Easy-Peasy Gift Card Holders

‘Tis the season to give gifts … and gift cards.

I couldn’t stop making these fast and easy gift card holders from Lawn Fawn. So easy to make using this great Small Stitched Envelope die.

Take a look:

The set also comes with the label (which makes a very cute tiny note card or gift tag), three word dies and some hearts!)

Here’s the inside:

You just die cut, fold, glue and decorate. Easy-peasy!

I have another adorable mini-tote die-based project, also from Lawn Fawn, so stay tuned.

(*This die was provided to me by Lawn Fawn for a magazine project.)

Make Your Own Coloring Cards

Here’s a belated Fabulous Finds Friday…

It’s no secret that coloring books are hot, hot, hot!

And what stamper doesn’t love to color? So putting them together is a natural fit. Luckily, there are plenty of stamps that make it  easy to create coloring cards — a perfect gift for all ages. I recently made a gift packet for a 10-year-old girl and it was such a fast and easy project — just stamping the images with water resistant black ink (I alternated between  VersaFine Onyx Black and StazOn Jet Black, both from Imagine Crafts) and mounting the images to fold-over cards (I used 4-Bar note cards.)

Here are a few:

I found some great images from Dare2BArtzy and Hampton Art Stamps (check out the Color Me collection by Angela Porter!) There are many others out there.

As you can see in this photo, you can use a variety of coloring tools…

For my gift, I bundled a bunch of (uncolored!) cards, coordinating envelopes (with a single image stamped on the front) and a pack of colored pencils. I’m going to get several sets ready for Christmas! This is also a great travel gift, especially if you include a few postage stamps.

Thanks for stopping by … now go color something!

Upcycled Greeting Cards

I love re-purposing paper items (okay, let’s be real… I love repurposing almost anything…) so having some gorgeous Cavalleni calendars as well as some Cavalleni wrapping paper to play with was absolutely thrilling.

Using old calendars and some discontinued purple card stock I bought on sale at the Paper Source, I made several gift sets. Here’s a batch:

I cut my card stock to a folded 3 1/2 x 4 7/8 inch card (4 Bar size) because I felt the smaller size fit the “mail art” look I was going for. Plus I could use just bits and pieces of the images. (The envelopes are also from Paper Source.)

To make the cards (and matching envelopes) I cut out images from the papers and calendars and glued them to my cards and envelopes. (Cutting out images is a great activity to do while watching TV or talking on the phone). I put the cut out images in a box and then rummaged through this “stash” when I was ready to create.

I also made some envelopes and/or envelope liners using Paper Source templates. If you love making your own stationery sets, these templates are great tools.  (OK, the purple is not quite my cup of tea, but I got it on clearance!)

I also made a cute little portfolio (using a pattern created by the manager of the Las Vegas Paper Source store! Thanks Melissa!).

I now have a nice stash of stationery to use myself or to give as gifts at the holidays. (Or maybe to bring as a hostess gift instead of a box of candy???)

Here’s a set made from a piece of wrapping paper:

(The tiny teapots are made using a punch and are the perfect addition to the envelope front.)

What have you recycled today?

Thanks for coming by!

Boxed In

As we know, I love boxes and I love this box die from Lifestyle Crafts (now owned by We R Memory Keepers).

The wood-look papers are from Kaisercraft, the rosettes were cut using a Tim Holtz/Sizzix die.

The papers here are from Basic Grey.

These were so fast and easy to make — I used them as gifts for my co-workers.

That was a quick posting, eh? Have a great week.

Fabulous Finds Friday — Easy Stamping!

I found the perfect way to entice my non-crafty friends into stamping! Hero Arts has a new line called Add Your Message. This might not sound very exciting to all you experienced stampers, but to me, this line is the perfect way to show non-stamping friends how easy and satisfying it is to use a rubber stamp. Talk about enabling!

Check it out:

These pre-printed sets include 12 colorful cards, envelopes and four wood mounted sentiment stamps. How easy can it get? Besides the butterflies above and the Paris set below, designs include flowers, stripes and more.

Hero Arts has some other great new products, including Frame Cuts — cutting dies made by Sizzix to coordinate with Hero Arts images. What I love about these sets is that the dies are labeled so you know exactly which stamps match the shapes.

There are also more Stamp & Emboss sets, more die/stamp combos and new Mid-Tone Shadow inks that are a touch brighter than the existing Shadow Inks. I’ll share more later, when I’ve had a chance to test out these products.

Thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Packaging

Everyone is busy making holiday cards (uh….I better get right on that) but lately I’ve been obsessed with recycling empty boxes to make gift bags.

It all started when the wrapping fell off this box of matzoh (a dry cracker-like thing eaten during Passover. An acquired taste. And YES, this box is from Passover, which was in April. Yes, it has been sitting in my studio since then. Hidden from my husband. Don’t judge me, grin.)

Well, as you can see, underneath is a plain, perfectly shaped box, just BEGGING to be decorated:

Really, how could I just toss it away? And since we eat a lot of matzoh during Passover, I had a lot of boxes. Here are some of the results:

(Covered with an old Cavallini calendar from Paper Source). Here is the other side of the box:

I punched holes in two sides and threaded ribbon as a handles.

Still in bird mode, I also used an old calendar for this one:

The next box uses green gift wrap paper. I tore huge chuncks of the paper and glued it, collage style, all over the box.

The NOEL lettering is from a Brenda Walton Chipbox collection (by K&Company).

I have a few more to post later. (I told you I became obsessed with these!)

Thanks for coming by! What have you recylced lately?

Fabulous Finds Friday, Random Cards and a holiday idea

Gearing up for the holidays (and trying to cull through my paper stash) I decided to make some easy gift sets. These are great for teacher gifts, hostess gifts, or just a little somethin’ somethin’ for a friend. They are so fast and so satisfying to make! So here’s my Fabulous Finds Friday idea — pretty paper, easy gifts.

Enjoy:

Look at that fun paper! This is scrapbook paper from **Close To My Heart (see note below) that I was not going to use in a scrapbook. I love the bold, graphic look. I simply cut up the 12×12 sheet, distressed the edges and mounted on cream card stock. This will be perfect for my writing friends!

Next, I found some origami paper — another quick card set:

Here’s a close-up:

I packaged them in a sushi take-out tray.

Not terribly exciting, but fast and easy. Perfect for a day when the mojo isn’t mojo-ing.

Thanks for coming by!

***Editing Note: I made a mistake in my original post, now corrected here. This gorgeous typographic paper is from Close To My Heart. Mea Culpa.