Dare to Make It: Holiday

How to Make a Mosaic with Your Old Plastic

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kayte terry, contributor

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Put old credit cards and such to new use by making a beautiful mosaic!

Kayte Terry

Leave a small amount of space in between each piece.

Kayte Terry

I started laying out pieces in the upper left-hand corner. Try to mix up colors and textures.

Kayte Terry

Put old credit cards and such to new use by making a beautiful mosaic!

Photo: Kayte Terry

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2. Paint the wood frame in a color you like. Repeat with two more coats and allow to dry.

Cut the cards up into different-sized pieces for the mosaic. There's something oddly liberating about cutting up your old credit cards!

3. Cut cards into strips and then again into squares and rectangles. You don't have to make them into perfect squares or rectangles; it makes the mosaic look more interesting.

Mix up colors and textures and don't forget to look at the backs of the cards! Sometimes they are even cooler than the front!

4. To start making the mosaic, I laid out a section of card pieces in the upper left-hand corner. The pieces should fit into each other with just a little bit of space in between each piece as shown in the photo. If you need to, trim the pieces slightly. Vary colors and shapes. You can use the backs of the cards, too! Sometimes they have interesting type and colors!

5. Turn each piece over, add glue to the back, turn back over again, then adhere to the frame.

Leave a small amount of space in between each piece. If you need really small pieces, cut up your cards to fill up the spaces.

6. When you have finished gluing down all the pieces in the section, start another section below the first. Continue until the whole frame has been filled. Trim pieces if you need to fit into the mosaic.

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Comments (35)

Sphynx writes: If you're like me and have a zillion old cards (gift, credit, library, ID, membership, insurance, etc.), you could even fashion the pieces into a scene on wood or canvas. The plastic pieces are lighter in weight and cheaper than tiles or stained glass.
Posted: 11:25 am on August 17th

Tess1960 writes: OMG, I love this and you just gave me a great idea. A mosaic Spring Flower Scene for a mixed media art board. Painting with credit cards. Cool, thanks for the tutorial and inspiration....
Posted: 11:07 am on March 25th

jenyerkes writes: I did this technique on flower pots last year w/cement adhesive. Get tons of compliments on it! Love the picture frame idea too, thanks!
Posted: 9:04 am on March 25th

Louccee writes: Excellent idea! Wish I had thought of this. No messy grout, etc. Wonderful
Posted: 6:04 am on March 25th

inmyownstyle writes: I save lots of stuff to recycle, but never thought to save all those cards. I think this is such a clever idea and am now going to start saving the cards now.
Posted: 8:36 pm on March 24th

Pumpkinbear writes: It's exactly like the license plate crafts that I've always wanted to do but haven't done yet, only smaller and actually do-able!
Posted: 7:55 pm on March 24th

creativecrone writes: What a great idea! I love it. It would remind me of the days when those cards ruled my life...he he...I don't think I have any left though. I'll have to look around.I'll tell my kids, "See, this is what these things are good for." Thanks for sharing
Posted: 7:31 pm on March 24th

walkinthewoodsllc writes: What a great crafty project *and* clever way to keep all that horrid plastic out of our landfills. Nice!
Posted: 5:26 pm on March 24th

ianmoise writes: Hi Kayte,

This is an amazing display of what can be done with creativity, imagination, and used stuff!! One of our users recently posted this article on our FB page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/ReUseConnection/253021991560

If you have more reuse examples (or if you've written more articles on them), I would love to hear about them and post them

Thanks again for your article.

Warmest wishes,
Ian Moise
imoise@reuseconnection.com
@ianmoise
Posted: 12:26 pm on March 20th

sophiecai writes: great...i have a lot of wasted cards...
Posted: 9:38 am on February 17th

syedmazhar writes: Great ideas....love it.http://www.plasticcardmonster.com
Posted: 2:01 am on February 4th

syedmazhar writes: This is great way of converting and recycling. I like the idea of making such types of the plastic card.
plastic card
Posted: 2:00 am on February 4th

Flippincool writes: Hi!

Just wanted to let you know I featured this tutorial in a post all about upcycle crafting. Thanks!

Emily
The Handmade Experiment
http://emilyflippinmaruna.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/must-make-monday-upcycled/
Posted: 4:57 am on July 13th

ariyarga writes: This is super awesome! I need to start saving those cards!!!
Posted: 10:10 pm on June 24th

Lisingreece writes: Oh WOW! I have been saving old calling cards, credit cards, bus cards for years and had been thinking about decoupaging them and making pendants for my paper bead necklaces but I really love your idea!!!
Thanks so very much for sharing!

Posted: 5:44 am on April 22nd

aege8th writes: I made a couple of bracelets out of my cut up credit cards -- one where I used the little squares as dangling charms, another where I just linked the squares together with jump rings. But this is a great idea and I'm going to try it. I've been saving old cc for years and because I just KNEW someday there'd be another project for them!

Also, many stores have colorful gift cards which you can just take. (They are worthless until you pay to load them -- well, worthless to anyone who's not a crafter!)
Posted: 1:58 am on March 24th

Love_it writes: Great place for a credit card.
Posted: 2:19 pm on February 1st

newlifeartworks writes: awesome!
Posted: 1:40 pm on January 29th

MallysGirl writes: This is great! Who doesn't have tons cards they could (& should) cut up! I know I do! Thanks for sharing!
Posted: 2:32 pm on January 28th

Toffy writes: Absolutely terrific way to recycle plastic money. This is top on my list of greatest ideas yet.
Posted: 10:37 am on January 28th

shrtcke writes: oh I love this! I wish I had a nuch of old cards. I will have to start saving them.
Posted: 11:37 am on January 22nd

Nomdeeploom writes: That is a wonderful idea!! I am definitely going to try
that!
Posted: 9:05 pm on January 12th

amm writes: I love this project Kayte. Now I'm bummed that I just threw out an old AAA travel card. Maybe this will motivate me to clean out my wallet!!

Thanks.
Posted: 9:47 am on January 12th

SonjaLuvs2Sew writes: Okay, Sister Diane, I'm a bit luckier, I shredded a few but they are still in the shred basket. I'll post a pick once done.

Kayte Terry, I started making glass mosaics this week too. I LOVE this project!!!!!!!!
Posted: 5:08 pm on January 10th

labayou2000 writes: Wow, that's so cool with credit cards to make this frame...as I always cutting up the bad credit cards to my waste basket, eh!! Many thanks from Craftsylish.com to share us to make!!!
Posted: 12:43 pm on January 10th

BluePlum writes: Now I know what to do with all those fake cards I get with applications every week.
Posted: 11:10 am on January 10th

artlikebread writes: I see a Blick card in there! Nice! My mom is going to flip for this one! :o) Thanks.
Posted: 10:58 am on January 10th

prpldy writes: I love this...now I know what to do with the hundreds of old cards that I have saved for years. And I have some of those frames/mirrors...so guess I will be making one today myself!
Posted: 10:05 am on January 10th

pickleonastickle writes: kayte, i love this. i have been hoarding credit cards for years, just waiting for the right project to come along. this goes on my short list! really beautiful execution!
Posted: 9:29 am on January 10th

trisha0098 writes: I remember an ad some years back where Martha Stewart was spoofing herself by tiling her swimming pool with old credit cards-must pay more attention to ads for inspiration...
VEry cute project!
Posted: 9:10 am on January 10th

Fletchbrew writes: I love this idea. So much so that today I made my own framed version. While my wallet was not overflowing with plastic, there were definitely some treasures waiting to find new life. I especially liked being able to customize based on what my cards said. I recently married and have a new last name. It was great to be able to feature part of my maiden name, which also happens to be my nickname, as a special tribute to my family's history. Thanks for the brilliant reduce reuse idea, I had so much fun creating it!
Posted: 8:20 pm on January 9th

AndCalliope writes: How clever! I've seen people using colorful gift cards too...especially old cards from Starbucks. Those are especially nice if you want to keep your mosaic on a particular color scheme.
Posted: 1:18 pm on January 9th

LAURAMCHUGH writes: Great Idea. I love mosaics but alot of time and effort and the sharp edges...... This is a perfect for me as a art teacher to work recycling in to a lesson as well. Can't wait to show my students. We have been working alot with paper mosaics but this will be alittle closer to tile or glass in look. I know they will love this project.
Posted: 3:51 pm on January 8th

bethtrue writes: What a great idea - love this. You could also use expired/used up gift cards (like from the coffee shops, etc). Thanks for sharing!
Posted: 2:30 pm on January 8th

Sister_Diane writes: Absolutely beautiful! I just cut up and tossed a whole bunch of old cards. Wish I'd waited a few more days - I would have loved to make this!
Posted: 1:57 pm on January 8th

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