Another Merry Winter Gift Card Holder ...

Well HAPPY SATURDAY!!!!  Phew - I made it!  It was really touch and go there for a while as to whether or not I was going to run away from home or dig deep and make it to the finish line.  I went with the latter ... but really only because running away from home took more energy than I could muster!  The last 7 days has been a blur of cold, flus, sleepless nights, whining, crying and generally yuckiness.  It all came to a head yesterday morning when I had a rather ugly incident with the business who was SUPPOSED TO cut all my card stock for my DanceCo. fundraiser tomorrow morning.  Suffice it to say that everything turned out ok in the end and although my husband had a flu relapse and the kids ended up staying awake WAAAAAAY too late all is right in my world again.  Heck - I got up at 7:45 and by 8:00 am I was standing outside Shoppers Drug Mart and succeeded in scooping up the last 2 pink DSi games they had on sale.  Score!  Right now I SHOULD be prepping from the fundraiser tomorrow but thought I would take 20 minutes and share my other gift card holder project with you.

I have done (and shared) this layout before.  I had to do it again, though because it is just so dang quick an easy!!!  Check it out:

 

 Once again I used the Merry Winter Stamp set.  The Belly Band is made using Cherry Cobbler cs and the snowman is punched out with the 1 3/8" circle punch then layered with and espresso scalloped circle and then the larger scalloped circle in Crumb cake.  How do you make the actual card holder?  Easy!

Step 1:  Score Whisper White card stock at 3”, 5 ½” and 8” (LOVE using the new Simply Scored tool for making 20 of this project!):

Step 2:  Turn sheet over and apply sticky strip (or snail) as shown, making sure to place the adhesive as              close to the edges as possible.  If too much space is left there will not be enough room for your  gift card to slide in. 

                Step 3:  Tape together and use Word Window punch to punch out a slot on the seam.  
                Continue punching along the seam until the opening is wide enough for your gift card to fit. 

Step 4:  Use your ¾” circle punch to punch out a semi-circle in the middle and decorate as desired:

Easy!  Here is the Santa gift card holder I made a few years ago - same instruction, different decoration on the front:

So there you have it.  RIght - my time is up ... I need to go get this day started (plus the kids are starting to bicker so time for me to leave!  Yep ... everything seems to be back to normal ... sigh ....)

Have a fun day :)


Tam

Envelope Gift Card Holder

Happy Sunday!

Wow - I can't believe it has been a week since I posted last!  I had two projects to "Show-and-Tell" - I just haven't found the time to post them!  Well today is the day!  (I can't promise I'll post BOTH but I think I can manage one!)  I have a sick little girl on my hands today.  Rebecca has a cold - she feel "icky".  I know THAT because she took a 2 hour nap today!  She hasn't done that in years!!  So she's coloring ... and I'm taking a break from coloring to post my Envelope Gift Card Holder.  We made this project at my Technique Class last week.  It is a FANTASTIC way to use up all those "used" envelopes you have lying around.  You know the ones ... they are the ones that the children colored on, or relatives who opened the card at your house and you couldn't bring yourself to throw away a perfectly good (albeit written on!) envelope!  Here is the solution - use them in a gift card holder.  I cant' take credit for the project - I cased it from ... yep .. Tamye Dunbar (www.stampinfun.ca) - I just changed the stamp sets and colors but the design was from her.

First ... a picture of it closed:

Isn't it adorable?  The little snowman (who looks like a squished marshmallow according to Rae-Ann!) is from "Merry Winter".  The snowflakes are from Serene Snowflakes.  I sued the 1 3/8" circle punch for him then layered it with a Crumb Cake 1 3/4" scalloped circle.  Then I used the 2 3/8" scalloped circle in Early Espresso for the last layer.  The red is Cherry Cobbler (1 1/2" x 8 1/2" - scored at 2 1/2" & 5 3/4").  I used a little rhinestone on his hat pompom.  Along the bottom I used the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch in Cherry Cobbler and taped it on.

You're going to want size and scoring dimensions, aren't you ... ok ... down to the craft room to get my project and ruler ... hang on - be right back ...

OK - the main piece is 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" - scored at 2 1/2" and at 5 1/2" plus two ticks (technical, aren't I?)

When you fold the paper on the score lines one flap is smaller than the other - the smaller one is 2 1/2" - the larger one is 2 3/4".  The larger one is the front of your holder.  Yes, it makes a difference - you want the smaller one one the inside so the gift card fits nicely. 

See in this picture ... you want room to tape down the envelope as well as the little cards for the gift card itself ..

Make sense?  Well, if not just do as I say - make the small flap the bottom.  OK - So to make the envelope insert just take a standard envelope and lick it shut.  Fold it in half.  Now cut 1/3 of it off.  See the picture above - if you look hard enough you can see that it is an envelope folder in half.  Now tape the envelope to itself to make the 2 seperate compartments - again, see the picture above ... it's kinda hard to type and make sense.  (See?  Aren't you kicking yourself for not coming to my class??!!) Once you do that you tape the envelope to the inside of the card, so it is secured to the bottom flap and the middle section ... again ... see the photo above.

Here are the little cards that go in the envelope pockets:

The cards are made from Crumb Cake (4" x 2 1/2") - one of them is layered with a whisper white piece (3 3/4" x 2 1/4")  The tabe is Cherry Cobbler with the Tab Punch.  The little pieces of tape on the front of the Crumb Cake piece in the picture above are rwo mini glue dots (with the wax paper still on them).  You can pre-make the project and then whey you have someone to give it to ... and the gift card bought ... you just peel off the wax paper, stick on the gift card and Wa-low!

So there you have it.  A fun little gift card holder. 

Right - as I thought ... I'll have to post my other gift card holder another day ... the roast beef is ready to eat ... gotta go mash the potatoes and make the gravy.  Mmmmm - I love pajama day Sunday!!

Have a fun week!

Tam

Field Flowers

It's official.  I have a new favorite stamp set ... again :)  Yes, I seem to change my mind more often than I change my socks when it comes to stamp sets but I'm a woman - it's my perogative!  I designed this one a few weeks ago ... I thought I posted it already - guess I was wrong!  ... and I say I designed it .... but really I essentially stole it from the fabulous Tamye Dunbar ... again.  Tamye does well what I don't ... quick, simple, easy, clean cards using minimal supplies and/or stamp sets.  I don't have a picture of hers handy but mine is just kicked up a slight notch from hers - I love it ...

I used Very Vanilla and Early Espresso cs - the flowers and sentiment are stamped in Soft Suede and then the Decorative Label punched sentiment (from "Blessings from Heaven") are finger daubed (??!!) with Early Espresso ink.  The sentiment is popped up with dimensionals and a pearl adds that little touch.  Clean, simple, elegant!  It can be used for most occasions - birthday, sympathy, thank you, thinking of you, just a note, ... the signe of a GREAT card!  Yes, we made this on Friday at my technique class.  Lots of fun!

Here is another card we made Friday night using the dryer sheet technique:

I've use this layout before ... in fact it was one of my Stamp-a-stack cards last month but the orientation was landscape ...
I used whisper white and Night of Navy c.s. and ink and the denim ribbon (LOVE it!!).  The sentiment is from Hand Penned Holidays.  I stamped the tree image in Night of Navy (Lovely as a Tree) on the white card stock.  I then stamped the image on the clear Stamp-a-ma-jig image sheet to get a reflection effect.  Then I covered the entire piece with the Anywhere Glue Stick, covered it with a used dryer sheet and firmly pressed the sheet down (yes messy, but necessary!)  Then I trimmed the excess sheet, taped it to the blue card stock and headed for the glitter.  (Yes, Craig was away for the night ... that's the only way I got managed to pull off this card for a class ... I'm pretty sure this card violates his "Glitter Rules" in 96 different ways! *lol*).  I covered the piece with glitter and then rubbed it into the dryer sheet.  Again, messy but kinda fun!  Tap off any excess glitter and Wa-low!  Sparkly!!!!

We also made a cute gift card holder using old envelopes ... but that will have to wait for tomorrow.  My butt has gone numb from all the computer work I had to do today and I need to get up and waddle around until I get some sort of sensation back down there!  Seriously!  So ... on that note (and not-so-great-image) I'll sign off - hee hee.  I hope you had a crafty weekend ... OH ... that reminds me ... I HAVE to post a picture of the craft the girls and I got up to Saturday while Craig was still away.  Sooooo much fun!!!!!

Isn't it FABULOUS??!!??!!  I bought the kit from the "M" store ... I saw it and fell in love with it - had to have it :)

Have a fun week :)

Tam

Holly Christmas!

Heido Ho!  Wow - 2 posts in 1 day!!  I'm on a roll Baby!

Here is the Christmas card we will be making at my Hostess' party tomorrow night:

Isn't it fun??!!  It's so clean and simple!  What I love about it most is that I used felt to make the holly leaves!  Yep - I know that the Big Shot can cut through 50+ different materials but I usually just stick to paper.  Not this time :)  For some fun texture and visual interest I used the shiny 5/8" Real Red Satin ribbon, the glittery Red Glimmer Paper and some soft green felt from the craft store.  The sentiment is from the "Delightful Dozen" set in Real Red.  The green is Garden Green - thegh the retired Handsome Hunter would have been a PERFECT color match for this card - alas, it is no longer available :(  Oh well!  Just the hint of green "works".  I popped the green up on dimensionals for more interest.

There you have it - all 3 projects are now designed for tomorrow - off for a bite of lunch, a shower and then to cut the templates.  Hope you're having as much fun as I am today :)

Tam

Rockin' Birthday!

Happy Wednesday!

Ahhhh - there is nothing I love more than a "home day".  You know ... those RARE days when you have NOTHING on your calendar ... a no one is home sick ... and you already know what you're going to make for dinner (and you have all the ingredients already!) ... and the only thing you really HAVE to do is craft!!  Yes, "home days" - there are about 3 of them per year .. and today is one of them - Woo Hoo! 

I have already been in my craft room for an hour working on projects for a party tomorrow and my Technique Class Friday but I needed to take a quick break (or my back will go out!) and remembered I had two projects I wanted to share.

The first one is a VERY quick card I made for my brother.  His birthday is next week and he lives in Half Moon Bay, BC so I needed to get it in the mail yesterday.  Mission accomplished!   I cased the idea from my friend and downline Corina (you're right, Corina - the Extreme Elements IS a must have set!!)

I used Not Quite Navy and Cajun Craze cs and ink.  The stamp sets are (retired) Extreme Guiter and Extreme Elements.  To get the extra spots I used the Color Spritzer Tool (you attach it to a marker and squeeze the bulb - it splurts ink on your project!)  I added a mini library clip to finish it off.  My brother is a FABULOUS guitar player so I bought this stamp with him in mind!  Hope he likes it :)

This next project is one I copied from Tamy Dunbar (yes, us stampers are avid thieves - we constantly steal others' ideas and creations - why reinvent the wheel?!)  Check out Tamye's blog at www.stampinfun.ca .  This is the PERFECT card (in my humble opinion!)   It can be used for Thank You, Birthday, Thinking of You, Sympathy, Just Because ... just about ANY occasion.  On top of that it is quick, easy yet elegant.  Does it GET any better than that??!!  I made 20 of these for a friend in NO time!  LOVE it!!

I used River Rock, Very Vanilla and Early Espresso cs and ink.  The stamp set is Faith in Nature, one of the hostess sets in the current catalogue (LOVE IT!)  To get the square I simply used the glass blocks stamped in the River Rock ink - stamped it off so it wasn't too inky - and then stamped on the card stock.  I finished it off with a pearl (on the leaf).  Wa-low!  A fabulous, quick card.  This will be one of the cards at my next Stamp-a-stack, I'm QUITE sure!

Right - back to crafting.   What an awesome way to spend the day.  Have fun!

Tam

Top Note Christmas Treats

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

Woo Hoo!  Today is going to be a GREAT day!!  I can't believe it but I have NOTHING on my calendar today!!!  I could run around naked all day if I wanted too!  *lol*  That probably wouldn't be the most efficient use of my time, though, so I'll likely shower, tidy up a bit, do some paperwork and craft (insert smile here!)  I"m currently working on some Thank You card for a friend - I've got them designed - now I just need to mass produce them.  I'll share those another day.  Today I'll share some really cute Christmas treats.  They are the spin-off from the Halloween Treats I shared a few posts back ... I WARNED you I would be making a Christmas version :)  I popped these in my club members' bags this month.  They were a hit!

They are so simple to make!  You simply punch out whisper white Top Notes and run them through the perfect polka dot emboss folder.  You then score them twice along the top (of course using the new Simply Score tool!) with a 1/2" gap between the 2 score lines.  Stamp some Avery labels with whatever design you want and use snail to attach them to the Top Note.  Create a belly band with a 3/4" x 8 1/2" strip of paper and warp it around the closed top note.  I used the Scallop Circle and 1 3/8" circle punches for the snowman and scallop (in Early Espresso and Real Red) ... and there you have it!  A fun, easy treat.

Right - I have to go check on the cats ... no, they are NOT friends yet!  Have a FABULOUS weekend!!!


Tam