DIY Greeting Card Yield from Sheet Calculator
Calculate how many handmade greeting cards you can cut from a sheet of cardstock.
Covers Letter, A4, 12x12, and tabloid sheets with fold options.
Card making waste is mostly geometry. A standard A2 card folded measures 4.25 × 5.5 inches, so flat it is 8.5 × 5.5. From a Letter sheet (8.5 × 11) you cut exactly 2 cards with no waste. From a 12 × 12 scrapbooking sheet you cut 4 cards with 0.5 inch of waste in one direction.
The math. Cards per sheet = floor(sheet width / card flat width) × floor(sheet height / card flat height), then check both orientations and pick the higher number.
Common card sizes (folded):
- A2: 4.25 × 5.5 inches (flat 8.5 × 5.5). Standard US greeting card.
- A6: 4.5 × 6.25 inches (flat 9 × 6.25). Large invitation.
- A7: 5 × 7 inches (flat 10 × 7). Premium invitation, photo card.
- 5 × 7 flat: not folded, often photo cards
- Square 5 × 5 (flat 10 × 5)
- Square 6 × 6 (flat 12 × 6)
Common cardstock sheets:
- US Letter: 8.5 × 11 inches
- A4: 8.27 × 11.69 inches
- 12 × 12: scrapbooking standard
- Tabloid / Ledger: 11 × 17 inches
Yield by combo (flat card from sheet):
- Letter (8.5 × 11) + A2 (8.5 × 5.5): 2 cards per sheet, 0% waste
- Letter (8.5 × 11) + A6 (9 × 6.25): A6 won’t fit, need 12×12 stock
- 12 × 12 + A2 (8.5 × 5.5): 4 cards, ~13% waste
- 12 × 12 + A7 (10 × 7): 2 cards, 14% waste
- 12 × 12 + Square 6×6 (12 × 6): 2 cards, 0% waste
- Tabloid (11 × 17) + A2: 6 cards, 1% waste
- Tabloid (11 × 17) + A7: 4 cards, ~5% waste
Cardstock weight matters for yield economics. 80 lb cover cardstock is typical for cards. A pack of 50 sheets at 8.5 × 11 runs $8 to $15 from craft stores, so each Letter sheet is $0.16 to $0.30. Each A2 card from that sheet costs $0.08 to $0.15 in stock alone. Premium cardstock (linen, hammered, pearl) doubles or triples the cost.
The score-and-fold step. Most cards are scored with a bone folder or scoring board, then folded. The score line should be on the OUTSIDE face for a clean fold (counterintuitive but right). A poorly scored card cracks at the spine within a few openings.
Worked example. 50 A2 cards for a wedding shower from Letter cardstock at $12 per 50-sheet pack.
- 1 sheet = 2 A2 cards
- 50 cards / 2 = 25 sheets needed
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- 5 sheet buffer for mistakes = 30 sheets
- $12 / 50 sheets × 30 = $7.20 in cardstock
Add envelopes ($0.20 each = $10), stamps, and decoration to finish budgeting.