How to make an origami business card holder | How About Orange

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:

Vanessa said...

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

Vanessa said...

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

Jessica Jones said...

Yeah, skip the trip to the store!

Unknown said...

This is such a great idea! Love it!

Celia said...

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

Happy Cactus Designs said...

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

Sami said...

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!

Grandma G said...

Aw, sweet! And endless possibilities for designs!

Mum

Richelle Lynn Garn said...

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

Cindy Is Crafty said...

Freakin' fabulous and easy peasy!

Amber said...

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!

Anonymous said...

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

Unknown said...

This is a great tutorial! Love it!

Melissa said...

Great idea, love it!

Lanny said...

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

drummgurl said...

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!

Anonymous said...

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

Louella said...

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

Jorina said...

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

Anonymous said...

: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.

Jessica Jones said...

Happy folding!

Peggy said...

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!

homemade@myplace said...

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

Blijmetkleur said...

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

Ronaldogold said...

I love your blog!Nice idea.

Kate said...

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

Anonymous said...

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!

CardFila said...

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

Ali said...

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

Silk Business Cards said...

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.

Nauli said...

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

Anonymous said...

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

Jessica Jones said...

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.

Borealchick said...

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/

Jessica Jones said...

I love the chart paper!

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Anonymous said...

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

Lucy said...

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

Jessica Jones said...

Anonymous, good idea!

Bargainmoose said...

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

Jessica Jones said...

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

lifestyle said...

good idea! i like it

Fey said...

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

Heidi said...

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

Jessica Jones said...

A 9" square.

Anthony Hopper said...

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

Tony said...

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.

Jessica Jones said...

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

Elizabeth said...

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

Tony said...

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!

Jessica Jones said...

Hmm.... I'll think on it.

Hanne said...

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 ;)

jelly andrews said...

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

fashionndecoration said...

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

Coupons Canada said...

These are SO perfect for Christmas. Thanks for sharing!

DanielG said...

Thank you.

ash said...

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

Jessica Jones said...

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

Minhas artes said...

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

Fadaluz from Brazil

DavetteB said...

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

Jessica Jones said...

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!

Pumpkinska {Coventina Soapery} said...

Perfect!

Anonymous said...

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!!!

Print Dallas said...

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

Anonymous said...

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.