Most of us have a deck of cards around the house. Very often they’re sitting idle in the back of the “whatever” drawer of odds and ends. Instead of letting those 52 pieces of paper remain idle, you can refashion them into craft projects. Flowers, necklaces and even sculptures can be conjured out of that unused deck. Some of these projects are interesting enough that you may want dig past all of those paperclips and rubber bands in your “whatever” drawer to excavate your new fave deck of craft material.
For those who still want to play cards, there are always online casinos like NetBet blackjack to satisfy your itch for a few hands.
Playing Card Magnet
Want a craft that’s easy enough for kids? Cut the cards in strips, glue magnets on the back and you have a fun fridge decoration for keeping school projects posted.
Card Hairpin
Similar to the playing card magnet above, you can also design small playing card blossoms and use them as hairpins. To do this, cut little pieces from the playing cards and stick them directly onto bobby pins.
Flowers or Bouquet
The thickness of playing cards make them good faux flower pedals. In the above video, SS Art demonstrates how to cut each card in the shape of a pedal, curl them and then glue them together to create flowers. If you know a couple getting married at a casino or honeymooning in Las Vegas, a card bouquet could make a fun gift.
Star Decor
Making a star out of cards requires a bit skill with scissors or an X-acto knife. But since the project only requires 10 cards, you can make a few mistakes and still complete it. In the above video, Anish Gurung explains how to slice, crease and attach the cards to create a rhombic dodecahedron. But this project isn’t really about geometry as much as it is making a fun, puzzle-like craft.
Sound Amplifier
You can make a simple and clever smart phone speaker out of the card box. By cutting a hole in the top of the card sleeve and angling a phone inside, the music coming out of tiny digital speaker is directed and amplified through the cardboard. Before you start this project, make sure your phone fits.
Storage Bowl
You need a little put of patience to fold all of the cards to make a bowl, but once you finish you’ll have a very cute conversation piece for your desk or coffee table. Plus a place to put your change.
Greeting Card
To make a clever greeting card, you may want to start with a themed playing card — think the queen of hearts for Valentine’s Day or maybe the Ace of Diamonds for a birthday. Then use the playing like you would a special decorative paper in a collage to create a memorable design.
Layered Sculpture
If you have a steady cutting hand, you can turn a deck of cards into something weird, cool and kinda artsy. Even if you don’t want to make a layered sculpture, the ingenuity in the video is impressive.
Photo Frame
Maya creations shows how to fold several cards into triangles to make a distinctive photo, circular frame.
Decorative Journal
Perhaps the most useful project for old playing cards is to turn them into a notebook. You do this by taking two cards and using them as the front and back cover of a small notebook. You won’t have to worry about stapling pages as you can create an accordion notebook by folding a single piece of paper in the shape of an accordion and sticking it between the two cards.
