How to Make a Handmade Card for Any Occasion

Make a handmade card that is perfect to give for any occasion. Below is the complete step-by-step tutorial with a video.

A handmade card can be a gift all by itself. I love making the cards that I give to friends and family because I truly believe a handmade card means just a little bit more.

Going through my cards, I had many Birthday and Christmas cards but I didn’t have much of anything else. That is when I decided to design a card that could be used for any occasion.

The card would need to be simple but still beautiful and could work as a sympathy card, a birthday card, or whatever I need at the moment.

Supplies You’ll Need to Create this Project:

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3 1/2 x 5 inch White Card Base
1 1/16 x 4 7/8 inch Pattern Paper Pieces
5/16 inch Ribbon
Craft Knife
Adhesive

Any Occasion Handmade Card:

My card bases are 3 1/2 x 5-inch cards. That means that is the measurement of the front of the card once it is folded in half.

Across the front of my card, there are three panels each measuring 1 1/16 x 4 7/8 inches.

three panels that measure 1 1/16 x 4 7/8 inches

This part is math – so skip ahead if you don’t need the explanation.

In case you are dealing with a different sized card base, I want to share how I got my measurements.

I wanted some white space around each of the panels so I couldn’t just divide the width by three. I first subtracted 5/16 from to allow for the white space. This made for a width of 3 5/16, then divided that number by 3 for 1 1/16. For the length, I didn’t need to divide anything only subtract a little for the white space on the top bottom of the panel. So the 5 became 4 7/8. Are you with me? Math isn’t my strong suit so if I made this more difficult than necessary I’m sorry, just use a 3 1/2 x 5 card base. 🙂

Adhere the pattern piece panels to the front of the card using your favorite paper adhesive. It really doesn’t matter if you use double-sided tape, liquid glue or a glue stick. Whatever you have is fine.

Using a craft knife cut a small slit on the fold of the card for the ribbon to go through. Mine is about 1/2 in down from the top of the card.

cut a slit in the fold of the card with a craft knife

The slit doesn’t need to be too long, just wide enough for the ribbon.

string ribbon through the cut slot in the side of the card

Tie a flat knot. If you aren’t sure how to tie a flat knot I do show in the video. The key to a flat knot is going slow.

Fold your card, write your heartfelt message and your handmade card is ready to be given away!

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Craft Tutorial Video:

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Our Crafting Essentials List:

The Cricut Cutting Machine is easily our favorite crafting tool. We use it in so many of our tutorials!
This Fiskars Paper Trimmer is easy to use and cuts nicely without frayed edges.
These Scotch Precision Scissors cut like a dream and you get multiple pairs in a pack!
Keep those started project supplies organized and separated with Stacking Plastic Baskets. I always work on more than 1 project at a time and these baskets really help me from losing supplies.