Gift card holders

A group of my super talented and crafty friends got together last month in Florida. I was not able to attend but wanted to send down a gift for each of the girls. So I picked up some gift cards and just "had" to make some card holders (after all, these are some of the craftiest ladies that I know!!).

Anyway, I made these little card holders once at a scrapbooking convention. So I used the template from what I saw there to create 13 card holders for the Michaels or Joanns gift cards that were included.

First, I cut the base paper 3 1/2 x 12 inches (for these holders I used plain white cardstock as the base).

Then score the lines (3.5", .5", 3.75", 1.5")

Now you have the base of the gift card holder.

Then cut a fun double sided paper at 2.5" x 12" and making the exact same scoring lines as above.  I typically use the left over double sided paper to cut into .5 inch x 4.5 inch strips that I use as both the handle and also the piece to hold in the gift card. To make the handle I attached the .5 inch strip to the inside of the 2.5'x x 12", flip it over the top and attach it to the other inside as shown below.

Once the handle is attached, then glue down the strip to the base cardstock. The gift holder is now taking shape.

I used spellbinder dies to cut out cute scalloped squares (one in plain white the other in the same double sided cardstock.  You can also use punches, but it is a fun and easy element to add a little something to the front of the gift card holders.

Then attach the squares to the front of the card holder.  Using a hole punch, punch holes on the sides of the squares. We are going to use ribbons to hold the card holder together.

I also attached one of the .5 strips on the insides of the card holder to hold the gift card. Anyway, here is the finished product...

And a side view:

And finally all of them packed in a box ready to ship to Florida

I hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial on how to make a fun gift card holder.

Brother birthday card

Well it is that time of year, my older brothers birthday. I always struggle to make him a card because, well, he's male.  But I am very lucky that both my brothers love what I do and fully support me, so any card that I make I know that he will cherish. I picked up this stamp from Michael's $1 bin and it was just perfect. My brother loves coffee and I am including a gift card for Dunkin Donuts in the card. And second he is my best friend.

I stamped it using memento ink and colored it using my new promarkers.  The papers I used are from DCWV Sweet Tooth collection and Core'dinations. And of course some yummy twine from the Twinery.

Its not the traditional birthday card but I know that he will love it.  I used some perfect pearls on the flowers.

And finally the inside:

Hope you like it!

Hiking

I am finally catching up on some scrapbooking and made this layout from a day trip last year. I tend to do double page layouts when I scrap since I like to be uniform, matching, etc.  I guess that is just how my brain works. Anyway, we go camping a lot and like to explore nature and the beautiful scenery that Mother Nature has created for us.  We took the boys hiking along the Kancamangus Highway in NH and stopped at a trail head. The boys had so much fun exploring the waterfalls and river, and we took lots of photos.

I did a color blocking technique and used one of my favorite companies K & Co. The stack I used is called "Happy Trails".  Someone once told me that the best way to mix patterned papers was to use papers from the same stack. And its true. The colors match perfectly for using multiple papers. And I FINALLY got to use my camping cricut solutions cartridge. I've had it since it came out and this is the first time I actually used it, ha ha.

I used multiple layers to create the trees and pop dots to make them stick out more. I also created multiple layers for the sign and pop dotted that as well. And I tend to use at least 6 or 7 pictures for each double sided layout, as I take so many pictures I pick out my favorite from each and then end up on the page.

Well there you have it. A fun and easy layout to make to showcase family memories. The hardest part for me is picking the papers. I mean lets be honest, my heart beats when I cut some pretty paper, I won't lie. But once you put it all together it makes it all worthwhile. And I only used 2 pieces of paper from that stack, since it is double sided. So come one, use that pretty paper.

PS - the plain cardstock was left over papers from other projects. So really I used 2 pieces of white cardstock, 2 pieces of patterned cardstock and the rest was using pieces from leftovers. Not bad right?

Snowman frame

I was part of a gift exchange with a group of very talented crafters this past holiday season. Part of the gift exchange was to make a homemade item for your partner. I was really nervous about making something for someone else, as this group of girls have more talent than I do (I mean seriously, my preschooler is more creative than I am).  I thought it would be nice to make something that she could hang if she wanted and was festive for the holiday season.  My partner loves the color red and her favorite season is winter, so I chose to make a snowman frame for her.

I found the frame at Hobby Lobby (boy I didn't know how hard it would be to find the perfect frame once you have a project in mind), but this one was square, 8x8 with a frosted glass front. Then I used some of my favorite Christmas stack, from recollections, and used that as the backdrop. I used pearls on the paper to add a little something.  I cut the snowman out of Christmas Cards Cricut cartridge and used red pearls as the buttons. I got a chance to use my Peachy Keen stamps for the face and used a little chalk to make the cheeks rosy.  The snowman was then put on the frame and pop dotted to make it stand out more. Finally I added some snowflakes for a little fun. 

On the frame itself I used a wide red ribbon and made it into a ruffle and added some flowers that were quilled using my cuddlebug and quilling tools.

Here it is.

I hope my secret partner likes it!  It was a lot of fun to make! Take care everyone