Manually note cards ~ Hand Made

Materials:

Martha Stewart’s Punch Around the Page corner and border punches
Colored card stock
Fancy paper
Apaper cutter or scissors
Scotch brand double sided tape
A pen or pencil
Something to crease thecardstock with (I used a creasing tool, but a bone folder or even a butter knife would work)
A stylus orother scoring tool

Instructions:

First of all, learning to use these punches takes some practice. I started with scrap paper, played with the card size, and punched. And then I punched and punched and punched.

It takes finesse to get the punch to line up properly and to learn how to make the design come out right.

Cut the colored card stock to the correct size. I cut my 8.5″x11″ inch paper across to make a 6″ piece and a 5″ piece. Set the 6″ piece aside for another project.

2.Knowing that I was going to make 6 cards for each set (and a lot of sets), I measured out and marked the spot where I’d need to fold and score the cards on my paper cutter.

3.Next, I scored the card using a stylus. If you don’t have a stylus, you could use any pointy but not sharp tool, like the back of a butter knife.

The scored card looks like this -

4.Fold the card along the scored line and then use a bone folder or your trusty butter knife to go over the crease.

If you don’t use a tool to crease the card, it will hang slightly open, like this -

After creasing, it lays flat like it’s supposed to -

5.The next step is to punch the corners.

6.And then punch the borders between the borders. These particular punches line up nicely, as long as you have practiced and gotten the hang of it ahead of time.

7.The last step is to decide how to decorate the card. I punched out a 3.5″ square to match the corner and borderdesign, then a flower to match, then a circle out of pretty flip flop paper. I used double sided tape to stick them all together.