If you're like me, then you start buying a lot of gift cards around this time of year, especially for the men and teenagers. Who ever knows what to buy for them?
Here are a couple of really quick, easy gift card holders to dress these up a bit. You can easily use the basic idea to create the holders you need to match the cards or receivers or the supplies you have on hand. Enjoy!
Supplies
- Real Red 8 1/2 x 11" Card Stock, page 156, $5.50
- Whisper White 12 x 12" Card Stock, page 155, $7.50
- Frost White Shimmer Paint, page 27 of Holiday Mini, $5.95
- Silver Elastic Cord, page 27 of Holiday Mini, $4.95
- Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon, page 183, $6.95
- Bold Brights Brads, page 179, $8.95
- Sponge Daubers, page 192, $10.95
- Paper-Piercing Tool, page 191, $3.50
- Mat Pack, page 191, $9.95
- Big Shot Die-Cut Machine, page 194, $99.95
- Standard Cutting Pads, page 194, $8.95
- Extended Cutting Pads, page 194, $19.95
- Standard Texturz Impressions Pad, page 194, $5.95
- Standard Texturz Silicone Rubber, page 194, $5.95
- Table Setting Bigz XL Die, page 13 of Holiday Mini, $42.95
- Merry Details Sizzlits Die, page 21 of Holiday Mini, $5.50
- Perfect Details Texturz Plates, page 195, $3.95
- Stampin' Dimensionals, page 192, $3.95
- adhesive
- scissors
Directions
1) Cut a piece of Real Red Card Stock to 3 1/4" x 6 1/2". Also get a scrap of Whisper White Card Stock at least 1 x 2".
2) Place the red card stock over the napkin ring portion of the Table Setting Die and the white card stock over the little doodad right above the napkin ring.
3) Build a sandwich of Extended Cutting Pad, Die, card stock, and Extended Cutting Pad and run through the Big Shot.
4) Set aside the little white doodad for now. Texturize the napkin ring piece by building a sandwich of Multipurpose Platform open to tab 1, Perfect Details Texturz Plates with the swirls pattern facing up, napkin ring piece, Silicone Rubber, and Texturz Impressions Pad. If you want the embossed images to be a little deeper, place a scrap of thin cardboard (such as the backing sheet that comes with our Designer Series Paper) on top of the sandwich. Run through the Big Shot.
5) Shake the Shimmer Paint well and pick up some of the paint from the inside of the lid with a Sponge Dauber. Rub the paint lightly onto the textured napkin ring piece on both sides.
6) Score the napkin ring piece just below the bottom hump in the center and fold the resulting flap up.
7) Insert gift card.
8) Tie the whole thing closed with a piece of Taffeta Ribbon and trim ends.
9) Fold the little white doodad in half and adhere the ends to the top of the gift card holder. Make sure you leave the center folded area clear of adhesive so you can insert the Elastic Cord.
10) Use the paper-piercing tools to poke a hole in the center of the rounded part of the white doodad.
11) Insert a Real Red Brad and secure on the back side.
12) Insert a piece of Silver Elastic Cord in the top of the doodad and tie the ends together to make a hanger.
13) Build another sandwich of Multipurpose Platform open to tab 1, Standard Cutting Pad, Merry Details Sizzlits, scrap of white card stock on top of the snowflake image, and Standard Cutting Pad. Run through the Big Shot.
14) Adhere the snowflake to the front of the gift card holder just below the ribbon with a Stampin' Dimensional.
15) You can write the "to: from:" information on the back of the gift card holder.
Supplies
- Shellebrate, page 42, $18.95
- Bold Brights Assorted 8 1/2 x 11" Card Stock, page 156, $7.95
- Whisper White 12 x 12" Card Stock, page 155, $7.50
- Jet Black StazOn Ink Pad, page 190, $7.95
- Glorious Green Classic Stampin' Pad, page 156, $5.95
- Only Orange Classic Stampin' Pad, page 156, $5.95
- Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad, page 156, $5.95
- Brilliant Blue Classic Stampin' Pad, page 156, $5.95
- Bashful Blue Classic Stampin' Pad, page 156, $5.95
- Blender Pens, page 192, $9.95
- 3/16" Corner Rounder Punch, page 186, $6.95
- Word Window Punch, pages 186-187, $15.95
- Modern Label Punch, pages 186-187, $15.95
- Slit Punch, pages 186-187, $5.95
- Gold Elastic Cord, page 27 of Holiday Mini, $4.95
- Real Red 3/4" Polka-Dot Grosgrain Ribbon, page 183, $8.95
- Big Shot Die-Cut Machine, page 194, $99.95
- Standard Cutting Pads, page 194, $8.95
- Two Tags Bigz Die, page 198, $21.95
- Stampin' Dimensionals, page 192, $3.95
- adhesive
- scissors
Directions
1) Cut a piece of Glorious Green Card Stock to 3 3/4 x 5". Score at 2 1/2" and fold in half.
2) Use the Corner Rounder Punch on all four corners of the Glorious Green piece.
3) Cut a 2" square from Whisper White Card Stock.
4) Stamp the surfing snowman image from the Shellebrate Set in StazOn Ink onto the white square.
5) Use the Blender Pens and ink from the pad lids to color the image. I used Brilliant Blue for the water and one band of the hat; Real Red for the surfboard, holly berries, and one band of the hat; Glorious Green for the holly leaves, one band of the hat, and to add shading to the water; Only Orange for the carrot nose; and Bashful Blue for the sky.
6) Use the Corner Rounder Punch on all four corners of the snowman image.
7) Cut a 2 1/8" square of Brilliant Blue and corner round all four corners.
8) Adhere the stamped image to the blue square.
9) Stamp the sentiment from the Shellebrate Set in Glorious Green Ink onto a scrap of Whisper White Card Stock.
10) Punch out the sentiment with the Word Window Punch.
11) Punch a scrap of Brilliant Blue Card Stock with the Modern Label Punch.
12) Adhere the sentiment to the Modern Label piece.
13) Wrap a piece of Polka-Dot Grosgrain Ribbon around the bottom of the front flap of the folded Glorious Green piece and tie in place. Trim ends.
14) Adhere the snowman image on top of the ribbon on the left side using Stampin' Dimensionals.
15) Adhere the sentiment so it overlaps the top right corner of the snowman image using Stampin' Dimensionals.
16) Place the gift card inside the Glorious Green piece above the fold line. Mark the edges of the card lightly with a pencil.
17) Punch a slit in either side of the Glorious Green piece using the pencil marks as a guide. These will hold the gift card in place.
18) Cut a piece of Real Red Card Stock to 3 1/4 x 5".
19) Build a sandwich of Standard Cuttin Pad, Two Tags Bigz Die, red card stock placed over the large tag image, and Standard Cutting Pad. Run it through the Big Shot.
20) Cut the bottom off of the big tag along the score line.
21) Adhere the top of the tag to the back of the Glorious Green card holder so that the top edges of the Glorious Green piece fit under the slit in the top of the tag. This will hold the gift card holder closed.
22) Cut a piece of Gold Elastic Cord and thread it through the hole in the top of the tag. Tie the ends together to make a hanger.
23) If desired, you can put a strip of Brilliant Blue Card Stock 1 1/4 x 3 3/4" on the back of the gift card holder to cover the bottom edge of the tag and the slits.
Tips
The Table Setting Bigz XL Die, Merry Details Sizzlits Die, Silver Elastic Cord, and Gold Elastic Cord were all in the Holiday Mini.
Stampin' Up! just announced today that the Shimmer Paints are so popular, they are going to keep selling them after January 4, 2010 as write-in items! Hurray!
You don't need any adhesive to hold the napkin ring gift card holder closed. The ribbon will keep it closed for you and still allow the gift card to fit.
My nephew lives in Florida so the radical snowman gift card in a holder decorated with a surfing snowman is perfect for him.
I like to use StazOn Ink to stamp images I'm going to watercolor to make sure that the ink does not run. If you are stamping onto Whisper White or Very Vanilla Card Stock, you could use our Basic Black Classic Ink Pad instead, just give the image a few minutes to dry completely before you start watercoloring.
When using Blender Pens, make sure to stroke across the card stock in one direction only. If you go back and forth, then the card stock may begin to pill and tear.
Squeeze the lid of the ink pad against the pad before opening and you'll get a pool of ink in the lid which you can pick up with a Blender Pen or AquaPainter to use when watercoloring.
Be sure to clean your Blender Pen between colors by scribbling onto a sheet of scrap paper until no more color comes off the pen.
When watercoloring, try to imagine a light source shining onto the image from one direction. Then, add shading as appropriate. Put darker, more intense color where shadows would fall. Use lighter or even no color where light would be hitting.
