DIY Holiday Card Display

Ok, so this was my first "how to" and I didn't have a blog to do it on, so I did it as a facebook photo album with the "how to" part in the captions.. .well, I hated that method, so alas, this blog was created (eventually)...

now, here it is, on a proper (yet still bland) blog...

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Gather supplies. I had all of this stuff in my basement. 

Hot glue gun, wrapping paper, gift box, craft paint, painting supplies, buttons, tape, hole punch, ribbon, brads, clothes pins

first thing to do, paint the clothes pins. I used colors that coordinated with my wrapping paper. I clipped them all onto a clothes hanger for easier managing. (You could skip this step if you already have colored or dyed clothes pins, or want them this color)

let them dry (see easy managing with the hanger)

I wanted to add some more support to the back of the box since we are going to hand this on the wall eventually, so I ripped off the back of an old notebook and it fit right in to my gift box.

I measured and marked where I wanted the hangers (these little gold ones I had in my picture hanging kit)

My hole punch wasn't long enough to reach this far into the box, so I improvised and used this piece of foam under the box, and poked the holes with a corn skewer (or otherwise called garbage disposal's nemesis)

after that I poked the brads through and then added a bit of security with hot glue

the nice outside of the box (please excuse this blurry picture i was holding both the camera and the box, and obviously i shake too much)

now to wrap the top.

I handled the corners just like when wrapping a whole gift box.

it's easiest to close the box when finished if you tape the paper to the inside walls of the box, as opposed to having the paper taped to the bottom of the box.

here is where your awesome gift wrapping skills come in handy.. .I don't have those, so I easily taped two pieces of ribbon around like the paper, and then hot glued 5 bulk holiday bows in the middle.

this is the end result

now to paint the other side of the clothes pins

after they're dry, it's time for embellishments. You could glue on ribbon, flowers, whatever you want! I chose buttons in coordinating colors

all done gluing on the buttons with hot glue (if you too choose buttons, make sure a bit of the hot glue comes up through the holes, or they pop of very easily.

I added ribbons on the bottom in the same manner I added the hangers.

hang it up, and clip the cards onto the ribbon

viola! .. and since it's a box, the ribbon and clothes pins (even the cards if you keep them) can just tuck inside for storage after you take it down.