Note Card Box

Pattern For A Decorative Note Card or Stationary Box

I printed out a set (10) of these cute Lucy Goosey © blank note cards as a gift and wanted a nice carrying case to present them in. So I made a coordinated box out of the same card stock and used the same Lucy Goosey graphics to decorate it. Velcro is used to make a nice closure.

The Lucy Goosey graphics and the polka dot background are available in the graphics program, American Greetings CreateACard, set at 30% tint. Unfortunately this program has been discontinued, but you might be able to pick up a copy at eBay.

Creating the Graphics

The instructions are applicable to Print Shop. You will have to find suitable graphics.

Simply "Draw" a rectangle shape and fill it with the texture. Then copy and size the rectangle for the various panels of the case. You don’t need to use computer graphics for this idea. Just adapt it to your type of card making.

These cards are check size (6 3/8 x 3 5/8 inches) so the box is made using one sheet of 8 ½ x 11 inch card stock. The pattern is 8 ½ inches high x 9 1/8 inches wide. A single 8 ½ x 11 inch sheet would also accommodate a case for note card size cards (4 3/8 x 5 6/8 inches).

The pattern would then be 7 7/8 inches high x 10 7/8 inches wide. If you do want to adjust the pattern size, don’t waste any time calculating the adjustments to make because, later on, I’ll share a really easy way to let your word processing software do the work for you.

The picture on the left is pre-assembly to help you orient yourself. I know it looks like it is backwards, but trust me, when completed the back will open from left to right just like the flap of an envelope.

You can get the pattern to the correct size using your word processing program. I will give the steps for Microsoft Word, but if you use another program, I’m sure you’ll find similar commands there.

Click on the pattern on the right above and select "Copy".

Open a new blank document.

Select "Page Setup" and make sure the orientation is "Landscape".

Then "Paste" the pattern onto the page.

Click on the pattern to select it.

Click "Format", "Picture", "Size".

Be sure the boxes that say, "Lock aspect ratio" and "Relative to original picture" are checked.

You can adjust the picture’s size by inputting the inches or the percent adjustment that you want. Here I’ll give you the percents.

Type 187 in either the Height or Width percent scaling box and click "OK".

The pattern may appear cut off. In that case, you need to minimize the margins.

If the rulers are not showing, click on "View" and click a checkmark next to "Rulers".

Move the cursor to one of the margins, click and drag the margin as far as possible toward the page’s edge. Continue adjusting margins until you can see the entire pattern.

Print.

If that cute little Microsoft paper clip icon warns you that the margins are set outside the printable area and asks if you want to continue, just say yes. You’re done!

To adjust the pattern to note card size, follow the procedures above as far as the scale adjustment.

This time the "Lock aspect ratio" should not be checked. The appropriate scale percents are 167% Height and 226% Width.

Then print.

Neat, huh? I’m sure you’ve figured out that you can adjust the pattern to any size you want within the constraints of paper size your printer will accept.

At some point of increase, you might find the narrow sides of the case have gotten too wide. But that would be an easy manual adjustment you could make when you score the narrow sides.