A Unique Nameplate Which Carries a Pen!

Sometimes, an interesting object on a table would catch people’s attention and it would help you to start a conversation with them. I wanted to make a unique nameplate so clients would remember my name and start a casual talk. I used paper because it's easy to work with and has lots of varieties of colors and textures to choose from. This nameplate carries one or two pens as well, so when you need to take a quick note while talking with them, you can take your pen from your nameplate!

*After I made it, I noticed that it could be good for a gift box! If you want to surprise your partners and friends, please give it try and let me know if it works.

• Knife
• Scissors
• Ballpoint pen
• Masking tape
• One foot ruler (metal one is better)
• Copy paper (letter size) x 2
• 65lb card stock (letter size) x1
• 65lb card stock (12" x 8.5" ) x1 * I used poster paper and cut it down into 12" x 8.5" size
• (Optional) Cricut (Cricut is an electronic cutting machine that can cut thin materials such as paper, vinyl, card stock, and iron-on transfers)

I made a template for the box part of the nameplate. Please download and print it out in actual size. The template is slightly bigger than one letter size, so I made them in two separate pieces. Print them out on 2 pieces of copy paper and attach them together with tape or glue.

How did I come up with this pattern? Well, I disassembled a snack box with a similar structure and made a pattern from that, then re-designed it.

Secure the template on the 12" x 8.5" card stock paper with masking tape.

I think you cannot find the exact size (12"x8.5") in a store, so I would recommend cutting a bigger paper into this size. You can use general plastic tape, but masking tape is easier on the card stock paper when you take off the template after a couple of steps.

On top of the template, trace the lines by using a ballpoint pen and a ruler. If you have a sharp tip pen, it would trace the line better. You can use shorter rulers for this step as well, but a foot-long ruler would be easier as some lines are long. Before going to the next step (taking out the template and cutting outlines), make sure you traced all of the lines.

After tracing, take out the template. When you look at the surface of the card stock paper carefully, you will see the lines traced from step 3. Cut out the outline by using either scissors or a knife. I used a knife and metal ruler for this step.

As the template shows, the brown lines are the cutting lines. Be careful not to cut other color lines.

This step could be optional. To make it easy to fold lines in the correct place, I scored (cut very lightly with a knife) the lines, and folded them into the shape.

If you fold lines with the "mountain fold" and "valley fold" which are described in the diagram, your box will be assembled in 3D during the process of folding.

Cut out the bottom piece from the leftover of the box's card stock paper.

Glue it at the bottom of the box so that it looks cleaner than before attaching the bottom.

The box part is done!

For the cover part, I would recommend using a different color of the card stock paper because the contrast between the cover and box will make the final design look pretty. In my case, I have an electric paper cutting machine (Cricut), so I used it to cut this piece, but you can simplify the pattern and cut them by hand in the same way as the box part. I made a template for this design as well, so feel free to download it.

Note:

When you design the cover, use some sort of "stencil" font. If you use regular fonts, the letters which have inner circles such as "a", "b", and "o" will lose those inner circles after cutting and it doesn't look very clean. The font I used for this project was "Stardos Stencil Bold." If you download fonts from random websites, be careful with spam.

Fold the cover followed by the folding lines, and set the box inside!

After I made this, I noticed that it would be good for a gift box as well. You can put your friends, partners, parents, kids' name and make your gift even look more special!