DIY: Mantle Holiday Card Display

Ok, so I’ll admit, I don’t even know if this project should even really count as a DIY. Like many of my little house craft projects, I mostly take a few simple materials I have on hand and jerry rig something out of them. In this case, we had a growing stack of holiday cards that seemed too pretty to just discard, but I didn’t want to spend money on one of those card holders. I thought they might look nice strung up on the mantle, and with a ball of baker’s twine, some scissors, and a hole punch — poof! — I made a works-in-a-pinch card display!

Crafty or not, this is really simple to do!  Here’s what you need:  

Also not pictured: some of those Command hooks that stick to the wall but then easily peel off later. I used these to hang our stockings, as well as these cards. While I used thin red and white baker’s twine for this project (I got mine here), after I hung it up, I thought I would’ve liked a thicker ribbon more, just so you could see it better. But whatever you have — ribbon, baker’s twine, or even butcher’s twine — will work fine.

First, use the hole punch to create holes at the top and center of each card. Be sure not to make the hole too close to the edge, so that if the card is heavier, the hole won’t rip.

Next, pull a large amount of the string away from the ball, enough to accommodate all the cards you’ll be hanging. Don’t worry so much about having too much string, because you can always easily trim it away later. String the twine through the card that you want on the far right of the strand…

…then, once strung through, loop it back through again so that the card will stay in place.

Continue with the rest of your cards. As I worked on one, I would stack the others just to keep them out of the way. It doesn’t really matter if they don’t hold their positions perfectly, because you can adjust them once the whole thing is hung.

Attach the hooks or nails you’re using to your mantle. Because my string was pretty heavy, I opted to hang the midpoint on Lucy’s stocking hook. Secure both sides, and trim any excess string. Then, you can carefully slide the cards around to make sure they’re evenly spaced (do this gently so as not to damage the cards!). If you want to get fancy, you can now go back and use more string or ribbon to tie little bows around each card’s hole, but this isn’t necessary.

And that’s it! My super easy, very affordable, works-in-a-pinch card display. It’s basic, but so much better than the big pile we had on our mail table!

Images by Victoria McGinley for vmac+cheese