Guest Post: Note card tutorial from Heidi of Row House 14

Heidi is an English teacher living in Baltimore, USA and she is also the designer of some seriously fine stationary under the name Row House 14.  When she contacted me with the idea for this tutorial I was so excited!  I'd seen the finished product (aren't they gorgeous?) and was very keen to see the process.  Plus it's the first real how-to on Good Things* - hopefully it'll motivate me to do some of my own!

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I've spent most of my life working on some sort of creative endeavor, be it drawing, photography, writing, graphic design or whatever I'm up for that given day.  So when I fall into a creative rut I try to sit it out and hope for some inspiration to fall into my lap.  This was the case the other day.  I've embarked on a Design a Day Challenge in which I'll be designing and creating 30 things in 30 days. The idea was to get myself out of this creative rut and get my creative juices flowing.  Good idea in theory, but maybe not as great in practice as it seems I had trouble getting started!

So anyway, here I was, sitting at my dining room table, having one of those creative blocks when I just happened to notice that some of the items that were scattered about made a perfect combination!  Yellow and light gray colored paper, gray satin ribbon, white twine, white linen card stock, and aqua colored buttons.  It was as if some little creative elf had come out during the night and placed these items next to each other to try and get my rear in gear on the creative front!

I spent a couple of hours the other afternoon making some lovely flat note cards from these supplies and thought they'd be perfect and simple to share with you.  

[Click on 'read more' to see the full tutorial after the jump!]

For 8 note cards you'll need:

- One sheet of 11" x 17" (or two sheets of 8.5" x 11") 100lb card stock

- One sheet of patterned paper

- 1.25 yards of ribbon

- 8 buttons

- 7.5 yards of thin white baker's twine

- Scissors

- Permanent glue tape adhesive

- A round corner punch

- A paper trimmer

- Eight A2 envelopes

1. Using your paper trimmer, cut the white linen card stock into 8 A2 sized flat note cards - that's 4.25" x 5.5".  

2. Cut 8 3.75" x 1.75" rectangles from the patterned paper.

3. Using your corner punch, round two of the corners of the patterned paper rectangle.

4. Using your scissors, cut 8 pieces of ribbon about 5" in length.  Use the glue tape to put adhesive on the back of the ribbon and attach the ribbon to the patterned paper, folding the ends under the back of the paper.

4. Cut 8 pieces of baker's twine, a little less than a yard each.  Fold the baker's twine in half to double the strands.

5. Using the glue tape, attach the middle section of your twine to the back of the patterned paper along the same line as your ribbon.

6. Use adhesive to attach the patterned paper, with twine and ribbon, to the top of your white card stock.

7. Line the twine up with the center of the ribbon.  Thread each doubled end of the twine through a whole in the button and knot it twice.  Use your scissors to cut off the excess twine.

8. Finally, add some cute A2 envelopes.  This can be fun as well because there are all sorts of colors and papers to choose from.  I used a light gray linen envelope for these.  

The final product is the perfect little card to jot down a quick note to a friend.  Happy card making!

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Aren't these note cards stunning?  I love the different layers and textures, and they have a certain refined elegance don't you think?  I haven't worked with linen paper before but it looks so lovely, it's on my shopping list now for sure! Thanks Heidi!

You can find more wonderful designs from Heidi on her blog, and you can buy her gorgeous paper goods in her Etsy shop, Row House 14.