String Art Toppers ⭐ Card Making Countdown 2026

Make unusual card toppers by winding string around cardstock shapes for a wonderfully abstract effect!

Welcome to Day 3 of the 2026 Card Making Countdown. In this tutorial, see how to use these fun string art toppers to make custom greetings card designs.

I’ve included lots of different designs, all with different shapes and different amounts of detail around the edges.

Wind string, wool, twine or similar thread around the edges to make custom card toppers. You can then add a sentiment, picture, patterned paper, photo, stamped image or – well – whatever you want – in the middle.

No string? No problem! I’ll also show how to use the topper designs to make layered backgrounds for print-then-cut greetings card images.

This project is part of the 2026 Card Making Countdown

Find out more

Supply list for string art toppers

Here is a list of the materials that are used to make this project.

Please note that some of the links included in this article are affiliate links, which means that if you click through and make a purchase I may receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). You can read my full disclosure at the bottom of the page.

  • Cricut machine
  • Light blue Cricut cutting mat
  • Coloured Card (any thickness)
  • String, wool, embroidery thread, twine or similar
  • Scissors
  • Sticky tape
  • Foam pads/squares
  • Glue (I like Bearly Art Glue and Collall)
  • Cricut scoring wheel or scoring stylus (optional, for the card templates)
  • Toppers, embellishments, etc (optional)
  • Colour printer and printer paper (optional)

This project is suitable for the following types of Cricut machines: Explore series, Maker series, Joy Xtra, Joy 2 and Joy.

Foundation learning

If you're new to making papercrafts with your cutting machine, check out these links to get you started.

They include videos on topics such as: which file to use with your type of cutting machine, how to load the files into your cutting machine's software, how to cut cardstock with your type of cutting machine, how to recolor and modify/customize the cut files and tips for displaying your projects.

The following tutorials are Cricut-specific, but many of the ideas will work similarly with a Silhouette or ScanNCut machine and any cut files that are shared in them are compatible with all types of cutting machine.

String art card toppers video tutorial

Watch the video below to see how to make this project. Keep scrolling for a written tutorial.

Want to share your thoughts on this project? Click here to visit the video on YouTube

PART 1: How to use string art toppers

To start, let’s take a look at the string art toppers on their own and how to make them.

Then after that, we’ll move on to designing custom cards within Design Space.

Step 1) Download the cutting file & upload to Design Space

Get the files using the box below.

Purchase the File(s)

This cut file is available as part of the Instant Access Bundle.

Find out more

Or, purchase this design individually here

Before you upload the SVGs to Design Space, you need to unzip the download folder that they come in.

After unzipping, upload the SVG file(s) into your cutting machine software.

Not sure how to use cut files with your type of machine? The following links lead to videos on how to open cut files in:

The download folder also contains printable PDF versions of the templates for hand cutting.

If you are using Cricut Design Space, start a new project and then click the “Upload” button on the left of the screen.

You can then either click “Browse” to find the file on your computer, or drag-and-drop it in.

Upload the file called svg-string-art-shapes-craftwithsarah.svg

Press “Upload” on the next screen.

After uploading, the design should be automatically inserted onto your Canvas.

To hide the left sidebar (to give you more space for designing!), click the arrow that’s about half way down the page.

If the design doesn’t get inserted onto your Canvas, it will show under “Uploads” in your “Recently Uploaded Images”. Click on it and then press “Add to Canvas” to put it onto your Project.

Need help uploading SVGs? Get step-by-step instructions here in our detailed help guides for Cricut, Silhouette and ScanNCut.

Step 2) Choose your topper shapes

Select the topper and press “Ungroup” to separate out the designs.

Delete the ones you don’t want to make.

Size the toppers as desired, then cut them out.

Here is a selection of the designs:

Secure your thread to the back of the topper with sticky tape.

Bring the thread round to the front of the topper and position it into one of the recesses on the outside of the shape.

Decide which pattern to make and how many spaces to “skip”.

The more you skip/miss out, the more extreme the string art pattern.

The less you skip, the more subtle the pattern. It can get difficult to keep the string in place if you don’t skip many spaces as it tries to come out of the recesses.

Bring the string into the recess of your choice.

Then, wind it back to one next to the original position.

Join that bit to the one on the other side of the first “join” part.

Then keep going until all the recesses are connected.

Depending on the design you are doing, you may find that you end up repeating the same recesses to make “triangle” shapes on the ends.

Keep going to make a pretty star effect that’s symmetrical all the way around.

Eventually you will get back to the beginning.

Turn the topper over and secure the thread to the back with more sticky tape, then cut off the remainder of the thread.

Experiment with your thread to make different effects.

Try different thicknesses of string too. The pink toppers below were made with variegated wool.

PART 2: Designing greetings cards with string art toppers

Now it’s time to put the toppers onto a card!

For a full step-by-step look at how to design greetings cards in Design Space, watch the video near the top of this tutorial.

Create your base card.

I created a base card using a square shape that was 10 inches wide and 7 inches tall, so that when it’s folded in half the card will be 5×7.

I added a score line, made it 7 inches, selected the score line and the base card and pressed Align > Center and then “Attach”. This places the score line in the correct place.

Add your chosen topper shape on top of the card (use “Arrange > Bring to Front” if your topper is showing under the card).

I added another rectangle to the card front to cut from patterned paper for a bit of extra visual interest.

Finish designing your card in Design Space, or keep it simple if you are planning on using your existing craft stash for the extra decorations.

I added one of the greetings from the Day 02 project of this Card Making Countdown.

Save your project, then cut out all the pieces.

Wind your string around the topper.

I did a “two-tone” design for this card.

First, I wound the blue string around the topper, leaving quite a lot of space between each line.

Then, I went round again with a pink string. This time I only skipped 5 spaces each time, so the pattern effect is much closer to the edge.

Continue making your card until it’s ready for the topper.

As the edges at the back of the topper get quite thick with the string wrapped round, it is best to attach the topper with foam squares.

Put quite a few on, to make sure it can hold the weight of the topper.

Add the topper to your card.

PART 3: Print-then-cut cards

If you don’t have any string or wool then don’t worry – you can still make cards with today’s cut file!

Instead of winding thread around them, you can layer them up to make pretty frames for printed images or other embellishments.

Start a new project in Design Space and create a card base.

My base measures 11.5 x 5.75 inches, for a 5.75 inch square card once it’s folded.

Add a score line if required, and some layers to the front of the card.

My bright green square will be cut from patterned paper that matches the colours of the panda.

I’m using a panda image from this birthday animals clip art set from Creative Fabrica.

Size the topper shape to fit onto your card.

Duplicate it and make it a little smaller – I went for 0.5 inches smaller.

Colour as desired.

You can keep going to make multiple layers.

Right now, the Cricut would struggle to cut around the edge of the panda because of the fluffy edges.

To make it easier, add a shape to the middle of the nested toppers.

I have added a white circle.

Get your print-then-cut image in place.

Select the new shape and the print-then-cut image and press “Flatten” at the bottom of the layers panel.

That combines the two together, so now the Cricut will cut around the edge of the white circle instead of trying to cut the precise edges of the panda.

Save your project, then get all the pieces cut out.

New to print then cut? Scroll back to the top of this page to the “Foundation Learning” section for a full tutorial on how to print then cut with a Cricut.

I printed my panda onto glossy photo paper for some shine.

Put together your card, including any other embellishments that you want to add.

I used some floral puffy stickers to add some more detail to the card.

How to use string on greetings cards

I love that there is so much scope for originality and customisation with these topper designs.

Whether you decide to use them for winding string around, or as standalone backgrounds without thread, you will end up with beautiful cards!

After finishing your cards, you could put them in a custom envelope or 3D presentation box to make them even more special.

Happy crafting,
Sarah x