Good Morning Fellow Stampers ~~
Time to play today -- it's Pals Blog Hop Day; and we're "Not In the Pals Blog Hop" - LOL Doing our own thing, and bucking the establishment, that's what I call it!! LOL
Nevertheless, today's Blog Hop theme was Home for the Holidays, and you'll find, I'm sure, lots of wonderful holiday designs and ideas if you pop over and follow today's Blog Hop. I'd start with Mary Fish if you want to check out what the rest of the Pals are doing.
In the meantime, I'm bringing you my fun project today to help you prepare for the upcoming Holiday Season. Lately, for some reason, I've been enamored with gift card holder-style cards. I've been doing them a lot for our virtual Coffee & a Card classes. They can be a lot of fun! And I think they have an incredibly useful purpose in creating a lovely way to present a gift card to the recipient.
This "fun-fold" card is an irregular size - so you would have to create a special envelope for it. The finished size of this card is 6" x 5-1/2".
But it is perfect for presenting that gift card ~~ I really love how this turned out.
I picked up on this idea from a French demonstrator (thru Pinterest); but that provides some difficulties in that everything is in a foreign language (I don't speak French - LOL), and measurements are European and in metrics. What is a standard size card for Europe, is NOT the case for the US.
So I had to sit down and basically start from scratch. There was a fair amount of "testing" before I got to where I wanted to be for this card today.
Here are the final measurements for your use in creating this card design:
Main card base - 8-1/2" x 5-1/2"; score on the long side @ 2-1/2"
Smaller card base - 8-1/2" x 4-1/4"; score on the long side @ 4-1/4"
Mat cardstock sizes/measurements (this card uses Real Red):
5-7/8" x 5-3/8" panel
2-1/8" x 5-3/8" strip (inside flap for gift card pocket)
2-3/8" x 5-3/8" (front of gift card flap)
4-1/8" x 4-1/8" x 3 - inset smaller card base (front, and inside both panels)
Designer Series Paper sizes/measurements (we are using the smaller scattered holly images from the Painted Christmas DSP for this project):
5-3/4" x 5-1/4" panel
2" x 5 3/4" strip (overlay for inside flap of gift card pocket)
2-1/4" x 5-3/4" (front of gift card flap)
4" x 4" x 2 (for front of smaller card base, and inside) - flip to a different design for the inside - see below)
Now let me walk you through this card a little more . . .
I cut the back main card base from Thick Basic Cardstock, 8-1/2" x 5-1/2". I scored at 2-1/2" on the long edge to create the "flap" that will eventually hold the gift card.
Then I cut what is the actual "card" itself (the one where you are going to write your Christmas message to the recipient), at 8-1/2" x 4-1/4", and then scored at 4-1/4" on the long edge. This creates the "card" that will be glued to the "background" and overlap the flap to give that cool "fun-fold" look.
Each panel then has a piece of cardstock mat (this one in Real Red) - see measurements above; and an overlay of DSP. I really love this smaller scattered holly berries and pine branch images from the Painted Christmas DSP collection.
Hint: Try this paper on Soft Succulent cardstock (and with the Soft Succulent Open Weave ribbon) to change up the colorway and have a totally different feel and look to the combination.
Then I played with the Christmas Season bundle to create the focal point -- so much fun!
This is partially a 2-step stamp set (for example the pine cones are done in two steps); and partially one of our wonderful Dist-INK-tive stamp sets - giving your that varied texture in the stamping that creates realism!! I LOVE it!!
I stamped 2 pine cones, with Crumb Cake ink for the main cone, and Soft Suede on one and Cinnamon Cider on the other for the 2nd "step" of detail stamping.
Pine boughs are done in Evening Evergreen; and the berries in Real Red.
The Basic White background and all the pieces are cut using the Seasonal Labels Dies set. Fan-TAB-ulous!!
If you haven't gotten this set yet . . . It is a MUST HAVE!!
The sentiment is from the coordinating stamp set - Christmas to Remember - and I love when they do these "block-style" sentiments. They are so easy to stamp and fussy cut!
The entire finished panel is popped on the front of the "small" card base. And I finished it all off with some lovely red Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels.
Here is a look at the card when it is opened up.
Here you can see that I flipped the Designer Paper, and used the design on the back side for the inside of the smaller card base. I love how this looks!
And here's a closer look at the smaller flap itself on the main card base where the gift card goes.
You can see that I used the curved end of the Label Me Lovely Punch to create a notch for each "in and out" of the gift card.
One other note - I wrapped this panel right at the score line with a piece of Real Red 3/8" Sheer Ribbon, tied in a bow on the front before gluing down this "pocket". I wanted the edge of the ribbon to get tucked nicely underneath that pocket and not cause any issues for the in and out of the gift card.
So there you have it!! A fun card to hold those gift cards this season! Hope you enjoy!!
We'll be back soon with more fun! Stay tuned!
I Love to hear from you. Leave your questions or comments below!!
Hugs, . . .
