What Do You Do?...with Greeting Cards

Yesterday, my friend Tina posted about her love of greeting cards.  Now, I may be in the minority on this one but I’m not a fan of the greeting card.  Sure, I can appreciate a pretty card when I see one, and the accompanying handwritten notes and thoughts are (usually) lovely to read, but after that’s done what are you supposed to do with it?  I have piles of cards from Esposito (one accompanies every single gift and holiday!) that I don’t want to throw away, since he did go through the trouble of finding the “perfect” card and writing me a note, but really they are just sitting somewhere in the house collecting dust!  I am also guilty of hardly ever getting cards for people, unless its to hold a monetary gift – more times than I can count have I gone to a baby shower or other event and the giftee has no idea which gift is mine because I didn’t bother to attach a card with my name!  Reading Tina’s post got me thinking that there has to be a better way of keeping and collecting the cards given to us throughout the year, and maybe then I will appreciate receiving them more!  An obvious solution is a pretty box or basket to hold them.  Placed in a bookcase or on a desk these functional storage pieces can also serve as a decor element.

Mainstay Lidded Storage Box from Walmart

White Greeting Card Organizer from The Container Store

Kasset Magazine Box with Lid from IKEA

I love the idea of creating a photo album or scrapbook with greeting cards, though that's more work than I would probably put into it!

Greeting Cards Stapled to Photo Album pages here

Greeting Cards Bound Together with Rings here

But my favorite idea is displaying your favorite cards throughout your home.  Whether it be framed, on a clipboard, or hanging off a wire, it seems so nice to give yourself the opportunity to constantly see a card which meant so much to you that you had to keep it.  Of course, you can't display all of them at once (although a gallery wall of all framed greeting cards would be pretty cool!) but establishing a dedicated "greeting card display space" would allow you to switch cards out as you get them as well.  I've seen many people use this technique for just pretty cards that they find, but I think it would even have more meaning when it is a card(s) that means something adorning your home.

A chunky frame, and asymmetrical mat perfectly sets off a simple and appropriate message in an entryway here

A set of similar cards (actually an innovative product that is a card intended to be displayed as art) here

 

A card artfully displayed on an easel clipboard here

A gallery grouping of framed cards here

A frame repurposed as a greeting card holder here

These are actually magazines strung over wire as a functional display, but I love this idea for greeting cards as well!

What’s your greeting card “policy” and how do you store special ones given to you?