Gift Card Holders

A quick little idea for those holiday gift cards.

Start with a piece of card stock 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches. Score and fold into a tri-fold. I did two variations but unfortunately did not get photos of each step. Hope you can figure it all out - if not, just shoot me an email and I will clarify.
Email Mary

Ornament card holder Use Real Red card stock and score at 2 1/2 inches and 5 1/2 inches. Fold so the shorter section is inside the other two sections. Decorate the outside using the Platinum shimmer paint and the 'snowflake' stamp from the Delighful Decorations stamp set.

Cut a piece of silver card stock 2 1/2 x 4 inches and trim the corners with the Ticket Corner punch.

Take a piece of ribbon about 20 inches long and adhere to the center of the silver -leaving a much longer tail on one end than the other (You can wrap the ribbon around the scored card stock folded to get an idea of how long you will need and where to position it - leave plenty of ribbon to be able to tie a bow). The ribbon is adhered to the BACK of the silver card stock.
Turn the silver card stock over and adhere to the front of the gift card holder.



Decorate the front - Cut a piece of Whisper White card stock 2 1/4 x 3 3/4 and trim the corners with the Ticket Punch. Stamp an ornament from the Delightful Decorations using Garden Green in the left upper portion. Stamp an ornament using Real Red on a scrap of Whisper White and punch with the Ornament Punch. Adhere in the lower right portion using dimensionals.



For the inside cut a piece of Garden Green 2 3/4 x 4 1/4. Make slits using the Slit Punch (retired) or an exacto knife. (I had to play with this a little to get the slits right where I wanted them - not sure how you can measure that but mine were a little more than 1/4 inch from the edge.)

Adhere the Garden Green to the inside center of the card being careful to not get adhesive on the slit areas.
Insert gift card, fold and tie a bow!

Merry Christmas Gift Card Holder
For this one I used More Mustard and scored it at 2 1/2 inches from either end.
I used a piece of Garden Green 2 inches x 4 inches on the front.


I stamped the Merry Christmas from the Christmas Greetings set using Real Red on a piece of Whisper White cut 2 1/4 x 3 3/4 and after trimming it with the Ticket Punch, sponged on Garden Green.

I did not put a piece inside but just punched my slits into the More Mustard.

Punchy Rudolph

I love the punch art reindeer - and it has been so much fun making a whole set of these for some scrapbook pages. Here is a layout of what you will need to make a reindeer. You can alter the colors to make each one unique.

You can gather all these before you start or just have the punches and paper handy to punch as you go along.
Let's get started!

I usually start with the body. You will need the large oval and the small oval . Connect them to the scallop square which is the blanket for the reindeer.

Trim the hearts and cut the boho flowers in half to make the shoes. The shoes can be altered by changing the color of leaving off the flower trim at the top so they look more like boots.

I think the easiest way to punch the legs is to punch your wide oval for the head then line up the punch along the edge and punch a narrow strip.

You will need two of these and then cut them in half to make the 4 legs.

Attach the shoes to the wider end of the double-punched oval pieces. Be sure the oval curves in the correct direction.
Attach the legs to the body. Play around with the placement to get them just where you want them.
Next comes the head - attach the antlers to the back of the head near the top. You have to leave room for the ears.
Attach the ears below the antlers. Check the position from the front.
Add the nose and eyes - the white gel pen really makes them pop. I used a dimensional to adhere the nose. If you are doing a whole group of reindeer you would only need one with a red nose (dear old Rudolph) and the others would have basic black, basic gray or maybe early espresso for the nose.
Attach the head at the neck. You can tilt it at different angles to see exactly which look you like best. Different angles give the reindeer a little attitude :-) And don't forget the tail ! I usually place the petal point downward and attach to the rear.

I tied a knot in the 1/4 inch real red grosgrain and glued it at the neck. Then decorate the blanket however you want. For this one I used the largest boho blossom and punched the center of the blossom using the 1/2 inch circle punch. I punched a small circle using the itty bitty punch set and placed it in the center.

If you try some - please post a link to your photos so I can check them out. Would love to see your ideas on how to decorate or improve my reindeer.

Trifold Card

This is a picture tutorial for a tri-fold card that has become really popular. I am showing it with the Garden Greenhouse stamp set (one of my favorites!) but it can be done with many other themes.

Card Stock: Pacific Point, Whisper White
Inks: Melon Mambo, Bravo Burgundy, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Marina Mist, Pacific Point
Ribbon: 3/8 inch taffeta Marina Mist
Stamp Set: Garden Greenhouse, Herb Expressions

To being you need to choose the color combinations for the two step stamp set. These are the colors I am using today but I have done other combinations and all have been lovely.

Cut a piece of Whisper White card stock to 5 x 11 inches. Using the largest flower background stamp and Melon Mambo ink, randomly stamp flowers in one of the base colors from the lower side of one 5 inch edge to the upper area of the other 5 inch edge. These should basically follow a diagonal line but not actually 'touch' each other.

Fill in some with the second largest flower base stamp and Perfect Plum ink.


Fill in with the smallest flower background and Marina Mist ink. You should have a continuous row of flowers - if not, fill in as needed with all three flowers.

Trim away the white card stock about the row of flowers. You can get as detailed as you want when cutting. I usually don't do a lot of detail since that makes the next steps a little harder. (I have laid the white paper on a piece of Pacific Point so it is easier to see the edges.

Turn the paper over to the blank white side.

Repeat stamping flowers on the blank side. These do not have to be exactly like the flowers on the other side. If you are really detailed you may want to use the Stamp-a-ma-jig to get the flowers lined up exactly with the cut edge. I just tried to get close to the edge and did go over the edge a time or two but it is not noticeable. Use all three flower stamps and the colors you used on the front until you have a continuous row across the back.


Use the second stamp for the largest flower to add the detail to those images using Bravo Burgundy. Be sure to do both sides of the paper.


Follow with the other flowers using Elegant Eggplant on the Perfect Plum flowers and Pacific Point on the Marina Mist flowers.
Stamp a sentiment if desired This is stamped on the front side at the right end of the piece of card stock - the taller edge. I used one from Herb Expressions.

Score 4 inches and 8 inches from the taller edge. Fold in opposite directions.

Take a piece of Pacific Point - 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 and adhere an 18 inch length of ribbon near the bottom. I put my ribbon slightly off centered because I wanted to tie my bow off-centered.

Adhere the white card stock over the ribbon.
Fold along the score lines and tie the ribbon on the front. Isn't that a special card for a special friend?

This is another version that I came up with that doesn't use the ribbon. Make the card - omitting the ribbon step. Adhere the front pieces together. This just makes a two-sided front to the card.


I stamped and cut out a couple more flowers and added them to the lower left front to cover the fold. The smaller one is adhered using a dimensional.
Here are some other ideas for this style of card:
Using the Starring You stamp set and a variety of bright inks. What a great birthday or congratulations card!


This one uses the I Heart Hearts stamp set - sweet valentine?
A cute Christmas card using the Delightful Decorations stamp set. There are lots of possibilities - if you come up with one please post me a link to your photos.

Keepsake Box

Several have asked how to make the Keepsake Box so here are the instructions. Here is a new one I made today with the step by step photos.

For this box, I used Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip and the Merry Moments paper. The ribbon is Chocolate Chip 5/8 inch satin.

You will need a sheet of 12 x 12 inch card stock and an 8 1/2 x 11 inch card stock in the main color (Ruby Red), a sheet of 12 x 12 of the designer series paper (Merry Moments) and a 8 1/2 x 11 inch card stock (Chocolate Chip).

Cut one inch off one side of the 12 x 12 inch card stock to have an 11 x 12 inch piece.

Cut the 8 1/2 x 11 piece of the main color to 8 1/8 x 9 1/8.

Score the 11 x 12 inch piece at 3 inches on all 4 sides. Score the 8 1/8 x 9 1/8 piece at 1 1/2 inch on all sides. The score lines don't show up in the photo.

Cut along the score lines along one side of the piece of 11 x 12 inch card stock - cut only up to the intersecting score line. Do this along the opposite side. This will create flaps on each corner.

Turn the card stock over and place Sticky Strip on the flaps in each corner.

Turn the card stock back over so that the Sticky Strips are facing down. Fold up one side and tuck the flap inside the adjoining strip. Remove the covering and expose the sticky strip, adhere to the adjoining side of the box creating the corner. Repeat with the other three corners. Be careful to not let the Sticky Strip touch the other side before you have it lined up. Sometimes there is just a little bit that sticks out above the main box side - you can just trim that down.

Before putting the lid together, decorate the top and sides. Cut the following:

Card stock - color 2 - (Chocolate Chip)

one piece 5 x 6 inches

two pieces 5 x 1 1/4 inches

two pieces 6 x 1 1/4

Designer Series Paper

one piece 4 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches

two pieces 4 3/4 x 1 inch

two pieces 5 3/4 x 1 inch

Trim corners if desired - I like using the Ticket punch.

Adhere the designer series paper to the appropiriate pieces of card stock.

Adhere the 5 x 6 inch rectangle to the top of the lid. Adhere the other pieces to the side of the lid.

Using Sticky Strip, tape the lid together as you did with the box bottom.

The finished lid looks like this.

Place the lid on the box bottom. Now you can decorate the lid however you wish.

I cut out some of the snow flake designs on another sheet of the DSP and added the 5/8 inch satin ribbon to the sides of the lid. Wouldn't this be a great way to give some packets of hot cocoa, instant soup, teas, coffee, anything for a snowy winter's day?