you do with them when the season is over? Give them to the little people in your life and they will have fun playing with them. 

Have an enjoyable time decorating your home this Christmas season.