I loved this post on upcycling greeting cards and it got me thinking about my stash of notecards that are out of style. In this economy, instead of buying new greeting cards I decided to make my own. I need a beautiful thank you card to send to the hostess of a dinner party, but all I have is a stack of blah thank you cards. They were purchased originally years ago to send as a follow up thank you after corporate interviews, therefore they are very corporate.
I decided to spruce up a few of the cards giving them a handmade touch with a scrap of fabric, bias tape, stamps, and a sewing machine. It took less than 10 minutes! I will probably never buy a new card again. If I ever run out of blank notecards to transform, I can make my own with recycled card stock.
Follow these steps to transform a plain thank you or notecard into something amazing and handmade. This technique can be used to transform cards for any occasion as long as they are blank inside. You’ll never be stuck without the right card again.
- Cut a piece of scrap fabric to the size of your card (I used a scrap of Mod Green Pod fabric from my shop). For other fabric options check out my craft fabric stash recommendations.
- Cut a length of bias tape to the width of your card (I used woven organic cotton bias tape from Near Sea Naturals).
Use letter stamps or a thank you stamp and ink to stamp your greeting onto the bias tape. - Line up fabric scrap and bias tape onto the front of your card with the card fully opened flat. Sew the fabric and bias tape onto the front of the card about 1/2 inch in from the edge.
- Trim fabric close to the line of stitching. For a decorative touch I used pinking sheers to trim my fabric. Once I trimmed mine a little bit of the border from the original card was visibile, but I liked the effect. I also liked the stitching on the inside of the card.
Now have fun experimenting with different fabrics and embellishments!
[Images by Jackie Hernandez]
Very cool idea. Thanks.
[...] post over at Crafting a Green World got me thinking about it even more. Jackie detailed taking some old, boring Thank You cards and adding some fabric and a stamped message to create a whole new card. It reminded me of my high school practice of taking old magazines and cutting out interesting [...]
Just found your site today and love it! this is such a great tip!
Very creative and trendy idea. Handmade always expresses a warmer sentiment. Thanks for sharing!
[...] make a “baglet” for a lovely gift. Rather than buying a new card at all, consider a makeover for a plain notecard and a used or found envelope to make a gift [...]
[...] am still looking for ways to transform my stash of plain boring notecards. I showed you how to use fabric scraps and stamps to “recover” the card. Now I want to share a fun way to turn an ugly blank-inside card into a lovely postcard or [...]
[...] am still looking for ways to transform my stash of plain boring notecards. I showed you how to use fabric scraps and stamps to “recover” the card and how to make inside out notecards with craft punches in Part 1 of this series. Now I want to [...]
Beautiful idea!
I’m not into sewing (although I’d love to learn; I have put a new zipper in a pair of pants by myself though! ) but my question here is:
What is bias tape?
Thanks for being here and thanks in advance for your anticipated response.
Peace, love and understanding.
[...] little girlies and I are participating in a handmade card swap with some other families through Kids Craft Weekly, and and I’ve been using the activity [...]
[...] little girlies and I are participating in a handmade card swap with some other families through Kids Craft Weekly, and and I’ve been using the activity [...]
[...] If you have some ugly old Christmas cards on hand, it’s an awesome fix to make them over with fabric scraps. [...]
nice post your great of taking care of the earth cuz most of the dumbasses putos dont care of the ecology