Many of you who read Somebody’s Mom are aware that I make cards from old photos (refer to the memory photo cards). What you may not know is that I also make cards out of invitations I receive. I think the first invitation I recycled was a Bat Mitzvah invitation. The invitation had this clear sparkly border all around it which really caught my eye, so I cut that border off and used it on a few birthday cards. The ones I enjoyed creating the most were birthday cards I made for the mom and her daughter whose Bat Mitzvah I attended!

In addition to making birthday cards from Bat Mitzah invitations, I make 1st year wedding anniversary cards out of wedding invitations. It’s amazing that by simply cutting parts off an invitation and positioning them on a different background, one can create a unique and very personal 1st anniversary card.

If you like this idea, remember to try and save everything distributed at the weddings you attend so you can use it later to create a card. It seems to be standard practice for all weddings to have programs now, and some are so lovely and inspirational it’s a shame to toss them. I have also used photos of honeymooners that I’ve received tucked away in their Christmas cards to create yet another card. I wait for the next wonderful occasion to recycle it and send it off to the happy couple! There are so many possibilities to recycle invitations, programs and thank you cards into anniversary, birthday or thinking of you cards. The possibilities are endless.

I bet the next time you receive an invitation, you may think twice about throwing it out after the event because you now know there could be a new card just waiting to be created by you.