In the last couple of years, I’ve started my own tradition of sending out holiday cards to friends and family. The writing of holiday cards is a bit of a lost art and I really want to keep the practice alive. Who doesn’t like a personalized message in the mail amidst all the bills and junk mail? I certainly love a nice message from a friend who I haven’t heard from in a while!

This year, instead of buying cards, I have decided to make my own! Since I’ve been attempting to minimize my craft stash, I’ve been quite aware of my hoarding tendencies (it’s okay, we all do it haha). If you’re like me, you may have been accumulating washi tape from all the cute shops on the Internet and sales (oh the sales). What better way to declutter my craft closet than to put all that washi tape to good use?

In order to create a cohesive collection of holiday cards, I picked out a group that would work well together. This was from the Recollection’s washi tube with plenty of pinks, teals, and gold. How beautiful are these?!

Since I didn’t own any cardstock, I bought a pack of 25 blank cards and envelopes from Michael’s. With a 50% off coupon, it came out to $2.50. Yep, each card is only 10 cents - talk about affordable!

With my washi tape and cards ready, I set out to work. I combined the shiny with the less decorative, paired elaborate designs with simpler ones, and just played around to get as many combinations as I could. After creating 18 cards, I was down 1 washi roll and several were almost done. If you use a smaller set, you could easily use all of your rolls and have more space in your craft closet (maybe for new washi rolls? ha!).

With the vertical strips, I left about a centimeter of extra washi tape at the top and bottom of each card. When folded over, the ends will be on the top of the back of the card and the top of the inside flap. In order to secure them in place, I like to add a horizontal strip of washi. This “Leave a little sparkle wherever you go” washi was the perfect last touch!