amylou: Christmas Card Holder Tutorial

Every year, we are blessed with wonderful Christmas cards from our friends and family. When we got married, we only had a handful of them, which could be nicely displayed on the kitchen counter or on the fridge. But over these last few years, as more friends are starting to send them out, the number of cards has multiplied like crazy! I searched and searched online for some sort of card display. The only ones I could find could only hold about 10 cards max. So, I took matters into my own hands and made one. The best thing about it, is that I can actually use it year round. I use it for any kind of card we get - birthdays, announcements, etc. I had a couple of friends request that I make one for them, so I decided to create a little tutorial while I made them. I made both of them at the same time, so you'll see some fluctuation in the colors in the pictures.

Here is my card holder with a few of my non-holiday cards (I haven't cleared it out yet for Christmas, but this is on my to-do list for tomorrow because I already received 2 Christmas cards the day after Thanksgiving!)

Ok, so here's what you need:

A yard stick (or a plain wood stick of similar dimensions to a yard stick) I showed both of them in this picture, but I used the plain stick, which you can buy at Jo-Ann or probably any other craft store.
A plain wooden plaque (also can be bought at most craft stores). The size you will need depends on how long your name is. I've seen these both at Hobby Lobby and Jo-Ann. Both store have a pretty wide variety of sizes. The ones I used for this tutorial are about 8 inches long. The one I used for my personal one is only about 6 inches long.
Small wooden letters - enough of each to spell out "the" and your last name with an "s" at the end (found at Jo-Ann). I used 3/4" Darice letters.
Plain wooden clothes pins (any craft store)

(Helpful Hint: All of the above items are found in the same "unfinished wood" section of the craft store)

Paint (I used acrylic)
Paint brushes
Ribbon for hanging (and for bow at the top of that ribbon if desired)
Other things you need that I forgot in the picture:

A drill
Glue (I used both Liquid Nails and E6000). I don't think it's a good idea to use hot glue for this because there's no wiggle room for shifting the letters around a little.

Ok, on with the tutorial.

Step 1.

Set out all your letters on your plaque to make sure everything fits and looks the way you want it to. I'm staggering my letters a little to give it a little character.

Step 2.

Paint everything. This is the most time consuming part of the whole process because there are a lot of little things to paint. The plaque has to be painted, and all the little sides of all the letters and clothes pins need to be painted. You also need to paint the yard stick. For this, I actually used an old can of spray paint we had laying around, but you can use any paint.

Step 3.

After all the paint dries, set out all the letters again.

I found the center of the plaque and made sure the "H" in "the" was centered first and went from there

Step 4.

Glue the letters down. For this step, I used E6000.

Step 5.

Making sure you leave about 4-5 inches at the top of the yardstick (to which you will attach the plaque), glue the clothes pins on. Make sure they're spaced evenly. I spaced them about 2 inches apart. Even though most cards are longer than this, I like to layer the cards and angle some outwards (see my first picture above), so I find it useful to have more clothespins, closer together. For this step, I used Liquid Nails. I wanted to use a really strong adhesive for these because they get a lot of action when you put up and take down the cards.

Step 6.

Mark where you want the holes to feed your ribbon through on the plaque for hanging it up. You should probably measure to make sure they're symmetrical and even, but I actually just "eye-balled" it.

Mark both holes.

Make sure you let the part your drilling hang OFF of the table so you don't drill through your table...

Drill the holes. I used my left hand to hold the plaque down on the table and my right hand to drill, and my other hand to take a picture...I know - I'm so talented :)

A nice clean, drilled hole.

Step 7.

Feed one end of your ribbon through the hole, from back to front, and tie a knot. To test your knot, try to pull the knot back through the hole. If it fits in the hole, tie another knot around the first knot and repeat until the knot is big enough that it won't pull back through the hole.

Figure out how long you want your ribbon to be (how far you want it to hang down from the nail/hook in your wall, and cut the ribbon accordingly. Make sure you add an extra inch or 2 for the knot(s). Feed the other side of the ribbon through the hole from back to front and tie a knot.

This is how the knots and ribbon should look when you're done. I like to cut the ends of the ribbon almost completely off, then I heat seal them with a lighter to make sure the ribbon doesn't fray.

Next, I add a bow at the top point of where the ribbon will hang for some added cuteness. I used about 22 inches of 5/8" ribbon.

Tie a knot around the hanging ribbon

Make 2 loops like so

cross the left side over the right side

Tuck the NEW left side through the hole

Pull tight, and voila!

Cut the tails to make them even (and I like to cut them at an angle to make it pretty).

Step 8.

Time to connect the plaque to the yard stick. I used Liquid Nails for this. MAKE SURE THE YARD STICK IS STRAIGHT and CENTERED!!! One of the reasons I don't use hot glue for stuff like this. It dries too fast and you can't move the stick around at all to make sure it's laying straight.