How to Make a DIY Business Card Holder with Vintage Vibes

If you meet with clients at your home office or make deals out in the world, a unique, DIY business card holder is a nice touch to your professional space. But should you go out and spend more money on something like that when you might have the perfect solution at home? I don’t think so, especially if you lived in the ’80s (or even ’90s!) or at least know someone who was born in the 1900s.

I never thought I’d be calling an era of my life “vintage,” but here we are! Actually, I’m not calling it that, but you might be, and that’s okay, my young, modern friend.

Because of vintage, there are lots of odds and ends you can use to create your own custom DIY business card holder. But my favorite thing to use is a cassette case!

WAIT. Are you asking me what a cassette is?

cassette noun 1. the way Gen Xers rocked out before CDs, Spotify, and no one said rocked out anymore 2. mix tape relics from relationships past of those we now call middle-aged 3. where you can find embarrassing answering machine messages, crime confessions, or dumb stuff you recorded because there was no YouTube since the future YouTube inventors were only, like, eight

Now that we’ve traveled back in time, let’s discuss your new DIY business card holder! With a cassette case you can display your contact info, plus share a retro conversation piece.

This post is all about making a DIY business card holder that’s unique, cheap, and eco-friendly.

How to Create Your DIY Business Card Holder

Supplies

• Cassette tape case
• Cassette paper sleeve (to help measure)
• Removable wallpaper or shelf liners
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Credit card or debit card to smooth out any air bubbles

Get Out Your Old Cassettes

Don’t lie, I know you (or someone you know!) have got a few old cassettes (or tapes, like we’d say!) in a box somewhere, squished between those raggedy friendship bracelets, that one faded camp t-shirt, and your favorite teddy bear.

But, I warn you, if you’re anything like me, you’ll go down the winding, whimsical, time warp called memory lane. So, make sure you account for the nostalgic fiddle-faddling!

Have you found your tapes yet? Or are you still admiring your dreamy Ricky Schroder poster? (No judgement here!) Dig ’em out, reminisce a while, and then get ready to DIY!

Where to Get Those Cool Cassettes

If you didn’t live in the 1900s, you probably don’t have an awesome go-to collection of cassette tapes just sitting around. That’s okay! The ’80s and ’90s live on everywhere!

• Retro music or used book stores like Half Price Books
• Yard sales, garage sales, estate sales
• Your Gen X parents or grandparents (oh my, I feel very ancient right now)
• Any Gen X person you know (Please ask nicely, pretty please. We’ve been through enough crap!)
• The Buy Nothing Project
• Thrift stores like Goodwill, shopgoodwill.com, Salvation Army, Savers, or local neighborhood shops
• Flea market
• Ebay
• Etsy

Decorate

I had some removable wallpaper left over from making my small bookcase a shoe cabinet. It wasn’t enough to use on any other furniture, so I decided I’d do a smaller project: the DIY business card holder!

Now, if you don’t have any stick-on wallpaper, you can use wrapping paper and double-sided tape or even scrap fabric. OR keep you cassette tape holder plain, like this one:

1. Open your cassette tape holder and remove paper sleeve.
2. Flip your cassette tape holder horizontally and rotate open until you can prop it up on a table.
3. Using either a ruler or the paper sleeve inside your cassette (if you don’t want pencil markings on your vintage sleeves, then use a ruler instead!), measure the areas of the cassette case you’d like to decorate with your removable wallpaper or shelf liner. (I cut my pieces into two separate sections.)
4. Use your pencil to make the markings to cut out your decorative covering.
5. Grab your scissors and slowly cut along the lines.
6. Line up the wallpaper (with the backing still on), then slowly peel off the backing and stick to the cassette case surface.
7. Adjust as needed.
8. Smooth out any air bubbles or rough parts with the edge of a credit card.

Lazy Girl’s Tip: Cut your wallpaper pieces slightly larger if you’re too lazy to measure. Then, wrap around the back. No one will know!

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Pop In Your Business Cards and Enjoy!

Now that you have a snazzy, one-of-a-kind business card holder, it’s time for the best part! Pop those cards in and admire your genius handiwork! You have not only just made something creative, budget-friendly, and sustainable, but you’ve paid homage to the old-school ways of the eighties and nineties. You rock!

What Makes Cassette Tapes Feel So Special?

Besides the car radio, cassette tapes connected many of us to our first memories of popular music.

I know I wouldn’t be the same person without zipping through the skating rink to the colorful music of Cyndi Lauper or watching my brother practice Michael Jackson’s moonwalk.

It would be a different me if I hadn’t cruised around town with my best friend, listening to our Bon Jovi tape we bought together and shared.

And my heart would’ve never been as tender without riding along in my Dad’s Honda hatchback, listening to Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, and The Righteous Brothers.

Cassettes also represent a time before our world became so digital. If you had anything close to a playlist, it was a mix tape you needed to rewind or fast-forward to get to the song you wanted. Cassettes could unravel and you’d use this wooden stick called a PENCIL to wind them back up. They’d even screech when a section of the tape was damaged (so you’d just ignore that part!).

It wasn”t perfect. But it kind of was.

Other DIY Ways to Display Your Business Cards

Just look around your house if you want some stylish and quirky ways to show off your business cards. Especially if you have a boutique, gift shop, or restaurant, you can get away with all kinds of idiosyncratic card holders.

• Teacup saucers
• Trinket tray or box
• Oui yogurt jars
• Vintage tray
• Mini easel
• Butter dish
• Antique soap dish or modern shampoo bar box (This one is compostable or plantable.)
• Seashell
• Small pedestal tray
• Art made from reclaimed materials (check local artists’ work and art fairs)
• Kiss-lock coin purse (sometimes you can get the ones that sit up by themselves)
• Child’s dress shoe (cute for a children’s clothing boutique)
• Toy car with convertible top or truck bed (perfect for an auto shop)
• Flat hairbrush (I’m thinking this one should NOT be pre-loved!): Place cards horizontally between the bristles (perfect for a chic hair salon)
• Chunky bracelet or bangle

Conclusion

Whether you need a new DIY business card holder or not, I hope this post helped you to look at everyday stuff, imagine possibilities, and create something unique. There are lots of ways we can reuse and repurpose that give back to the earth and those we love, Plus, you might just have a great conversation starter piece!

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5 Easy Eco-Friendlier Habits You Can Start

1. Turn off lights when you’re not in a room. (However, security lights to give you peace of mind are okay!)
2. Check your home for things you could use before buying extra stuff.
3. Switch to laundry soap sheets, which is my favorite eco swap probably ever. They’re not only SO much better for the environment without those obnoxious plastic bottles, but they’re MUCH easier than regular detergent. This is the brand I currently use.
4. Sign up with your local compost service. This is a really easy way to divert a lot of food and paper waste from the landfill and contribute to natural, nutrient-rich compost for the community.
5. Look for glass food and drink containers and skip the plastic packaging, when possible.