DIY Embroidered Birthday Cards

Create these sweet DIY Embroidered Birthday Cards using paper and embroidery floss! Learn how to embroider your own paper cards for a fun, handmade gift!

Thank you to Cut Out & Keep and Dutch Label Shop for collaborating with me on this fun project! Dutch Label Shop provided me with labels for this craft. I only work with brands I fully support and as always, all opinions are 100% my own!

Hello Crafty Friends! It really is starting to feel like summertime. Two things that come to mind when I think of summer – bright colors and ice cream! My project today incorporates both of these things to create the perfect Happy Birthday surprise! These DIY embroidered birthday cards are a lot of fun to make and a wonderful handmade gift for someone special.

I love sending snail mail for my friends’ birthdays (when I can remember!) and it has been great having a stack of handmade cards on hand. I embroidered the cards and added sweet fabric tags to the bottom of each card. They were surprisingly easy to create using embroidery floss and a pushpin to make the holes.

A set of these cards with matching envelopes would also make a sweet gift. I chose to go with a dessert/ice cream theme, but the possibilities are endless.

For these cards, I created some lovely fabric labels from The Dutch Label Shop with the message, “Happy Birthday”, on them. I was able to choose the size of my tags, the color, the font, and the design, to make them completely custom. I think the tags add a nice touch to the embroidered cards and are something a little different. 

Below is a tutorial for my Embroidered DIY Cards. 

Supplies Needed for Embroidered Cards

• Two free templates (ice cream cone and cake) Grab the free file by filling out the purple form at the end of this post.
• Cards and matching envelopes. I used a package of A2 cards from Joanns. These A2 Cards and Envelopes are similar on Amazon.
• Embroidery floss
• Pushpin or straight pin
• Needle
• Ruler
• Piercing mat
• Optional labels with greeting or sentiment of your choice. My labels are from The Dutch Label Shop. You can purchase labels or skip the labels and handwrite a greeting. 

Step One: Draw and punch a design on the front of the card. Start by drawing a design on the front of the card with pencil. Next, open your card and punch holes along your design about 1/4″ apart. Use a foam pad underneath your card and make sure you only punch through the top and not the back of the card as well. Use a pushpin or straight pin to poke the holes.

You may need to punch the holes closer together around curves or smaller parts. A pushpin will create larger holes than a straight pin, so test them out and use whatever you are comfortable with. I started by placing a hole at all corners and all the places two lines met, then I filled in from there. 

You can also grab my free templates for the ice cream cone and cake slice by filling out the purple form at the end of this post. Lay the printed template on top of your cardstock and poke the holes through both layers.

Step Two:Stitch your design using embroidery floss. Embroidery floss is made of six strands of floss. Thread your needle with two strands, they will be doubled so you are sewing with four strands.

I didn’t want any knots on the back of my card that would make it bumpy when closed. To do this, I brought my needle up from the back of the design but didn’t pull the thread all the way through, leaving a loop on the back. I brought my needle back down through the next hole and pulled my needle through the loop. This created a flat “knot”.

Continue stitching your entire design with different colors. I mostly used a back stitch, but you can really do any type of stitch you want. You will want to be conscious of how things look on the back side of your design since this will be visible unless you choose to cover it up with a piece of paper (which I recommend for a polished look and to protect your stitching.)

Step Three:Add the fabric label underneath your design. Stitch the label underneath your stitched design using a couple stitches on each side. I love how fancy the card looks once the label has been added! The embroidered card is all finished!

If you want to make matching gift tags, you can easily do this following the same steps from above!

I made a group of 8 notecards for myself and another group of 8 notecards that I bundled together with envelopes and gifted. Hopefully, I’ll have a chance to make more! They turned out so cute and are perfect for summertime.

More DIY Embroidered Cards

• Embroidered Engagement Ring Card
• Embroidered Rainbow Cards
• Embroidered Wedding Dress Card
• Harry Potter Embroidered Weasley Sweater Cards
• Embroidered Christmas Wreath Card
  

Get the Free Embroidered Birthday Card Templates!

Fill out the purple form below with your first name and email address! The free file will be sent straight to your inbox! If you have already filled out the form below, don’t worry – you won’t be added to my list twice! This freebie is for personal use only. I hope you enjoy crafting something special. Please let me know if you have any questions :)