Wednesday 7 August 2013

How To: Leaf Card

Today I'm sharing a super simple design for a leaf card...


... it's quick and easy to make, but I think it looks rather nice!

A few of these cards would make a great addition to your stationery stash (they make great all-purpose notecards for thank-yous or birthdays or just sending a nice note to a friend) or you could make a set of cards, tie them neatly with a ribbon or a piece of twine and give them as a gift. I think they'd look especially nice paired with brown kraft paper envelopes.


To make the card you will need:

- one of the oak leaf templates from this template sheet
- woodgrain effect sticky back plastic / self-adhesive vinyl
- a piece of white card (A5 folded in half) or a card blank (the card blank I used has a finished size of 4 x 6 inches)
- scissors, a ruler & a pencil
- pins, sewing scissors
- double-sided sticky tape
- green felt (or brown if you want to make an autumn leaf)

1. Use the leaf template to cut out a felt leaf. You could use green paper or card if you wanted, but I think using felt gives the card some nice texture.


2. Cut a strip of sticky back plastic that's longer than the height of your card and 2.5 inches wide - use the ruler and pencil to make sure the edges are nice and straight. The top and bottom edge of the strip should overhang your card like this:


3. Position the strip so that there's a few mms of blank card visible to the left (see the photo of the finished card at the top of this post) and carefully peel off the backing paper to stick it in place.

This is the method I used to stick the plastic on neatly. First, peel away the top section of the backing paper and fold it back.


Turn the plastic over and (taking care that the exposed section doesn't touch the card yet) position the plastic on the card, lining it up neatly. Carefully press the exposed sticky section down onto the top of the card. Then use a ruler to smooth the rest onto the card as you peel away the remaining paper.



4. Your card will now look like this:


Turn the card over and cut away the excess plastic - it's much easier to get a flush edge if you turn the card over as you can follow the edge of the white card. The card will now look like this:


5. Cut some pieces of double-sided sticky tape and press them firmly onto the back of your felt leaf.


7. Carefully peel away the backing paper from the tape, and stick the leaf in position on the card (pressing firmly). And that's it! Easy, huh?

 

Please note: this tutorial is for non-commercial use only. You may borrow one or two photos if you want to blog about my projects but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce entire tutorials on your site. Thanks!

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3 comments:

Amy said...

So simple yet so beautiful. I am in love with this design!

claudinha:) said...

LINDO !!! ME PASSA LEVEZA E MUITA ALEGRIA :) PARABÉNS :)

Bugs and Fishes said...

Thank you both! I think that sometimes simple can definitely be best :)