A travel wallet is a great to way keep all those important things in one place during
the time of travel so you can easily have them on hand.
I was inspired by Sonia from Sonia's Travels to come up with this simple travel wallet
tutorial.
She made a video on how to carry your travel documents and has a really cool channel.
It's really fun to watch her travel the world plus she does have helpful tips.
So be sure to check out her travel wallet video and subscribe to her channel.
You can find those links in the description below.
For this travel wallet, I decided to use craft foam.
Not only is this material super inexpensive for large sheets, but it comes in a variety
of colors you can find at almost all the major craft stores.
And an added bonus, since it's foam, it has waterproof qualities.
The design I made gives you an area for your boarding pass on the left, with ID or other
cards and passport pockets on the right.
You can of course, alter this to make one big pocket or any part to fit your needs.
Here's a list of materials and tools I'll be using to make one wallet.
First, trim the foam sheet down to 15 by 9 inches (38 cm x 23 cm).
You can mark your measurements with a dent rather than a pen mark.
Then score a line in the middle.
If you don't have a bone folder to do this with, check out the description below for
substitutes.
Now score a line 4.5 inches (11.4 cm) away from the center line on both sides.
And then cut a 1.5 inch (38 mm) rectangle off the top left flap.
Now make a line 3 inches (7.6 cm) from the top on the right flap.
If you want your wallet to have round corners, you can use a bottle cap to cut around.
For the pocket flaps, fold them over, and place the cap top onto the corner and cut
around it.
You can clean up the edges with the x-acto if you need to.
And please be careful when cutting, I don't like reading comments saying you cut your
finger from watching my tutorial.
So take caution and cut carefully.
After all that, your foam sheet should look like this.
And now I'm going to glue the flaps down to form the pockets.
I'm using a glue gun for this.
If you want to use a different glue, make sure it's a really strong glue.
Glue the left flap down on the bottom.
This flap will eventually lay flat.
Now on the right flap, glue a line on the bottom, top and scored line.
And now for the band.
I'm using this 3/8 inch elastic band.
For more on elastic band sources and substitutes, check out this video here.
You can also find the link in the description below.
If you don't want to glue on an elastic band, you could just wrap a rubber band or hair
tie around it.
To measure the amount of elastic band, wrap it around, and slightly pull it so there is
enough tension.
You want it loose enough to stretch over the wallet, but not too loose that it just hangs
off of it.
I cut mine to about 9.5 inches (24 cm).
Now make a rough dent area in the center of the wallet on the outside, about the width
of your band.
This little dent helps the glue stick the band and foam together, making it stronger.
Then glue the ends of the band to that area in the center.
Loop the band around like this to glue both ends side by side.
After that's dry, you can swing it around to close your new travel wallet.
I will say that this material can get dented, but if it's light enough, amazingly the squishy
foam material pops back up and the dents fade away after an hour or so.
You could use this to your advantage and impress a design onto it.
Just make sure you press hard enough, or else the design will fade away.
Another way to decorate your wallet, is to cut pieces out of other foam colors and glue
them on.
I hope you found this tutorial helpful and have fun making your custom travel wallet.
Feel free to leave your comments below and share pics of your finished wallets on my
Facebook page, twitter or instagram.
For more tutorials be sure to subscribe and check out my channel.
And be sure to check out Sonia's video about travel wallets.
For more Sea Lemon you can find me on the links listed in the description below.