Upcycle Playing Cards Into The Cutest Little Trinket Boxes With A Simple DIY

Pick a card, any card! Game night essentials or magic trick props, decks of playing cards can provide a quick source of entertainment on-the-go or at home. It's not unusual to find a drawer full of playing card decks at home, an entire collection of cards forming before you even realize it. Even worse, you have a collection of loose cards, separated from their decks, gathered in a cabinet or shelf without any real use or purpose. If you find yourself with a growing number of card decks or find loose cards lying around, don't throw them into the bin. Instead, make them seemingly disappear by upcycling them into cute little boxes that can be used to store and display trinkets or used to create a perfect little trinket shelf.

As demonstratead by TikToker @c90designs, this simple DIY can make for a fun craft project that creates a new purpose for lost, unpaired cards. All you'll need are playing cards, rulers, paper creasers, small clothespins or clips, and glue. Having a paper trimmer on hand is also recommended to make even cuts, but plain scissors will also work. As this project involves cutting cards, do exercise caution when handling and using scissors or a paper trimmer.

Each trinket box will require three playing cards. Start by making four creases, horizontal and vertical, in one card about a 1/2-inch from each end. Set aside. Position the remaining two cards horizontally against a ruler, and make two vertical creases about 1-inch away from the ends. Once the creases are made, use scissors or a paper trimmer to cut ½-inch off the ends on both of these cards, ensuring the creases are still in-tact. Taking the first card, make small diagonal cuts on each of the four corners. Fold up along the pre-made creases and use a small amount of glue to join the ends together to form the storage part of your small trinket box. Clip the newly joined corners with a small clothespin or clip to strengthen the bind. Take the two cut cards and fold along the creases to create two halves. Stack them on top of each other, open ends facing one another, and glue together to create the shell of the trinket box. Use clips to enforce the glue. Once the glue is dried, slide the first box into the shell to finish off your new trinket box.

Alternatively, you can add a little more character and variety to your trinket boxes by using loose cards from other card games or trading cards that you no longer have use for, like UNO or Pokémon. If you don't happen to have any extra decks of cards lying around, you can also make various sizes of these tiny trinket boxes using card stock paper. Want to get even more creative with it? Instead of using them to store small bits and bobbles, create shadow boxes with some scrapbooking materials.