When you feeling like crafting for a cause, one really fun option is to decorate a card with an easy origami heart.
They’re so easy to make, you’ll have a bunch of handmade card piled up before you know it!
Once you’ve set aside the ones you need for family and friends, take the extras and donate them to an organization like Cardz For Kidz or Send A Smile. Mind you, if you are only able to send 2- 3 cards, these organizations and the people they serve will love them all the same.
Tips And Tricks For Making Handmade Cards For Charity
Before I get to the tutorial, I think it’s best to share some background info.
I am not, nor have I ever been, dedicated to scrapbooking or card making.
I do not have stacks of paper “stacks”. I do not have a stamping machine or specific paper embellishments to spruce up a design in a pinch.
In fact, several years ago, a friend and I spent an afternoon making cards to donate to Cardz For Kidz!.
She is an expert (although she would deny it) at scrapbooking and card making. Watching her construct each custom card was a thing of beauty. And she was FAST.
So, I have seen a pro at work and I am well aware my paper and glue game are mediocre at best.
That doesn’t mean, however, that I haven’t learned some tips and tricks along the way. If you are making homemade cards for charity, these tips are handy because it will help you save money and time.
What Paper Should I Use For Handmade Cards?
Shop for cardstock on sale at places like JOANN Fabrics. They regularly have a deep price cuts on paper at least once a year (typically toward the end of the year, I believe).
Since paper doesn’t have a shelf life, I make sure to shop those sales While I may not use paper a lot throughout the year, when I do have a need for it, I usually need a variety of choices. So, usually get both standard solid colors and some funky patterns when I can.
What Other Supplies Do I Need To Make Cards?
Just like with all the different types of paper, you don’t have to be a glue or scissors expert to make handmade cards. Lots of different punches aren’t necessary either.
I have been using Elmer’s Craft Bond set (pictured below) and having good success. These small stick are just the right size because I don’t use glue often enough to make larger options worth it.
When I need to cut things, I use my rotary cutter and map or standard scissors.
Make Handmade Cards With A Simple Origami Heart
Since I like doing work in batches, I am going to show you two different ways to use the easy origami heart to decorate homemade cards.
Materials And Tools
The materials for this project include:
– Origami paper.
The origami paper can be solid colors or have a pattern. It’s all up to you. The size of the paper depends on the final size of you want for your origami hearts. For these projects, I used paper that was 6″ x 6″, 4″ x 4″, and 3″ x 3″.
If you are in the market for origami paper, places like Daiso Japan have a nice selection with really fun patterns. You can also use thinner paper of any kind, really, and just cut it to size.
– Card stock.
Solid colors or patterns are best here too. This presents much better than printer paper and allows a lot more flexibility when creating card designs. As I mentioned above, I typically shop the sales and stock up on colors I like to have in my stash.
– Craft glue.
I am calling for “craft glue” because all-purpose Elmer’s doesn’t work well for me. I already explained that I have been using the Elmer’s Craft Bond set for recent projects. Mod Podge should work, but I like using a glue stick because it’s faster and doesn’t have any clean-up.
– Adhesive vinyl (optional).
I decided to use adhesive vinyl for this project so that I could include some interesting texture and fonts. It’s a cheat, really, so that I don’t have to cut out and glue down paper letters or do all the writing by hand.
Plus, I had some vinyl I didn’t love and wanted to destash.
– Markers and pens.
Markers and pens will be used for additional decoration as well as writing messages on the cards.
4 Simple Steps To Make Your Custom Cards
Step 1: Make a variety of easy origami hearts.
First things first. You need to make a handful or more of the easy origami hearts all at once.
The video tutorial below showcases the straightforward steps to make the heart.
To follow along and make the cards I’m making you will need the following number of hearts:
– One 6″ x 6″ heart
– Two 4″ x 4″ heart
– Four 3″ x 3″ hearts
These origami hearts are so easy to make, after completing the first one, you will be on a roll (or a crease, really…).
Step 2: Fold the card stock in half to create a blank card.
Folding the card stock is another one of those things I like to do all at once. If gives me a nice visual of what I need to get done and the options I have.
I usually try to match up the paper I selected with the card stock color ahead of time. Sometimes after folding it, though, the aesthetic is different and some of the hearts find different “homes”.
Step 3: Glue the heart(s) to the front of the blank card.
Since creating the a variety of origami hearts sizes is so easy, I had fun playing around with different card designs.
For the 6″ x 6″ hearts, they take up enough room that it looks really nice just centered on the front of the card.
For the smaller heart sizes, I did one fairly standard approach and, for the second one, I tried to change it up a bit.
I kept thinking about how much fun balloons are and heart balloons are even better.
So, for one of the cards, I decided to make a small bunch of easy origami heart “balloons”. I like how the hearts puff out a little bit since I didn’t glue the tops down to the card. Next time, I will use embroidery thread for the balloon strings to give it even more texture.
Step 4: Add an inspirational, sassy, or silly message.
I used adhesive vinyl for the inspirational words or sassy sayings, to make life a little bit easier. So out came my trusty Silhouette Cameo to cut out the words.
I planned to place the words in various spots on the cards, therefore using text placement techniques like warping or curves was unnecessary. This allowed me to squeeze in as much as possible onto the full 12″ x 12″ cut of vinyl.
This vinyl wasn’t great quality, so weeding all at once wasn’t an option. To make it easier, I took the large sheet and cut out each word separately so weeding wouldn’t make me pull out my hair.
With the weeding complete, I prepared each of the words for transfer to the card stock.
I have the proper see-through transfer paper but prefer to use blue painter’s tape for projects like these. I save the more expensive transfer paper for projects that require a high level of precision.
Once the vinyl words were ready, I got to work placing each one onto a handmade card.
Donate Handmade Cards Decorated With Easy Origami Hearts
I had a lot of fun playing around with different ways to use hearts in various sizes. For shorter phrases, I put the text on the outside and the longer sayings went on the inside.
Once I finish my last several cards, they’ll will be on their way to Chicago and into the Cardz For Kidz mailbox!
Share The Goods
What craft hacks do you use to make a lot of handmade cards at once?
Donna
Thursday 1st of October 2020
What a wonderful idea!
Dana
Thursday 1st of October 2020
Donna - Thanks for stopping by and for the kind words. I have made them in all different sizes to have ready when I need a super cute as a quick embellishment in a pinch.