Pop-up Place Cards

These little place cards will dress up your holiday table with an extra-special personalized touch! Add clipart for a specific holiday or go one better and scan in a piece of your china or tableware and add that as your design! You can even make them reusable by leaving out the name and covering them with a self-adhesive laminating sheet before you cut them out. Then just use a color-coordinated felt tip marker to add the names. After use, simply wipe the name off with a damp tissue and they're ready for the next dinner party!

MATERIALS

110 lb. card stock (or the heaviest your printer will handle)or folding business card stock

Paper trimmer, paper cutter or scissors

Craft knife

OPTIONAL:

Self-adhesive laminating sheets (available in office supply stores)

Felt tip marker - medium point

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Open a blank page in your graphics software. Draw a rectangle that measures 3.5" wide X 4" high and outline it in light grey. These lines will be your cutting guides.

2) Place a guideline (the kind that doesn't print) on this rectangle so that you have the rectangle marked at the halfway point from top to bottom. This midpoint is where you will place your pop-up clipart.

3) Place your clipart on the card slightly indented from the left side and position it so that it is divided in half by the guideline - half above the guideline, half below.

4) Place any additional art in the right bottom corner or along the bottom of the card.

5) Place a text box in the center of the card and add a name (optional).

6) Now group the entire card and duplicate three times. You will be able to fit four place cards on one page.

7) Change the names on the other three cards and print a test page on plain paper.

8) If your test looks good, go ahead and print it out on the card stock.

OPTIONAL FOR REUSABLE CARDS:

Leave out the text boxes and the names and print the sheet. Cover the front of the cardstock with a sheet of 8 1/2" X 11" self-adhesive laminating sheet and trim away any excess.

9) Cut each of the cards out from the sheet. Once again, this is where a paper trimmer comes in really handy! We use a Fiskars trimmer. They can be purchased at most craft stores for under $20 and they come with a paper scoring blade as well as a cutting blade!

10) Once the cards are cut out, score them across the center where they will fold BEING CAREFUL NOT TO SCORE THROUGH THE CLIPART!

11) Lay the card flat and cut around the top half of the clipart with your craft knife. (It helps to have a good, sharp blade on your craft knife.)

12) Now fold the card in half and the top half of the clipart will "pop up". If you have done your cards with the laminating sheet, you can now add the names with your felt tip marker. They can be wiped off easily with a damp tissue or paper towel!

These place cards are sure to get you lots of "oohs" and "aahs" at your next gathering!

Pop-Up Place Card Instructions

For a print friendly version, click on this link.