christmas card wrap up

Wait, what? Christmas cards...this is mid-January...

I know that is what you are probably thinking...

but hang in there with me for a few minutes

I saw a blog post here about how brooklynlimestone keeps

her Christmas cards...well,

I like to keep all mine too, so I thought I'd do a little post about it.

The past few Christmases I have pulled out the cards from

the year before and enjoyed looking back at the sweet holiday notes and smiling faces. The best is when you see the baby/kid pictures from last year and then get the new card in the mail and see how much they have grown. Crazy, and so fun!

So, folks, just know if you are sending a Christmas card to the Colberg house it definitely isn't going to get tossed out with the trash...not even at the end of the holidays.

In the past I have just dated the back of each card with the year to give myself a reminder but then have jumbled them all up and kept them in a wicker basket with some other photo albums.

I thought it would be nice to start putting them in collections by year...before I get too many and they start getting lost, so I bundled them up like brooklynlimestone and wanted to show you how...

Step 1: I separated my 2007 and 2008 cards,

and secured them with a rubberband
Step 2: I gathered the rest of my supplies:
Christmas cards for 2009
scissors
rubber bands
ribbon
a fold over note card or sheet of thick card stock
single hole punch (not pictured)

Step 3: I cut the foldover notecards into section (really any paper will do, but I had this on hand and liked that it was thick card stock), punched a hole in the upper corner and threaded some ribbon through to make an easily attachable card to write the year on

Step 4: I bundled up the 2009 cards, and tied them up like a present

Step 5: I tied on the name card...all done!

I did a variation on the 2008 and 2007 cards..

For 2008 cards, I used a more festive ribbon, wrapped like a gift and threaded the name card through the ribbon before knotting it closed

(I took off the thin white ribbon that was previously on the name card...

I also removed the rubber band that originally held the cards together)
For the 2007 cards I keep the rubber band in place and made one simple loop with decorative ribbon, tucking each side under the rubber band, then tied the name card around the middle (I actually think this is my favorite!)
TA DA! Here is the finished product and three years worth of bundled cards. None of them are complicated to tie so if I am drawn to take a look they will be very easy to undo, take a glimpse and retie in a flash.

______

I think they look cute in their bundles,

cute enough to even display when it isn't Christmas season...

like in a basket or glass container

on a mantle or bookshelf

or just in a box, stowed away, for safe keeping!