Gift Card Holders -- Dress Up Your Gift Giving

When my children were little I loved finding that special gift they really wanted for Christmas but now that they are all grown up I find it difficult to get them presents because they just buy whatever they want as soon as they have the money. 

So now I give them gift cards which they can use on what they really want . . . and who doesn't need extra money. But a gift card (or cash) alone doesn't seem special enough so I package it inside a handmade greeting card!

You can make a left or right opening card with this fun fold technique.

You can hide a gift card or cash behind the removable tag on the front of this card.

The tag can be used for gift giving as well or just leave it in the card as extra decoration.

This fun fold video shows how to make the tag/gift card holder cards.

These two cute cards used the Sweet Little Stockings bundle of products.

The inside of these cards reveal a pocket for you to hide a gift card or cash.

If you'd like to recreate these cute cards have a look at my instructional video here.

You can even change any existing greeting card into a gift card holder using a bit of extra paper and a punch as shown in my Quick Tip video.

I hope I've inspired you to dress up your prezzy card giving this year and I'd love to see what you make!

#KeepCalmAndCraft #ComputerAndCraftDesigns #StampinUp #CreativeTherapy #KeepStamping #RubberStamping #CardMaking #GiftCardHolder #FunFoldCard

Tombstone Treat Boxes -- Tips and Tricks for decorating them

The Tombstone Treat Boxes from Stampin' Up! are so adorable and the perfect size to hide treats and gifts for your ghouls and goblins this Halloween!

The Tombstone Treat Boxes are shipped as a flat-packed kit ready for you to make 8 double-sided gift boxes which can also be used as table decorations. However by using a little Basic White cardstock you can make 16 single-sided boxes that are perfect to treat your little ghouls and goblins this Halloween!

There are two sizes for the inside of the Tombstone Boxes so you'll need to make a back section to fit the size front you are using. Either start with a 6" x 5" (15 cm x 12.5 cm) or 4-3/4" x 5-3/4" (12 cm x 14 cm) rectangle and then score all four sides at 1-1/4" (3.2 cm). After you fold and burnish on the score lines, cut a slit in each of the sides before sticking them together as shown in this picture (as well as in my video).

Here are some of the treat boxes I made using a variety of products from Stampin' Up!

You can even make them in to a light up box, like the two in the centre of the following picture. You just need to die cut an image into the front of the tombstone, add some vellum and use a battery-operated tea light in the box. This would be really spooky at night!

You can heat emboss a sentiment on the tombstone, but make sure you do this before putting the box together.

In my YouTube video I show you how to make this ghost using the Diorama Dies as well give you tips and tricks for creating with the tombstone gift boxes. You can have a look at my video here.

#KeepCalmAndCraft #ComputerAndCraftDesigns #StampinUp #CreativeTherapy #KeepStamping #RubberStamping #Diorama #DioramaDies #TombstoneBoxes 

Endless Card a.k.a. Left & Right Hand Opening Card

I find it interesting where I get inspiration for my projects sometimes. It is usually the normal places like YouTube and Pinterest, but this week I found inspiration in a different place. I organised my sewing room and came across a 'magic' needle case and then found an unused kit with instructions for making one.

That led me to thinking I could make something similar with cardstock. So after a day of fiddling around with paper, ink, ribbon and designer series paper I came up with several versions.

Front of gift card holders

I know there is something called a 'Never Ending' card and I have made one in the past, but this card version is smaller and a lot quicker to make. You can open it from the left or right side over and over again which is why I decided to call it an 'Endless' card.

Back of gift card holders

My first attempt at re-creating the magic card holder was using the Itty Bitty Birthdays stamp set and Birthday Bonanza Designer Series Paper.

Inside of card when opened from the left

You could also called it a 'Left & Right Hand Opening' card because you can open it from either side.

Inside of card when opened from the right

The original needle case uses ribbon to attach each side. I made one small card with ribbon however it loosened up once I put the tea bags inside the card.

So I decided making it with cardstock or designer series paper (DSP) in place of the ribbon was the best option.

The size of the cardstock you need to make this card depends on the size of the contents (e.g., gift card or tea bags).

I used images from the Tea Together stamp set for the card I made in my video. The outside was created with two pieces of Night of Navy cardstock cut to 3-1/4" x 3-1/2" (9 x 8 cm) which I embossed with roses in white.

I decorated it by stamping the teapot and teacup in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink before colouring the images with Stampin' Blends (the colours I used are listed in my video description on YouTube).

The inside was made with two pieces of 3" x 3-1/4" (7.5 x 8 cm) Whisper White cardstock. Again I used the Memento Tuxedo Black Ink to stamp the sentiments and flowers which I coloured with Stampin' Blends.

I used four strips of 1/2" x 4-1/2" (1 x 12 cm) DSP instead of ribbon to create the mechanism which allows the card to be opened from either side as shown in my video. This also allows you to see the beauty of both sides of the DSP.

It's amazing what items can trigger creativity and inspiration. I can hardly wait to discover something else in my home to recreate as a card!

#EndlessCard #TeaTime #KeepCalmAndCraft #ComputerAndCraftDesigns #StampinUp #creativetherapy #StayHome