Dare to Make It: Holiday

How to Make a Business Card Holder . . . From Playing Cards

Diane Gilleland, contributor

26 users recommend

You can make these cases from standard playing cards or from loteria, tarot, or novelty cards. Anything that fits a business card works!

Diane Gilleland

You can choose playing cards for your guy's favorite numbers or suits, his hobbies, or assemble a poker hand!

Diane Gilleland

The case is nice and compact to fit in his pocket. Download the template and get making!

Diane Gilleland

You can make these cases from standard playing cards or from loteria, tarot, or novelty cards. Anything that fits a business card works!

Photo: Diane Gilleland

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Most playing cards look the same whether they're right side up or upside down. If you're using cards that must face one way, be careful how you place them! Here's a card case with one-direction cards—see how they're placed with their tops together?

This is the placement of cards for the inside of the case.

Shown above is how the cards should be placed for the inside of the case. In the finished case, the business cards will be partially covering the card with its back facing.

Laminate the assembled case.

With all those cards glued down, it's time to laminate. Place the case inside a laminate pouch. In fact, with careful placement, I can get two card cases in an 8-1/2-inch x 11-inch pouch. (Just make sure there's 1/4 inch of space between cases.)

Run the pouch through a laminator to seal the plastic.

Cut out the case. Score firmly along all the printed lines.

As you cut, leave 1/8 inch of laminate around all sides of the piece.

Then, score the piece firmly on all of the scored lines. (The laminate may resist scoring, so use firm pressure and run the bone folder back and forth a few times as needed.)

Carefully cut diagonally into the laminate at these corners.

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Smocked baby...
babeeni

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Comments (7)

marthaom writes: This is such a cool project! I'd love to try making it, but I can't seem to locate the link to download the template - is the template still available?
Posted: 11:49 am on December 19th

CoffeePotPeople writes: Oh, my goodness, Diane. You have just made my day. I went to bed last night thinking about the dozens and dozens of card decks we have (my hubby went through a "phase", lol) and wondering what I could do with them, craft-wise. Yay! This is perfect.

A thought on the process: It occurred to me that the glueing up might be stabilized if you filled the case with extra playing cards beforehand. I'm going to try that; if it doesn't work, or do anything helpful, I'll let you know.
Posted: 12:04 pm on January 13th

Sister_Diane writes: phunkymama, I used what is probably a heavy-duty laminator at my local copy shop. I used 5 mil pouches, which sealed fine at the edges, although I did need to cut the laminate 1/8" from all edges to incorporate a slight gap around the very edges of the playing cards. If you have access to the 5 mil laminate, perhaps that would work better for you. Please let me know!
Posted: 9:55 pm on December 29th

phunkymama writes: Can I ask what kind of laminator you're using for this project? I used Scotch 3 mil pouches in my Scotch laminator, and I can't get it to seal well. The thickness of the playing cards is making it so that my edges won't seal.
Posted: 3:22 pm on December 27th

Sister_Diane writes: chibimaddy, I've been trying to see your posting, but this link doesn't take me there! Can you give it to me again?
Posted: 12:02 am on December 16th

prpldy writes: I love this...and will be making one for myself. Thanks for the wonderful instructions and the template.
Posted: 12:33 pm on December 14th

chibimaddy writes: Thanks so much for a wonder project!! I saw this early in the morning, and just had to try it! It's wonderful.

I made some modifications to make it personal for me, and I uploaded pics so you could see.

http://www.craftstylish.com/item/32524/how-to-make-a-business-card-holder-from-playing-cards-with-modifications

Thank you so much Diane!!!

xo Maddy
Posted: 5:35 pm on December 13th

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