DIY Trading Card Kitchen Table Placemats
Is your kitchen table boring? Do you have boxes of old or extra trading cards from Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, or Yu-Gi-Oh? Well dig them out and get cutting, because today we’re going to add some decorative nerd flare to your dinning room with DIY table placemats made from trading cards.
Materials:
- Stack of trading cards
- Clear Contact Paper
- Scissors
- Punch (optional)
Instructions:
1. Pick your pattern or image. I had originally planned to cut out card images using a fancy tessellation pattern. Having returned from a mini vacation to the Renaissance Festival this past weekend, I ultimately decided I didn’t have enough time to cutout all the pieces given everything else going on this month. If you’re patient and/or have the time, I’d totally recommend getting a little more fancy; your placemat will turn out that much cooler! I opted to use a square scrapbooking punch I had on hand to cut out my cards.
1. Pick your pattern or image. I had originally planned to cut out card images using a fancy tessellation pattern. Having returned from a mini vacation to the Renaissance Festival this past weekend, I ultimately decided I didn’t have enough time to cutout all the pieces given everything else going on this month. If you’re patient and/or have the time, I’d totally recommend getting a little more fancy; your placemat will turn out that much cooler! I opted to use a square scrapbooking punch I had on hand to cut out my cards.
Tessellation pattern
Pattern traced on cards
Cards cut out
Additionally, you could get fancy by creating a mosaic image using the coloration of the cards you decide to cut out. Again, this method will take longer, but it’ll be really neat in the end. Think of an 8 bit pattern, and find cards with images that are strongly color tinted in that direction.
2. Once you have all your cards cutout to the desired shape, do a test layout to ensure everything looks good together.
3. Once everything is good to go, cut out a sheet of contact paper that’s larger than the final size of the placemat you’d like -this will give you a border for sealing (waterproof!) and trimming.
4. Start peeling the paper backing off and placing your rows of cards, one-by-one. I found it easier to peel and stick 1 row at a time.
5. Once your cards a positioned, peel and stick a top layer of Contact paper to seal everything in. Again, peel and stick a little a time. Moving slow in this step will help prevent wrinkles and air bubbles in your placemat. Be careful not to stretch the Contact Paper out of shape as you peel too.
There you have it; it’s that easy! Which trading card game do you have extra cards of? What type of mat are you planning on making? Share in the comments below!
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Hi there! I just nominated you for the Premio Dardos Award <3
http://www.depepi.com/2015/09/02/yay-the-premio-dardos-award/
Aw, thank you Pepi!
This is amazing!!! I am making pokemon ones for my kids this weekend!!!! Care if I showcase this on my blog and give you the kudos?
That sounds awesome. I can’t wait to see your finished placemats!
Yes, please feel free to share. Thank you 🙂
Once again, I regret telling my mom it was okay to toss my Pokémon cards. Worst. Decision. Ever.
Oh no, bummer Tonya. Time to start catching them all again? 😉 hehe
I did this a few years ago with Abbott and Costello trading cards.
Excelsior!!
Perfect! Still have them around for showcasing?
Sweet LOR placemat.I love this idea.
Thank you. I wavered over Pokemon and Magic the Gathering before deciding to use my Lord of the Rings cards…cause, well…Lord of the Rings!
So I actually don’t have any trading cards whatsoever, but still just wanted to tell you that this is AWESOME! What a great idea, and I would love to find these at a dinner-party 🙂
Much appreciated Rosa. I’m glad you enjoy them!
As always, this is a great post. I always learn something new (tesselation) and you nearly all the time get my creative juices flowing. I really love your tesselation pattern especially because it has such an “old” feeling. I am greatly sorry that I don’t have any trading cards or anything really I could substitute. I would also find it painful to cut all the pieces needed by hand. So my take on that will be a digital one. I want to take your pattern and lots of images from the web and create a one piece tesselation collage which will get printed on photo paper and then laminated. I plan to make about 4 with a different theme each. Still a lot of work, especially if you make the pattern really on a small scale. Lotta love from Berlin!
Hi Viola -I’m so glad you enjoy my posts and find inspiration from them!
Your alternative take on the project sounds great. Have fun making them! Have you decided on your 4 themes yet?
The first one is nearly finished an is a Lord of the Rings placemat. It takes a great many pictures, so the other themes should have – just like LotR- many characters and scenery. Game of Thrones comes to mind. Star Trek in all its’ variations is high on the list and would also please my soulmate. Heroes (like Avengers or Batman), Harry, Potter, Disney or BBC Sherlock could be a fourth theme, but I haven’t decided yet. As we move into a new home next year I will wait with the printing and finishing until we have decided on a colour scheme. Which themes would go under your plates?
I love all the fandom love Viola -all sounds like great options!
In addition to the Lord of the Rings theme, I think other viable options for my house would include Magic the Gathering, animation works of Hayao Miyazaki, and Nintendo among others.