diy jute gift card pockets.

Today’s guest post comes from my sweet friend (and DIY rockstar) Megan, the brains behind Hi, Friend Design. If you don’t subscribe to their blog, you should do that ASAP—cute DIY projects galore!

This isn’t the first time I’ve been tangled up to my neck in jute webbing. Since I have oodles of it laying around from a previous project, I decided to put it to work for the holidays. That’s how this Do-It-Yourself Jute Gift Card Pocket was born.

I love getting gift cards, but hate giving them. Doesn’t it always seems like it’s a bit of a cop-out? This festive DIY is useful for putting a personal touch on otherwise sort-of-impersonal gifts this holiday season. Plus, it’s incredibly easy, cute and cheap. Could you ask for more? Jute webbing was created as an upholstery supply and is typically stretched to make chair seats, so it’s rustic, durable and a unique craft supply.

In six very easy steps, you can make one (or several) Jute Gift Card Pockets of your own.

Supplies

• Jute Webbing
• Buttons (2)
• Hot Glue / Hot Glue Gun
• Needle
• Thread (cross stitch thread works well)
• Twine
• Scissors
• Tape measure or ruler

Instructions

1. CUT – Cut a strip of jute webbing to 9″. If you cut along the grain, per se, you’ll avoid fraying. (Meaning, follow one of the spaces in-between threads across the webbing rather than cutting an exact angle. I apologize to the control freak in us all, but trust me, it will work better this way.)
2. FOLD – Fold the jute. Make the bottom flap 3.25″ and the top flap 2″, approximately.
3. PLACE – Position the buttons where you’d like them. A little trick: put a teeny dab of hot glue under the buttons once you know where you want them so they stay in place while you move onto the next step.
   
4. SEW – Attach the buttons with your needle and thread, being sure to secure the knots on the back.
5. GLUE – Once your hot glue gun’s hot, secure the sides of the bottom flap with a bead of glue. Be generous with the hot glue and press firmly.
6. TWIST – Take your twine and tie it around the top button. (If you took my tip in Step 3, you may have to pull the button away from that little dab of glue to get your twine around properly.) Secure the end of the twine with a knot and clip off any extra. To tie the pocket closed, make a figure eight around the two buttons with the twine.

That’s all there is to it. Now we can all give gift cards guilt-free! Whew.

Cheers to this gift-giving season. Thanks for having me Ashlee. XO!