DIY: Gift Card Pad (part 1)

If you’re like me, you get gift cards. Sometimes, the gift card design is pretty cute and I just don’t want to throw it away once I’ve used up the card. So I keep it because I’m a packrat and think I might use it at some point in time.

So, I decided make the cards into notepad covers.

SUPPLIES

• 2 used gift cards
• Closeable ring
• Paper 
• Paper cutter
• Hole punch (3/16 inch size) and hammer
• Fine tip permanent pen
• Clip
• (self-healing mat—if you wish to protect the ground area you are creating a hole on/protect your hole-punch from damage. I use a spare mat that I don’t care about damaging.)

DIRECTIONS

— 1 —

Cut your paper to the size you want your sheets to be. (I cut mine using a paper cutter to: 2 in x 3.25 in, smaller than the card’s dimensions because I didn’t want the sheets to peak out from under the card’s rounded corners. I suppose you could cut the sheets the card’s dimensions and then use a rounded corner punch at all the corners. It was just an extra step I didn’t feel like taking.) I ended with 24 sheets.

— 2 —

Decide which card is the front cover and which card is the back cover. Mark where you want the hole to be on the backside of the front cover card with a permanent pen (I did mine around 3/8 inch from the edge).

— 3 —

Go to an area with a hard ground (like a cement garage floor) and place a self-healing mat on the ground. Using the hole punch and hammer, create a hole in the card where you’ve marked.

— 4 —
Put the two cards together with the cover images facing outwards. Using the card with a hole as a template, mark the second card with a permanent pen so that the two holes will match up.

— 5 —

Punch hole in second card.

— 6 —

Take your sheets of paper and place them under the front cover card. Using the cover card as a template, mark with a pencil where the hole will be on the paper.

— 7 —

Punch a hole into the sheets of paper. You can do them all at once (or in sections) with the hole punch (but clip them together first so they don’t slide).

— 8 —

Align all of the holes together, and put a ring through it to bind them.

To personalize this pad further, go to Gift Card Pad—Covered (part 2).