Welcome to Ink N Scrap Habits!

I've created this blog to share my life & love of paper crafts with others. You will read bits and pieces of what goes on in my world and be able to see my paper craft creations! Please leave me a comment if you see something you like. I'd love to hear from you!

Friday, November 7, 2008

Holiday Gift Card Holders!

With the Holiday Gift Giving Season practically upon us, I've decided to make a few Gift Card Holders as I know they will come in handy and I will put them to good use. I've always been the type to "wrap" and "package" a gift card rather then just put it in a card to give. In the past I've been known to fill a shoe box with tissue paper and Christmas candy, stick the gift card in the middle of the candy and then, wrap it all up!

This year, those I give gift cards to will get them wrapped like these:

These are so quick and rather easy to make. Of course, the time to make them will differ depending on what you decide to do to decorate the front of the holder. I created both of these in about 20 minutes each. The finished size for these gift card holders is 4 1/4" x 4 1/4."

I've decided to do a mini tutorial today to show you how I made them, however, I can't take credit for it. I actually learned how to do make these at a recent Stamping Getaway weekend. The person who showed me how to do them got the instructions from here. I've changed how the holder is closed--I used ribbon rather then the belly band. So, read on to hear how I've created the 2 gift card holders shown above.

Step #1: Cut a piece of cardstock 4 1/4" x 11" to be the main base of your holder.


Step #2: Score the cardstock at the following locations: 2 3/4", 5 1/2", and 8 1/4". I used my Score Pal, but I had to use a small ruler to put pencil marks at the 2 3/4" and 8 1/4" positions and then just move the cardstock accordingly in order to score it.


Step #3: Fold your cardstock on the 5 1/2" line. Add pencil marks at the 3/8" and 3 7/8" positions. Sorry my pencils marks are a little difficult to see.

Step #4: Use the SU! Word Window punch to create the opening that you will slide the gift card into. You want the punch opening to start at the pencil mark you made at 3/8" from the left side as seen in this picture,


and then make a second punch, lining up the right side of the punch with the pencil line you made at 3 7/8" as seen in this picture.




This is how it will look once you've correctly made the 2 punches from either side.



Step 5: Use either a circle punch that is about 1 1/2" in diameter, or Nesties, like I did, to create the "Griping tabs" that allow for easy insertion and removal of the gift card.



Line up the Nestie as seen here to remove a half circle from the cardstock. It should cut through both layers with no problem.


Step 6: Use adhesive to secure the cardstock, folded in place. This creates the pocket that will hold the gift card. Place adhesive along the edge where you see the white lines in this photo and fold to adhere the right and left sides together. This picture also shows you opening created by using the Word Window Punch twice & the circle created with the Nestie (or circle punch).


Step #7: Fold the other score lines in the opposite direction of the way the middle (5 1/2" score line) was folded....



...Now your holder should look like a book, as in this picture below, with the gift card pocket as the center of the book.


Step #8: Decorate the front "cover" of your gift card holder. Here you can see that I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig and the Holiday Multi Greeting Stamp to add the words "Happy Holidays." (I also added a Holly and Berry image. It is seen in the upcoming photos below.)


Step #9: Place a horizontal line of adhesive across the front and back of the holder to add decorative ribbon over it as shown. I think my ribbon measured about 12," as I wanted to be sure I had enough to tie into a bow to close the gift card.


Step #10: Add decorative elements on top of the ribbon on the front cover as shown.


Step #11: Add Gift Card to pocket. As you can see, the inside looks very plain. Once I decide who will get this particular holder I will decorate the inside accordingly and add my own hand written message. (Back in May I attended a wedding where I made one of these for the Bride and Groom and used Rub-ons to decorate the inside. I also created it a little differently then I've explained here--there are many variations to making the same thing! You can see pictures of it here.)


Step #12: Secure holder by tying ribbon in a bow. As a finishing touch, I also added Shimmerz to the Holly leaves and red Stickles to the berries.

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink in Warm Red
Paper: Smooth white cardstock by Office Depot, Colored Cardstock by The Paper Company
Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, Gamsol, SU! Word Window Punch, Ribbon by Joann's Santa's Work Bench, Nesties, Sagebrush Shimmerz, Red Stickles

Here's a close up view of the Snowman one I made.


Stamps: DRS Designs-Holiday Multi Greeting, Stretch the Round Button Snowman, Interlocking Snowflake Background
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink in French Blue
Paper: Smooth white cardstock by Office Depot,
Accessories: SU! Word Window Punch, Nesties, Bic Markers, Glitter Glue, Offray Holiday Sentiments Ribbon


Thanks for stopping by today.


Stay tuned for my Veteran's Day Thank you Fun Filled Friday Challenge. I'm running a little behind and hope to have it posted later today or tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!


Smiles,
Jennifer

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