Mother’s Day Printable Card

Even in this really digital age, I think everyone appreciates an actual, physical card. Some holidays really seem to “require” them, and I think Mother’s Day is a good example of that.

But it’s tricky to remember to go to the card store and pick out a good one. And if you get there late, or worse, end up at the grocery store, the pickings may be slim. The good ones are all taken by those organized people who buy their cards early.

In my opinion, the invention of the instant download printable card was a really good one. You have the luxury of browsing from home, and when you find one you want, you can download it, print it, fold it and and you are done!

For this Mother’s Day, I’m offering you a free printable card to try out the process. And this one comes with a little bonus – a matching sheet of printable paper that makes a great envelope liner.

The only thing that’s a little fussy about the process is cutting out the card, so here’s a quick tutorial on that. I prefer to do mine with an X-acto knife and a metal edge ruler; I think it’s the easiest way to get good accurate cuts.

To start, download the printable card (link at the bottom of this post). There are two parts to this card – the card itself, and the printable paper for the liner. Print the card on a sturdy card stock that your printer can run without jamming. Everyone’s printer is a little different – mine does fine with 65# white smooth cover stock, and that’s readily available at the big chain craft stores. Print the matching digital paper for the liner on regular copy paper.

Use a self-healing mat if you have one, or at least put a thick piece of chipboard or a magazine under your card so you do not cut the dining room table.

Line up the edge of the metal ruler to match up with the crop marks. I like to cut the shortest side first. With a sharp blade, cut from mark to mark. Don’t let the entire side of the sheet get cut off – you want to leave the crop marks still attached to the card so you can use them to cut the other sides.

There’s no rule about which way to cut – I like to do the second cut on the next long side, and then move to the opposite long side and finish up with the final shortest cut. The only rule is to not cut the entire length of the sheet – keep all the crop marks intact until you have cut the card out.

A quick tip for making a good fold is to line up your straight edge on the fold line, and then just barely nick the card across the fold line to create a score that the card will bend on. If you have an actual scoring tool, this would be a great place to bust that out and use it.

Once the card is cut and folded, it’s time for the liner.

Flip the liner paper over and open up your envelope. This card is sized to fit a standard A2 envelope. Move the envelope around on the sheet until you line up the bottom of the sheet with just a little below the last bit of exposed inside of the envelope.

Use a pencil to trace outside the envelope for your pattern. And then using either an X-acto or scissors, cut about 1/8″ to 1/4″ inside that pattern. You’ll want to take a look at your envelope and see where the lick-n-stick glue line is to determine how much smaller you need to make your liner.

Slide the cut liner into the envelope, and then apply a little glue to the top part to fix it into place. You don’t really need to glue the part that fits into the lower part of the envelope because it isn’t going anywhere. I use a small tape runner on the top edges and a little in the middle.

And now you are all set for Mother’s Day. If you are seeing her in person, decorate the outside of the card and hand it over. If not, remember to buy some stamps and get it in the mail in time!

Pin this so you’ll have it when you need a Mother’s Day card – or a refresher course on cutting on crop marks!

This post will be linked up at some of these great link up parties.

And click HERE for the download of your card and liner paper.