August 23, 2012

How to make an origami business card holder

Here's a quick and easy origami project: a business card case or gift card holder. Use patterned gift wrap (I like heavier-weight wrapping paper for a sturdier case), graph paper, a paper bag, magazine pages, or origami paper. Decorate the case with washi tape or stamps for a cute way to present gift cards. It will look like you put a lot of thought and effort into a gift that was probably the easiest thing you could buy. Slacker.

Just kidding. Sometimes gift cards are the very best present.

To make a holder for a standard 3.5 x 2" business card, start with an 8.5" square of paper. For a standard gift card, use a 9" square.

Place the paper pretty side down. Fold the sheet in half vertically and open it back up.

Fold the left and right edges inward to meet the center fold.

Open the paper again. Fold each corner inward so that the corner points meet the nearest crease.

Close the left and right flaps.

Turn the paper over and fold the top down so that the exposed diagonal edges meet precisely at the fold.

Fold the bottom up in the same way, tucking the bottom edge into the diagonal flaps. They should overlap slightly.

Insert a card to make sure it fits, then fold the case in half. All done!

To make a fabric version of this case, see this post.

65 comments:

  1. Genius, I tell you! And so thrifty, too. I was going to

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  2. Woah, hit enter early. Let me finish: "I was going to buy something like this, glad I can make it instead" :)"

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  3. This is such a great idea! Love it!

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  4. Just what I needed!!! I know I can always count on your blog for awesomeness. Thank you :)

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  5. Love this idea! Can't wait to try it out.

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  6. This is awesome! I was always a little intimidated by origami, but this seems easy enough. My current business card holding strategy is just throwing them in my purse, but that is not a good solution. Thanks for sharing!

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  7. Aw, sweet! And endless possibilities for designs!

    Mum

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  8. Jessica, I love this! I just bought some of those mini business cards from MOO and this will be the perfect holder.

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  9. 79First project I've seen where I actually want to pull out the origami paper my husband brought home from Japan and make it with my girls. Thanks!

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  10. Oh! i love your blog!
    i follow you!
    kisses!
    Nice idea, so different!

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  11. This is a great tutorial! Love it!

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  12. Great idea, love it!

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  13. I love this, thanks so much for sharing its just what I needed for my business cards !

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  14. Love it! I always love cool scrapbooking papers but never know what to do with them, besides sticking photos to them! Also can I just say I've been visiting your blog for over 2 years now and I love it! I love all of the fun tutorials, fonts and games you post!

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  15. just fantastic, love it.i tried it, looks great.

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  16. What I like is you can use all kinds of great looking papers, what ever you like, even diffferent kinds of papers would work!

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  17. Great! My boyfriend just ordered business cards, I know he'd like this!

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  18. :D I'm so pleased i found this, I've been looking for graduation gifts for my husband and his friends, I'm going to make them one each with their name and logo :D thank you so much for posting this.

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  19. This is perfect! Our eldest just graduated from high school and is seeking employment to help pay for college expenses next semester. A number of places have requested business cards so they can contact him in the event someone calls in sick. This will be the perfect for him to carry them!

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  20. just done it!!! so clever and nice idea!!!
    thank you for sharing this!!!
    xxxx Alessandra

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  21. what a nice idea, I really like it. I'll pin it.

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  22. gorgeous and so much simpler than it looks at first glance. Thanks for the tutorial :D

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  23. Just made this in two different sizes as the first one didn't fit my Moo cards BUT! Before the final fold in half...it now makes a great photo holder! Love How About Orange soooooo much!

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  24. Great idea!Thanks
    http://cardfila.com/

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  25. They are so cute, I'm definitely doing this!

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  26. Thanks for such a useful idea. It looks very cute. I just learnt some of similar craft works when i was kid. thanks for remaining me of it.

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  27. Wanna make my business card holder since last year and still didn't. This is a simple, practical and cute solution! Thanks!

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  28. Were did you find that great pattern fabric. It's really cool. Thanks.

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  29. These are heavy wrapping papers, not fabrics. I bought the big print at Old Navy a few years ago, and the small print is from The Container Store.

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  30. Great paper choices! I used handmade paper and old air charts for mine:

    http://borealchickdesigns.com/2012/04/10/folding-paper-on-a-rainy-day/

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  31. Great post Thanks for reminding me to examine where my heart is at, and not just when it comes to blogging, but in my daily activities. You amaze me. Thankful for you!
    airlines contact numbers

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  32. Lovely idea, if you put a smaller piece of paper, with another pattern into the middle of the envelop, it's even nicer

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  33. So cute and simple, will try and make one for my co intern as we got are new business cards!

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  34. This was awesome!! I just made it, it was super easy and SO cute!

    I can't wait to make a ton of these for christmas and other gift giving holidays! Thanks :) -Kate

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  35. You can crank those things out by the dozen once you've memorized the folding steps!

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  36. Great idea! I am going to do the same for my business card ;)
    theyellowbalconey.com

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  37. How big of a piece of paper do you start with so a gift card fits inside?

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  38. That's pretty neat! Thanks for passing along the info.

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  39. This is exactly what I was looking for. Much better than buying anything and I can custom print whatever I want on them! Any ideas on how to keep these suckers closed? Glue dots don't stick to the paper stock I am using.

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  40. Do you mean to "latch" them closed? Or just have them naturally sit closed (mine do).

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  41. This will be fantastic for Christmas! Thank you so much for the great tutorial!

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  42. Yes, to "latch" them closed. I am putting anywhere between 20-30 business cards in these (I am using 11" square paper to allow for the thickness of that many cards and am putting the cards in both flaps) and a way to securely close them would be fantastic. I thought of using an elastic but thats not appealing and takes away from the elegance of this holder. Thanks!

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  43. You could make a slip in one of the flaps, put a ribbon through it, tape it on the inside (and secure the slip too to prevent it ripping open)and just fold the ribbon around and tuck the end of it under the folded ribbon to keep it in place. (It is hard to explain this clearly ;) )

    Great website btw! I use your ideas to come up with other ideas ;)

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  44. Great thinking Hanne! That would be so cute. I better try that idea too. Thanks!

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  45. so great tutorial.love it so much........
    http://www.fashionndecoration.com/

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  46. These are SO perfect for Christmas. Thanks for sharing!

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  47. Where do you get your papers from?
    I have followed most of your origami posts and the papers are as lovely as the design.

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  48. The black and white prints here are actually good-quality wrapping paper, but usually I order paper from Amazon.

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  49. Thank you for your easy instructions
    I have my hold card now and I am happy with it

    Fadaluz from Brazil

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  50. Will cardstock work for this or is it too stiff? These are so cute!

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  51. If it's on the thinner side, it might work. You might need to score the folds, though, to get a clean fold. Give it a shot!

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  52. This is a great idea of a DIY to make to sell! Great for a starting craft business!!! Thanks so much for the awesome idea!!!

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  53. Awesome, that's a very creative twist! =)

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  54. Great idea... I was looking for a way to display a small stack of cards on a bulletin board without sticking a thumb tack through all of them.

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