Penguins holding Christmas cards is my idea of one-fun card holder! I’ve been looking for Christmas cards holders for years… I’m not exaggerating ;) Most card holders I’ve seen in the past hold many cards, which I know I’ll end up overloading and make a big lump of notecards and photos.

I designed my new card-holder to hold just two cards with the intention of creating two more of these and have a total of six Christmas cards to display. I will place three card-holders on my main family room mantle, rotating different Christmas cards as they come in the mail ;) 
What I like the most about this project is the fact that I will keep my Christmas cards stash fresh, without ending with a messy Christmas mantle. This blog post is part one of my Christmas mantle project. I plan on designing another card-holder with the ability to hold many cards ;) (More to come as my favorite holiday season slowly approaches.)

Tutorial

1. You’ll need a total of 12 penguin figurines found at Darby Smart supplies shop.
2. Three bamboo chopping boards.
3. Start painting the penguin figurines with gold paint of your choice. I used “craftsmart” gold acrylic paint.
4. Paint each penguin in two parts. First paint the front of a penguin, let it dry for 1 hour. I used a fan to gently blow air to speed the drying process.
5. Once the front of the penguin is dry, turn over the penguin and paint the back.
6. Use a thick white circle sticker as a base for one pair of penguins.
7. Apply sticker like shown on the picture above.
8. Glue one pair of penguins, facing each other to the white circle.

• 9. You’ll end up with two pairs of penguins for each bamboo board.
• 10. Once the penguins are dry and secured, slide a card between a pair of penguins.
• 11: Use “Thicker Stickers” in gold, to spell the word “Peace” or any other word you’d like to spell that evokes the holiday season.
• 12: Add a few snowflakes to the board and you have your first Christmas card-holder of the season!

This project took about 90 minutes, depending on how many coats of gold paint you apply to each penguin. I used two coats of paint for each penguin. What do you think? Are you ready to start your first Christmas craft of the season? I’m excited to plan my mantle many months in advance ;)

Please let me know your thoughts, I always love reading all your comments and try my best to reply promptly. If you enjoyed this craft and would like to receive more ideas like this via email, please click on “Follow kraft&mint” button on the right column. Thank you for visiting kraft&mint.

I leave you with one of my favorite Christmas cards from a few years ago. My little girl was only one year old… and now she is five. Time flies!