DIY Life

DON'T toss holiday cards onto your desk or row them up on bookshelves.

DO create a pretty spot where they will become a focal point for everyone to enjoy.

Making a fun display from cards is easy to do. Not to mention incredibly affordable. You'll be amazed at how the cards pop when they are massed together. Added bonus: you won't have to deal with cards toppling onto the floor all the time. (Boy do I hate that!)

For the last few years I've been pinning my cards to long, wide ribbons that I've hung from either side of a doorway. This year, I need a new strategy because we now have a toddler who can reach and demolish such "pretties" in short order. I'm liking the idea of a Christmas card wreath. First spotted in a flyer from Web-based photo shop Shutterfly, I went looking and found these instructions for a Wire Card Wreath on Martha Stewart's website. The downside: these instructions don't come with photos, so you'll have to drink some coffee and make. brain. think. hard. Basically, it involved bending lengths of wire around a bare wreath so as to create clips, to which the cards may be attached.

Symmetrical arrangement of the clips is important here, so as to create the desired petals-on-a-flower effect. You could also make a simpler version by using ribbon or paper clips to attach the cards. Pressed for time? You can easily fasten cards in amongst the branches of any regular Christmas wreath. Again, I find bent paper clips are the easiest way to make them stay put. However, ribbons look very pretty if you have a little more time and patience. Finally, you could just fasten the cards in a wreath-shaped fashion onto a large notice-board or sheet of card, or even directly to the wall, as in the example pictured above.

Another Martha idea that I liked: make a Card Tree. Take any tall metal bucket or florist's container and arrange it full of real or fake branches. If they have berries on them, all the better to evoke that chilly winter feeling. Then use ribbons to tie the cards to the branches.