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A French-Inspired Garden and Home by Judith Stringham

7 Ways to Display Christmas Cards

Monday, December 7, 2015


Christmas cards are beautiful to display as part of your Christmas decorations, and the cards bring to mind dear friends and loved ones who sent them. 


A gathering of angels,

or of Santas,

or of the Holy family,

or of any Christmas cards,

are some of the things that are part of Christmas for me. 



Christmas is still a few weeks away, 
but here is a 
CHRISTMAS 
beautiful idea... 


...really SEVEN ideas that I use to celebrate 
 ✯  CHRISTMAS  IN  TEXAS  






Deep in the  of Texas,
26 talented Texas bloggers from across the state,
and that's a lot of territory and talent to cover,
are sharing their ideas for ways to celebrate

December 7 - 11, 2015

Thank you, Stacey at Poofing the Pillows,
for hosting this week of an incredible Christmas in Texas and
for inviting Botanic Bleu to join the party!

 At the end of the post,
see the list of bloggers who are also on today's schedule 
for sharing their Christmas in Texas.

You don't want to miss any of these great posts about
decorations, crafts, recipes, and overall Texas holiday cheer.



Now, gather your old Christmas cards, 
and save your new cards as they arrive.  

For those ready to celebrate Christmas
throughout the house and the holidays, here are 

S E V E N   (7)   W A Y S

to display Christmas cards.


Ideas can be used in any state, or country, not just Texas!  
;) wink 





DISPLAY  IDEA #1: By Themes 



Most Christmas card displays in my home are by themes. 
Over the years I have saved cards either 
because I thought they were too beautiful to throw away 
or because they were from someone special. 

Little by little, over the years, themes emerged in my collections. 

Angels ~ Santas ~ The Holy Family ~ Poinsettias ~ Silhouettes 

When displaying Christmas cards, 
think about ways to group together several cards 
that have the same theme, like in Idea #2 below. 

A themed collection can have a bigger impact as a display than 
a group of cards with a variety of themes. 



DISPLAY IDEA #2: Door Card Holders 


All of the cards on this vertical, over-the-door card holder are 
images of angels collected over many years. 
The over-the-door vertical card holder requires very little space 
and can be hung on any door. 

This one hangs on the door between my bedroom and the kitchen 
which means I enjoy seeing these cards often during the day. 
Every time I go into the bedroom, I get to look at these beauties. 

Visitors also get to enjoy these cards since they are visible 
from the breakfast table, from the kitchen, and from part of the living room. 





Most of these cards are either from my sister 
or one I sent to friends. 

Even if I send a different design to everyone else, I often buy one 
beautiful angel card to send to my sister. 
Of course, I always buy at least two such cards, 
one for her, one for me. 





Other great places to hang over-the-door card holders are on 
1) entry coat closet doors, 
2) guest bathroom doors, and 
3) kitchen pantry doors. 

Don't forget about the back of the front door. 
Guests get one last look of Christmas as they leave your house.  






This card holder is tree shaped with a star-shaped top 
that easily fits on a hook. 

Dress up card holders by adding Christmas greenery. 
The preserved boxwood star fits right over 
the card holder's top star, 
making it look like a tree topper does on a live Christmas tree.  

Once the holidays are over, 
the card holder is easy to store in a closet 
over a coat hanger at one end of the closet rod 
where it lies flat against the wall. 
If stored in the same closet where it was displayed, 
it will be easy to find next year. 



Not quite enough of one kind of card for your display? 
There are not enough Santa cards with predominantly 
red and white colors in my card collection 
to fill the entire card holder. 

Y E T 

What to do? 
Mix two themes, with one theme at the top  
transitioning to the second theme at the bottom. 
Keep the lighter colors at the top and 
the darker colors at the bottom to visually ground the display. 

If all of the cards have the same color value (all dark or all light), 
then a second idea is to intersperse the two themes 
throughout the entire display. 




DISPLAY IDEA #3: Baskets 


Another way to display cards is in a wire basket on a chippy green vintage folding chair in the front entry. 
A single preserved boxwood bouquet adds a touch of green 
to complement the cards' colors. 
The ones shown do not have a common theme;  
rather these are just a grouping of cards and envelopes 
I find beautiful. 



DISPLAY IDEA #4: Fan Shaped Wire Holder


The colors in these vintage Christmas postcards are still vibrant. 
Most of these postcards have a common theme 
of a carriage on a snowy lane. 

I found almost all of these at an antique dealer's stall 
in Cape Canaveral, Florida. 
There was a whole photo album of vintage Christmas cards, but 
I only bought ones with the snowy carriage theme or a bird theme. 

The bird themed Christmas postcards 
were sold in my annual Christmas event that year. 

This stand fans out with varying heights 
of silver colored metal holders. 
It easily fits on a coffee table or a mantel. 

Perhaps someday my personal collection of Christmas cards 
will be sold in an estate sale to someone who loves vintage cards, or to someone who sells antiques, 
or to someone who simply likes angels or Santas. 




DISPLAY IDEA #5: Mantel 



Displaying cards on a mantel is probably the most popular way 
to show cards received for the current season, 
but consider displaying cards collected over several years 
with a common design instead of ones received just this year. 

Santa is on each of these cards, 
many of which came from the same couple. 
The wife has several collections of Santas 
and loves sending Santa cards. 

It is an easy display that does not require a special holder. 
When arranging the cards, vary the heights across the 
entire mantel length and layer the cards by 
placing some behind others to peek out. 




 DISPLAY  IDEA #6: Shelf  


A striking display of cards can be achieved with 
only a few cards used with other elements. 

The two end cards are non-matching white silhouettes 
with cut-out designs of holy land cities.  
The wise men cards are not the exact same design, 
but have the same blue night sky with a white border. 

The wise men appear to be following a brightly-lit star
of a cluster of glowing glass lanterns and globes

Only when I pulled out my cards did I think of putting 
these four together this way. 

So, save the cards you like.  
The next year you may receive other cards 
that go with previously saved ones. 




DISPLAY IDEA #7: Framed 


Sometimes one very special card in a frame becomes a focal point 
such as this one on the guest bathroom sink vanity top.  
Watch for standard sized frames at 
Michaels, HomeGoods, and Hobby Lobby. 







Santa overlooking the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France 
adds a little French Country Christmas to my Texas home. 

When traveling to your favorite vacation places 
or to your childhood hometown, 
look for cards with local Christmas scenes 
to display each year. 




And, a bonus idea . . . 


 DISPLAY  IDEA #8: Table Centerpiece  


A single card works well in a table centerpiece 
when its design reiterates other items in the centerpiece. 

Santa's herd of deer on the card echoes 
the herd of silver deer that are the main part of the vignette. 
This card was from a very special aunt and uncle 
a couple of years before my aunt died. 
Aunt Iris had a real flair for decorating and would have 
enjoyed this table grouping. 




Cards are indeed one of the beautiful ideas of Christmas 
and mark the names and nearness of friends. 
Customs change over the years, and Christmas cards 
are no longer as plentiful in my mailbox 
as they were for many years 
which makes each one an even more 
treasured token of love and friendship. 






~~~~✯~~~~ 
Today's Christmas in Texas schedule is 


Hop over for 4 more posts today to see how Texas bloggers celebrate Christmas. 

Today is just the beginning.  
There are four more fantastic days filled with Christmas in Texas.  

So, the rest of this week, hop over to 
for the list of each day's very special 
Texas in Christmas posts. 
A total of 26 Christmas-inspiring posts. 

~~~~✯~~~~ 



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~~~~✯~~~~ 
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