Sunday, January 31, 2010

My bad!

Hey! I have a wonderful idea!
I'm going to get my butt in gear!
Sound good to you?
I have a whole lotta crafty love coming your way from the past few months!
I've been slacking on the posting, it's true!
But I will play catch-up and give you a little taste of whats been going on around here!
So look forward to that!
(I know you're on the edge of you seat.)

Thanks. Love you. Bye.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Christmas Gift Card Holders

This is the post I was featured with over at Craftoholics Anonymous back in December.


Hey everyone, my name is Camie. I'm an out-of-work actress with a degree in cosmetology, but I moonlight as a stay-at-home Momma. I've got two of the cutest boys in the world making my life super full, but I sometimes find a little time to play around with crafty things. I've recently started a blog called Cee Cee's Dreams where I keep all my fun stuff. Feel free to check it out sometime!

Here are my handmade Christmas Girt Card holders.
These are super cute and fairly easy to make. They come together pretty fast, assuming you aren't making 25 of them...

Start off with a 12"x12" piece of double sided card stock. It can be the same color on both sides or two different designs, as pictured below.
Measure to the exact middle on each side, which should be 6", and mark lightly with a pencil.

Fold in half, meeting both edges in the middle, at the marks.
Fold it again the other way, creating a scored box in the middle.
Get a sturdy bowl the size of the folded paper, about 6". I say sturdy because I tried using an old plastic bowl and my circles, unbeknown to me, were not, how you say, congruent. So this nice, thick, strong Pyrex did the trick quite nicely. Trace the bowl from one fold to the other. You're going to want to open it up, fold it the other way, and do it again so all four edges outside the middle square have half circles on them.

When all the tracing is done, open it up and cut it out, following your markings.It should look like this when you're done.
Then get the paper you want for the backing of the card and cut it to fit the middle square. Mine were just shy of 6"x6". You want to make sure that you can fold the flaps down easily, so if it catches, trim it a little.

Once you have it the right size, use some adhesive and stick it down!

Then cut a smaller box out of another piece of card stock. I've used white, I think it is a nice canvas to play on. Next you want to get creative and add ribbon. You can use any thickness or feel you like, let you creative juices flow! Measure the lengths you want and I like to add a bow.
Use a credit card or key card for the placement or the ribbon. I tape the ribbon on the back, and then add a little adhesive to either side on the front, but be sure to leave enough ribbon free so you can slide the card in and out.
Add all the other ribbon in whatever design you like. It's really a lot of fun to play and see what looks good.
Use hot glue to adhere the bow onto the ribbon.
Then you'll want to adhere the card stock onto the card.
If you like, you can add a personal note using the scraps from cutting the edges. I usually do squares, but thought I'd change it up a bit.
Place the gift card and personal message into the card.
You'll then want to fold it, one flap at a time, tucking the final flap under the previous one.

Then press it with an iron, be careful not to burn it!!

Flat as a pancake!Add a festive sticker on the back to seal it and you're done! They can be mailed like this and since they are an irregular size, will be hand canceled, so you don't have to worry about losing your contents in a machine somewhere! They do cost a bit extra to mail due to their size, but who cares! They're cute as could be!
Or you can put a bow on it and place it under the tree.
Or hand deliver it at the office or, you know, where ever.

I really like this card because it can also double as a birthday card, invitation, or announcement.

Thanks for checking it out! Happy creating and Happy Holidays!