Do you keep your birthday cards? I am sure at least some people reading this post do. What about the envelopes? I am betting you envelopes out even if you keep the card. If you are not sending the card, and you are not enclosing $ or the life, do you really need an envelope? I am thinking… no.
With that in mind and armed with scissors, a glue stick, 7 manila file folders, and a fall-colored 8×8 inch “Typography” paper pack from Graphic 45 (it includes 3 sheets each of 8 double sided designs), Graphic 45 metal brads, StazOn Ink, and a few bits of ribbon and lace, I set out to see how many super simple cards I could make in about 4 hours.
I made a total of 10 regular sized cards, 15 gift cards and a gift tag before I ran out of old file folders. I dd not run out of paper in the pack – I think there are 6 full sheets left plus scraps.
I chose not to cut the file folder tabs off but to use them as a design element in the cards, cutting the top of the image to match the tab and gluing an image on the inside tab to cover what was written or labeled.
As I was cropping the folders to better match the size of the image, I wound up with some folded strips I did not want to pitch, so I Â incorporated them into a card with a busy, colorful patterned inside.
I glued 5 strips at the bottom middle edge starting from the 1 in the center, then the 2 on the top and lastly the 2 in between those so they were somewhat even, essentially giving me 20 lines to write on.
Then I tied ribbon around it. (Silk sari ribbon comes either as strips knotted or sewn together.)
Here are a few more examples:
In this first one I did not worry about covering the entire label, but just left a well-chosen word to show on the tab.
Strips for a folder cut at an angle to add writing space on busy, dark paper:
More to come!
