greeting card – Esselle Crafts

I am super excited to share that I have opened a brand NEW Etsy shop called Esselle Crafts Makes!

Continuing my lifelong passion for papercraft and upcycling, I am making good use of any scrap paper materials that I find and turning them into beautiful, upcycled art ♻️

Some of my zero waste, eco-friendly greeting cards are already in the shop, including these that I made out of old wall calendars.

Three square greeting cards made from upcycled wall calendars. Two of them feature bees and butterflies and the other one features capybaras.

I also have several greeting cards featuring colourful mosaic designs. I originally made each of the mosaics out of upcycled cardboard packaging, then scanned them and had them printed onto high quality 300gsm card.

A square greeting card with a green mosaic heart design on the front made from small pieces of upcycled paper packaging.

All of my cards come complete with a recycled brown kraft envelope, but these cards also make great gifts for home decor. Framing the card and displaying it instantly turns it into a unique piece of art 💚

A square greeting card with a green mosaic heart design on the front made from small pieces of upcycled paper packaging. The card is displayed in a square frame on a shelf.

Speaking of art, I have also been busy making my own recycled Kraft card frames for my original mosaics! They are super lightweight, weighing just 50g, so they can easily be propped up on a shelf or fixed to the wall using a poster strip or an adhesive hook.

A red mosaic heart design made from small pieces of upcycled paper packaging, framed in a square brown kraft card frame.

My upcycled mosaic art looks amazing displayed like this 🥰 I can also customise them with any short word, name or initial that you would like to have across it (up to 5 characters). Here are some examples:

A pink mosaic heart design made from small pieces of upcycled paper packaging, framed in a square brown kraft card frame. The word MUM is displayed across the middle in white capital letters.

A rainbow mosaic heart design made from small pieces of upcycled paper packaging, framed in a square brown kraft card frame. The word PRIDE is displayed across the middle in white capital letters.

They make great personalised gifts for Valentine’s day, birthdays, wedding anniversaries, or to celebrate Pride month or Earth Day 🌍

A red mosaic heart design made from small pieces of upcycled paper packaging, framed in a square brown kraft card frame. The word RUBY is displayed across the middle in white capital letters.

My aim is to continue creating unique art from any packaging or paper materials that I find so that nothing goes to waste – even the tiniest scrap of card can’t escape me!

I’ll also be making good use of my own papercraft templates to make some beautiful, upcycled gift packaging! ♻️

Don’t forget to check out my NEW Etsy shop!

Three square greeting cards made from upcycled wall calendars handmade by Esselle Crafts. Also two mosaic heart designs made from small pieces of upcycled paper packaging, framed in a square brown kraft card frame.

Happy upcycling! ♻️
Suzanne

Welcome to another fabulous upcycling project! ♻️ This time, I’ll be showing you how I turn used wall calendars into these stunning greeting cards!

Three handmade nature greeting cards made from upcycled wall calendar images.

Some of these cards are currently available in my NEW Etsy shop and come complete with a recycled brown Kraft envelope.

A handmade butterflies and bees greeting card made from upcycled wall calendar images.

To make one of these cards, you will need:

* used wall calendar
* square greeting card blank measuring approximately 15cm x 15cm / 6″ x 6″
* square metal die measuring approximately 4cm x 4cm / 1.5″ x 1.5″
* die cutting machine
* sticky note
* pencil
* ruler
* eraser
* craft glue
* brayer

If you are not using a metal die, you can make a simple template by cutting a 4cm / 1.5″ square of card.

Watch my video tutorial showing how to make the greeting cards, and be sure to follow the tips below.

TIP 1 : Cut around the photos on the back of the calendar carefully, making sure that you leave a small border.

TIP 2 : Use a sticky note to hold the metal die in place. This is so that the glossy surface of the photos doesn’t pick up any scratches from the cutting plates.

TIP 3 : Arrange the photos in a 3 x 3 formation so that they look balanced. I like to put similar colours on opposite sides and, if there are animals, I like to face them inwards towards the centre.

TIP 4 : Lightly draw two diagonal lines with a pencil from corner to corner to find the centre of the card. After gluing the first photo in place, any visible lines can then be rubbed out.

TIP 5: Leave a gap of approximately 0.5cm / 0.2″ between each square.

Very often, the front and back covers of a wall calendar are printed on glossy card, which gives the greeting cards a lovely, shiny, professional finish!

Don’t forget to check out my NEW Etsy shop for these cards and other upcycled gifts!

How to make upcycled greeting cards from used wall calendars

Happy upcycling! ♻️
Suzanne

Tag: greeting card

NEW Handmade Etsy Shop 🎉

Handmade Upcycled Greeting Cards