Super Thin Tyvek Card Sleeve Wallet!

A wallet made of five Tyvek credit card sleeves, often used to package gift cards. Tyvek is a durable paper compound used for event bracelets and packaging envelopes. Glued together, these five Tyvek card cases make a durable, simple, small wallet. You can simply collect these as you receive gift cars. I actually bought them off ebay for $3 (for all five). This design easily holds eight credit cards and five bills (my current load).

Step 1: Cut Thumb Holes in Two Sleeves

Use your old wallet as a template and traced around the thumb slider with a pen on the Tyvek. These two sleeves will be the outer card holders. Once you outline the thumb slider, cut the hole out with a razor blade. Make sure to put an old or unused card in the sleeve so the blade doesn't cut both sides. Additionally, you should cut a quarter inch slice off the top of the sleeve (third picture) to shorten the outer sleeves relative to the rest of the wallet.

Step 2: Cut Two Side Sliding Sleeves

These next sleeves will be directly behind both of the outer sleeves. To get cards out of the wallet, you can simply slide your thumb and index fingers up the side of the wallet. Use the elliptical cutouts from the last step. Fold one in half length-wise (hot-dog style) and use it as a template for the side sliding holes. Place the template on each of the long edges of an uncut Tyvek sleeve and again trace the shape out with a pen. Then cut along the lines through both sides (unlike the thumb sliders). You should now have two sleeves with thumb sliders and two sleeves with side sliders.

Step 3: Make Money Folder

The last Tyvek sleeve (the one that is not cut) will be directly in the middle of the wallet. Cut one of the long edges off using a razor. Simply cut a very thin strip off. It only needs to allow two sides of the sleeve to be open. Now it is time to put the wallet together.

Step 4: Layout the Wallet

You should now have five sleeve. Two of the sleeves should have thumb sliding holes, two should have side sliding holes, and one should be open on two sides. You can now lay out the wallet. I positioned all sleeves in the same direction so all cards would be upright when using the wallet. Alternatively, you could have the back two sleeves (side slider and thumb slider) face opposite as the front two. This would allow both sliders to operate in alternate direction (slide down for one sleeve, up for the other), but cards facing down could slide out.

Step 5: Glue Thumb Slider to Side Slider

Now glue the back of the thumb slider to the front of the side slider (either side could be considered the front). In the photo, the thumb slider is left, and the side slider is right. I used Krazy Glue but any super glue will work well (cyanoacrylate based). Since super glue sets quickly, I started at the base and worked in strips. I glued the base together, let it set, then a strip a little higher, etc. Make sure to apply the glue to only the areas that will be in contact, or you can quickly get you fingers stuck. Glue both sets together, facing the same direction (up in the picture).

Step 6: Glue Two Card Holders to the Money Folder

Now glue the back of the side sliders to the outside of the money folder. Here is where you decide if you want the card holders to face opposite ways. I chose to have all the sleeves oriented the same way and it worked well. Feel free to experiment though.

Step 7: Load It Up

After all the pieces are glued together, you can put your cards and money in. Make sure the glue is dry though! I found that the sleeves could fairly easily hold two cards each (a total of eight) and my money holder is currently holding five bills (folded in half).