DIY Gift Ideas: Fabric Note Cards

With Halloween over and November beginning I realize that Christmas is just around the corner. I love the Christmas season and everything about it. While I think about it and plan for it in advance, I don’t usually post about it until after Thanksgiving. But this year I got the idea that it would be fun to share some DIY gift ideas. I don’t know about you, but by the time December comes around, if I haven’t finished the gifts I want to DIY, they aren’t going to get done. December is just too hectic. So, I’m going to start offering a few DIY gift ideas now so if you want to make any of them for your friends or family, you will have time. I’m not sure how many I will post, I’m just going to go with the flow and see what happens :)

The first gift idea is a set of fabric note cards. Note cards are such a great thing to give to someone you don’t know very well or as a hostess gift or even for someone who has everything because most people use note cards. These little cards are so fun and now I want to make a bunch more because they are pretty simple as well.

First of all, pick out your fabric and iron it all. This is the step I like the least because ironing isn’t my favorite :) Make sure to get out all the creases because they will show up on the finished product if they are there. Keep your fabric pieces larger, don’t cut them to size yet.

Next, cut your card stock. I used envelopes that were 5.75″ x 4.375″ so I cut my card stock to 5.5″ x 8.25″ and folded them in half. Next, on the inside of the card, place a small piece of removable adhesive (I used double sided tape) so that the card stays closed. Take your cards outside and lay them all out on a piece of cardboard (or something else that you can throw away afterward) and spray them with spray adhesive. Bring your cards inside but make sure not to stack them!

While the adhesive is still tacky, place the fabric on the card.

Smooth the fabric down and continue to smooth it to get out all of the wrinkles and air bubbles.

You can also use more than one fabric on the same card. Just place the first fabric and smooth it down, then place the second fabric, overlapping just the tiniest bit.

Next, trim away the excess fabric. Then, gently remove the double sided tape or adhesive from the inside of the card.

And that’s it! The set above are all vintage fabrics. This set is my favorite :)

You can also make some that are a bit more masculine. A set of plaid cards would be really fun!

These are the cards I made with two different fabric for each card. It’s a great way to get rid of some scraps!

I also love these, they are baby sized! I will probably keep these for myself and use them on gifts. I love the fabric of the top card, it’s textured. A good thing to keep in mind when picking out fabrics. It’s also a bit transparent but with the while card stock as the background, it’s not noticeable.

And lastly, you can also dress them up a bit. I really like them plain but with a few stitches from the sewing machine and an embellishment and you have yourself a whole new look.

The problem with posting gift ideas is that I can’t give them to anyone (if they read my blog). On the other hand, that means I get to keep them all for myself :)

What about you? Do you give handmade gifts? I actually only give a few handmade gifts every year which might surprise some of you. While I love to receive handmade things, I know not everyone likes it so I limit it to those I think would actually like handmade stuff :) What are your thoughts?