The gifts are unwrapped, the out of town guests have made their way home, and you're probably staring at a mountain of gift wrap and cards feeling a bit of the old green guilt.

Don't you fret! With just a little crafty love, you can keep the spoils of Christmas day out of the bin!

Greeting Cards

I'll admit it: I just love getting Christmas cards in the mail! Our friends always pick such pretty ones out, and it breaks my heart a little when all of those lovely designs fall into the recycle bin. Well, heartbreak no more! We've rounded up some projects so those cards can live another day!

Using fabric scraps, it's easy to make over those old cards. You can also use a glue stick to cover the written-on parts with some recycled paper.

If you've got a knack for yarn crafting, check out this tutorial for turning old cards into a crocheted bowl.

Over at eHow, you can learn how to make keepsake coasters out of gift cards. I bet you could do something similar in a collage-y way and make a set of gift card placemats, too!

Jessica Okui at Zakka Life shows you how to use a simple blanket stitch to transform old greeting cards into lovely little luminaries!

Greeting cards are the perfect weight for making garland! Just punch or cut out whatever shapes you like, and attach them to some twine or yarn with a little tape. If you want to add some pizazz, fancy it up with glitter or by gluing fabric scraps to your garland. To store, just wrap the garland around an old paper towel or toilet paper tube to avoid tangles. If you store these carefully, you've got reusable decorations for any shindigs you're planning!

And if these crafty solutions don't suit your needs, you can always try making custom greeting cards online.

Wrapping Paper

As much as we try to wrap holiday gifts sustainably, there still seems to be some left over paper on the living room floor Christmas day. Rather than tossing it into the bin, there are a bunch of different crafty ways to reuse all of that shiny paper!

If you have big pieces, you can save them for another use. Use your iron on the lowest heat setting to carefully press out the wrinkles, and you've got paper for another present! You may want to press the paper for a few of the projects below, as well.

I just love this tutorial for making paper stars from old wrapping paper. I think these would have so much character if you used a variety of prints.

If you have some heavier paper left over, you could turn it into an envelope! Need a little guidance? Here is a great resource for making envelopes.

It's easy to create reusable gift boxes for next year with this year's left over paper. Just trace the sides of the box onto the back of your paper, cut, and use a glue stick to attach the paper to the outside of a box. Make sure you wrap the lid separately, so it can be easily opened and closed. Bonus points if you're using a salvaged box from this year!

Have you gotten crafty on some holiday cards or wrapping paper? Tell us all about it in the comments!

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by Piper