Various hand-made souvenirs are becoming increasingly popular. Making such things becomes a pleasant hobby for some, and a profitable business for some. Paper and cardboard souvenirs (postcards, gift envelopes, boxes, bags) are beautiful and simple in terms of technology. To create such objects, you need designer cardboard, scrapbooking paper or other decorative. Color sheets are expensive, so if you want to find a budget option, then make the material yourself.
Buy or do it yourself
It’s easy to buy designer cardboard. It can be ordered online if it is not in the stores of your locality. Making yourself fast, simple, and the necessary materials are cheap and affordable. In addition, you can get exclusive sheets with such a pattern that suits you. Cards made of such material will look very impressive.
Materials and Tools
To make designer cardboard with your own hands, you will need the following:
- plain white cardboard for children's creativity or thick paper;
- a roll of cling film (or a portion thereof sufficient in size);
- table napkins with a decorative pattern;
- gauze, thin cloth;
- iron.
Of course, if you need only one sheet, perhaps buying materials will cost more than a sheet of beautiful cardboard, since you will have to buy a whole pack of napkins. And if you will make a lot of products from decorative material, such as cards or gift boxes for the New Year, then this method will pay off in full.
Do-it-yourself designer cardboard: technology
When everything you need is ready, get to work. The sequence of steps is as follows.
Take a napkin and iron it with an iron so that no wrinkles or bumps remain.
Separate the top layer from the pattern from the white backing.
Put on a flat surface (ironing board) a sheet of cardboard for children's creativity. Better spread a sheet or unwanted fabric as the base so that the excess edges of the film do not stick to the surface of the board.
Spread the cling film on the second layer.
The third layer - the decorative part of the napkin - is located with the bright side facing you (not the cardboard).
Place gauze or thin cloth on top.
Iron the prepared structure with an iron with sufficient heating mode. Cotton mode or maximum temperature will do.
Begin ironing from the middle to the edges that you pay special attention to.
Cut excess tissue and film around the sheet.
Iron again on both sides.
Your sheet is ready. Having mastered the technology, you can experiment not only with the colors of napkins, but also with the base material. You can use a double-sided blank.
Interesting effects are obtained with photo paper or color sheets. In a word, there are many opportunities for creativity.
How to make cards and boxes from designer cardboard
It is clear that you will not make decorative sheets just to look at them. It is easy to craft an exclusive packaging or postcard from the material made. If for a box you have to draw or print a scan template on a printer, cut it out and glue a three-dimensional product, then the greeting card is easy to complete by just folding the prepared sheet in half. Do not forget to pre-draw the guide line of the fold and it is better to groove with a knitting needle or non-writing pen. This little trick will allow you to fold the sheet evenly and accurately without deformation.
In order to obtain an effective postcard, only one fold was enough, at the stage of preparing the material, it is necessary to correctly position the napkin with the pattern both on the front and on the inside, so that each side of the future postcard looked like a finished beautiful composition.
So, making designer cardboard with a thematic print and a nice surface texture is not difficult and, if it is required in large quantities, then it is very profitable.