Masculine Card Made to Look Like a Man's Wallet

A couple of years ago a fellow scrapper, Linda McDonald, showed me a card she had made her husband.  It looked like a man's leather wallet but was actually made out of cardstock.  I have wanted to make a card like that for my son ever since but unfortunately Linda moved out of town and was never able to show me how she did it.  I decided this week that I would try and figure it out for myself.  Mine didn't turn out  as good as the one she did but I'm still pretty pleased with them. It took a lot of trial and error but I finally got it the way I liked it so I thought I would make a tutorial showing how I did it  in case you wanted to give it a try too.
I made the smaller one on the right first but didn't like it as much so I made the tutorial giving the measurments and photos from the larger one I did the second time around.  Here is what the two looked like in the end.

Here is how I did it.

You only need one piece of cardstock to make this card so pick the color that you want to use for it.  Two important things I learned about the cardstock were:
1. Don't use cardstock that has a different colored core.  For one of my cards I used dark brown but it had a white core and when I embossed and sewed on it the white showed.
2. Inking the edges of the cardstock gives the wallet a cool look because it makes it a bit worn looking, but if you are wanting to ink it you will want to pick a color that isn't really dark because the ink won't show up very well.  I picked a really dark brown and although the ink did cover the white core showing through it didn't show up on the dark brown as much as I would have liked.

Cut your cardstock into these sizes
1 - 10" wide x 4" high - Outside of wallet - Called A
1 -   9 14/16 w x 3 3/4 h - Inside of wallet - Called B
1-    4 3/4 w x 3 1/2 h - Photo holder - Called C
1 -   4 3/4 w x 2" h - gift card holder - Called D
1 -   4 3/4 w x 1" h - sentiment holder - Called E
1 -   4" x 3" piece of clear transparency sheet -  Called F.
Note: For my transparency I used a left over piece that came inside a package of stickers. The stickers had been stuck to it in the package and I saved it when I had used up all the stickers.

Here are your pieces

Using a corner rounder I rounded off the corners of all the pieces except the transparency.

Next cut a window out of the photo holder (C)  I used a 4'"x 3" photo so I measured in a 1/2" on each side of the photo holder and drew a rectangle.  I then used a ruler, my craft mat and Fiskars Craft Knife and cut out the rectangle.

Score pieces A and B down the centre

Sew around the outside edge of piece A.  If you wanted to you could sew around the other pieces also but I didn't bother. Note: at the end of this tutorial I will show you two other suggestions you could use if you don't have a sewing machine.

Using a Cuttlebug and embossing folder, emboss piece A This will be the outside of the wallet. Because the piece is so large you will have to put one end in and emboss it and then turn it around and emboss the other end. The embossing folder I used is called Mesh. I picked it because it reminded me of alligator skin so thought it would make it look like regular wallet.

 Ink over the embossed area. You will also want to ink the edges of all the other pieces.

Apply double sided tape to the two shortest edges and the bottom edge of pieces B, C, D and E.  Also apply double sided tape around  all the edges of the window in the photo holder, piece C.

Take the white part of the tape off piece B and attach this piece to the back of the embossed piece (A). You want to line it up across the bottom and make sure that the scored centre's line up.  I found the best way to do this was to stand them up on the table and then start attaching them. After it is attached the upper part will be open and can be used to put paper money in if that is what you are giving as the gift.

Next remove the tape from around the window in piece C and place the clear transparency piece over the window and make sure it is stuck down on all sides.  Then remove the rest of the tape from it and stick it down on the left side of the card.  Make sure it lines up along the bottom and have the bottom left  rounded corners of  piece B and C match up. It won't meet at the score line but that is the way you want it so that the card can be folded closed.  Slip in the photo you want to use.

Next take piece D and attach it to the right side of the card.  Again line it up along the bottom but match up the bottom right rounded corner of part D and B.  Then take piece E and line it up along the bottom the same way.  This will give you two small pockets one to put the sentiment in and if you are giving them a gift card then you can put it in the second pocket.

The last thing I wanted to show you was how you could do the front outside edge if you don't have a sewing machine.  To do faux sewing you need to use a sponge mat (I use my mouse pad), a ruler and a hole punch. Place the paper on the mat, lay the ruler down near the edge and punch little holds at even intervals.  Then take a fine tipped black marker and draw a line from hole to hole all the way around. Mine is a little to light, so you will want to make the lines a little darker and you will be surprised at how much it actually looks like it was done with a machine. 

The second idea I had was that you could punch larger holes along the edge and then lace ribbon or lacing through the holes.  I can remember one of my sons having a wallet that had lacing on it like this.

One last thing I wanted to show you was that you could use the Paisley embossing folder if you didn't have the mesh one.  This is what the outside would look like after the paisley designed was inked.

I have never made a tutorial like this before so I hope that I have made it clear enough for you to understand.  If you need to see the photo's larger all you have to do is click on them. Making the card sounds quite complicated but once you get the hang of it, it is actually easy to do and makes a cute card for a man or boys birthday or even could be used for Fathers Day.