Pick a Petal Kit

Today's kit is the Pick a Petal kit. It's the fourth of 6 set-specific by mail card kits that I'm offering this month. Each kit will feature two card designs using only the coordinating stamp set plus some accessories.

The problem I had with this kit was choosing the two designs. I've seen so many cool designs made from the images in this set, from surfboards and trees to dogs, mice and bunnies to cars and snowmen. And, of course, many, many different flowers. I decided to choose two different flower cards because I really wanted to limit the ink colors and keep the cards relatively simple so they can be stamped and/or assembled on the go this summer. Believe me, though, that these designs are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to pick a petal's possibilities, and that's without even getting into the coordinating classy brass template and chipboard assortment!

Your Pick a Petal card kit will include all pre-cut card stock, designer paper, ribbon, brads, buttons, glue dots, envelopes and step-by step instructions to make 4 cards (2 each of both designs). The kit will not include so saffron and certainly celery classic ink, adhesive (except for the glue dots) or the Pick a Petal stamp set. To make these cards you will also need paper snips or other scissors, a stamping sponge or any other type of sponge applicator and a 1/16" handheld hole punch or another way to punch the holes for the brads.

This kit will be available through the end of June at the special price of only $5.00 with the purchase of the Pick a Petal stamp set (regular shipping and tax will apply to the purchase of the stamp set). There is a limit of 1 specially priced kit per Pick a Petal stamp set purchased. The cost without the purchase of the coordinating stamp set will be $10.00 per kit, plus shipping.

As I mentioned previously, 1 design from each kit will be featured at my eScape stamp camp on June 25. The Pick a Petal card featured at the stamp camp will be the second card (with the certainly celery base).

Frames with a Flourish Kit

Today's kit is the Frames with a Flourish kit. It's the third of 6 set-specific by mail card kits that I'm offering this month. Each kit will feature two card designs using only the coordinating stamp set plus some accessories.

I have to say that I am particularly happy with how these cards came out, mostly because when you look at this set in the catalog it's difficult to see the images as anything other than label holders. Thankfully, an article in the May Stampin' Success magazine (available to all Stampin' Up! demonstrators) featured different ways to use this set and served as an inspiration for these cards. What I really like about both of these is that both cards feature only the Frames with a Flourish stamp set (no sentiments or other images) and only 1 color of ink, yet they are anything but plain and boring. It just goes to show that with the right combination of designer paper and accessories you can make fabulous cards using just about any stamp set.

The Frames with a Flourish card kit will include all pre-cut card stock, designer paper, ribbon, chipboard, glue dots and dimensionals, envelopes and step-by step instructions to make 4 cards (2 each of both designs). The kit will not include chocolate chip classic ink, adhesive (except for the glue dots and dimensionals) or the Frames with a Flourish stamp set. To make these cards you will also need paper snips or other scissors and a stamping sponge or any other type of sponge applicator.

This kit will be available through the end of June at the special price of only $5.00 with the purchase of the Frames with a Flourish stamp set (regular shipping and tax will apply to the purchase of the stamp set). There is a limit of 1 specially priced kit per Frames with a flourish stamp set purchased. The cost without the purchase of the coordinating stamp set will be $10.00 per kit, plus shipping.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, 1 design from each kit will be featured at my eScape stamp camp on June 25. The Frames with a Flourish card featured at the stamp camp will be the second card (with the groovy guava base).

I loved the set to begin with, but designing these cards made me fall in love with it even more, so I do hope these cards will convince you to add this awesome stamp set to your collection. I know you won't regret it!

Sunday Pillow Case Challege

I knew it was going to be a busy weekend for me so I cheated a little and stamped my Sunday Pillow CASE challenge card in advance this week. Sorry! Here is what the final product looks like. I wouldn't necessarily call it a finished product, because it still needs a sentiment, but I decided not to add a sentiment until had a specific use for the card, so it's as final as it's going to get for now.

The funniest thing about this card? Very little stamping. In fact, before I stamped the star from starstruck on ruby red card stock in night of navy ink, there was no stamping on the entire card! Shocking, I know!

Anyway, you will probably agree that the pillows I used as my inspiration (I think they were in the JC Penney ad, but I can't be sure) were not exactly long on details. If I wanted to stay completely faithful to the design, there would be no stamping on the card but,let me tell you, without those ruby red stars this card was bo-ring! As a stamper you have to use your creative license when it comes to these things, so I added the ruby red stars and the whole card perked up a bit. It's not a masterpiece by any stretch, but I still like it.

So what about you? Ready to start pillow CASEing yet? Just use the photo posted here or any other pillow as a jumping off point for your card design! Have fun and happy Sunday!

She's All That kit

This is the second of 6 set-specific by mail card kits that I'll be offering this month. To read general details about the kits, please read the Stitched Exotics kit post here. This is the kit for the She's All That set and it will include all pre-cut card stock, designer paper, pre-punched tags, ribbon, envelopes and step-by step instructions to make 4 cards (2 each of both designs). The kit will not include chocolate chip classic ink (either in a pad or stampin' write marker), adhesive or stamps.

This kit will be available through the end of June at the special price of $5.00 only $5.00 with the purchase of the She's All That stamp set (regular shipping and tax will apply to the purchase of the stamp set). There is a limit of 1 specially priced kit per She's All That stamp set purchased. The cost of each kit without the purchase of the coordinating stamp set will be $10.00 per kit, plus shipping.

Please note that although I used 2 of the 4 available designs from this set to feature on the sample cards, the size of the card stock in the kit you receive will allow you to use any of the 4 images for your cards.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, 1 design from each kit will be featured at my eScape stamp camp on June 25. The She's All That card featured at the stamp camp will be the second card (with the pretty in pink base).

Stitched Exotics Kit

This is the first of 6 set-specific by mail card kits that I'll be offering this month. Each kit will only use stamps from 1 set and will be limited to one or two ink colors.

Each kit will contain all materials to make 4 cards, 2 each of 2 designs. Obviously these are the two designs that will be included in the Stitched Exotics kit. This kit will include pre-cut card stock, designer paper, ribbon, brads, dimensionals, envelopes and step by step instructions. It uses pumpkin pie and old olive classic inks from either ink pads or markers, as well as the adhesive of the purchaser's choice, which are not included in the kit. For these two cards the stamper will also need paper snips or scissors and a 1/16" handheld circle punch (though, in a pinch, a push pin or the tip of your scissors could be used to punch the hole for the brad.)

Because the kit designs only use stamps from the designated set, they do not incorporate sentiments. They could easily be left blank in front and used for just about any occasion, but I also left spaces on the cards where a sentiment could be stamped.


The kits will be available through the end of June at the special price of only $5.00 with the purchase of the coordinating stamp set (regular shipping and tax will apply to the purchase of the stamp set). There is a limit of 1 specially priced kit per stamp set purchased.

In addition to the Stitched Exotics kit, I will be offering kits coordinating with the following sets:

She's All That
Live Your Dream
Pick a Petal
Frames with a Flourish
Office Accoutrement

I will be uploading photos of these kit cards over the next few days.

The cost of each kit without the purchase of the coordinating stamp set will be $10.00 per kit, plus shipping.

Also, for those of you who like to stamp a variety of cards, 1 design from each kit will be featured at my eScape stamp camp on June 25. The Stitched Exotics card featured at the stamp camp will be the second card (with the old olive base).

I hope you enjoy these cards and take advantage of this fantastic opportunity to get not only some great stamp sets, but also card kits that will let you create

Wheely Elegant Borders

I apologize for the bad photo tonight but for some reason I could not get the right angle to stop the flash from bouncing off the embossing on this card. Even with the bad photo, though, I think you can see the general idea.

This is another card we'll be stamping at the "You Spin Me 'Round" wheel techniques class June 14. For this card I used only 1 wheel (Baroque), 1 stamp set (sincere salutations), 1 ink (versamark) and 2 card stocks (naturals white and brushed silver).

The only "trick" to this card is using the wheel guide to create a wheeled border with mitered corners, so that the break in the pattern of the border is not as obvious. The card looks really elegant in real life and no one would ever guess that so few materials were used to create it! It's just another example of the versatility of the Stampin' Up! wheels.

If you'd like to learn how to stamp this and other wheeled cards come to my class on Saturday, June 14, 10:00 a.m.- noon in Itasca, IL. The cost of the class is $15.00 to make 4 different projects using various wheel techniques. I promise it will be wheely fun! Registration and payment is due on or before June 9. To register e-mail me at stampwithdiane@comcast.net or call me at 847-452-8285.

Tart 'n Tangy Set

I really love how easy it is to quickly put together a set of cards using the Tart 'n Tangy stamp set and Summer Picnic designer series paper. Here I've just taken 4 different card bases in pumpkin pie, old olive, certainly celery and real red and covered each with a mat of whisper white. I added a different piece of designer paper to cover approximately 2/3 of each white mat, wrapping some wide grosgrain ribbon or striped grosgrain ribbon around the designer paper before I adhered it down to the whisper white. I used my stampin' write markers to color each image, stamped them on whisper white card stock, dipped the whole thing in versamark ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder, and then punched each image with my 1 1/4" circle punch. I added a coordinated color 1 3/8" circle mat to each image and finished it off with a coordinating scalloped circle mat. I then punched a hole in each scallop with my 1/16" circle punch and attached the image to the card.

I didn't add sentiments to these cards because this set was a prize and I wanted the prize winner to be able to select the sentiments of her choice, so I just punched a few large oval mats in coordinating colors, stamped a few sentiments in coordinating color classic inks on whisper white card stock and punched them out with the small oval punch so that the recipient could mix and match her mats and sentiments.

If you like this stamp set and designer paper but don't own them yet, your time to purchase them is quickly running out. They're both from the occasions mini which will be going away after June 30. So if you want to make cute and quick gift sets like this one contact me to place your order ASAP.

wheely scrappy!

This was a fun card to put together! Very quick and very easy and, best of all, a great way to use up some scraps! And it uses one of my all-time favorite, most reliable color combinations.

I started with some 1x4" strip of card stock in certainly celery, so saffron, and tempting turquoise. I wheeled all three of them using he watercolor wheel and versamark ink, and then arranged them in a row on a left side of a naturals white card base.

Next I used my regal rose, so safron and certainly celery markers to ink up the flowers from the Close as a Memory set, stamped the flowers on naturals white cards tock and punched them out using the 1 1/4" circle punch. I added a 1 3/8" circle mat of tempting turquoise and a scalloped circle mat of regal rose, and added the medallion to the front of the card. Finally I stamped the sentiment form Much Appreciated in the lower right hadn corner with tempting turquoise ink and I was done.

Like I said, quick and easy, and wheely scrappy too!

Sunday Pillow CASE Challenge

Another Sunday, another pillow to serve as a card inspiration. I saw this particular design in a Bed Bath & Beyond brochure a few weeks ago and thought it would be perfect for the From the Garden level 1 hostess set. I know the flower is not an exact match, but by using similar colors I think I achieved the look and feel of the pillow. Check out the second photo and judge for yourself.

To make the card I first stamped the image in so saffron on whisper white card stock and colored just the flower with always artichoke, old olive, barely banana and so saffron stampin' write markers ans so saffron classic ink with a blender pen for the outer edges of the petals. I then cut out the flower using my paper snips.

I stamped the flower again on whisper white card stock, this time in basic brown ink. I colored the leaves using always artichoke and old olive stampin' write markers. I trimmed the image to 3.5x4.75 inches, making sure when I added the flower overlay it would still fit within the parameters of a standard size card front. I then taped the main image to the center of a so saffron card front and attached the flower over the main image using dimensionals. As a final touch, to mimic the two vertical stripes on the pillow, I added two pieces of always artichoke narrow grosgrain ribbon.

Now it's your turn. Stamp a card using this pillow for inspiration or find another pillow to use as your jumping off point. When you make your card post a link to your creation here or e-mail me a photo of the card and the inspiration (if you're using another pillow) to stampwithdiane@comcast.net and I will be happy to post your card here. Have a great Sunday!

It's beautiful in pink

Here's a wheeled vision in pink. I wheeled the It's Beautiful jumbo wheel in rose red ink on a strip of pretty in pink card stock. I know it's hard to see in the photo, but I paper pierced along some of the stamped dots, which creates a nice texture in person. I added some whisper white taffeta ribbon and mats of rose red and whisper white, then mounted the completed strip on a regal rose base.

I stamped the sentiment from All holidays on whisper white card stock in Rose Red and i stamped the soft dotted swirl from the Stitched exotics set along the edges in pretty in pink ink. I punched the corners with my ticket corner punch and mounted the sentiment on a mat of rose red card stock. I then used my paper piercing mat to pierce the edges and corner of the mat and added the sentiment to the card front.

wheeled gift bag

Here's another project I'm considering for the wheel class - a gift bag with coordinating gift tag and tissue stamped entirely using one wheel and one sentiment stamp. It's amazing how quick and easy it is to put this project together, and it truly is one of the most useful things I have every learned to stamp.

Best of all, this project actually serves a dual purpose since wheeling tissue paper is a fabulous way to practice using the wheels. Most of the time we crumple up tissue anyway, so it doesn't matter if the wheeling isn't perfect. And after a few runs across tissue paper most stampers get the feel for the wheel and are much more comfortable wheeling on card stock.

I'm still working on a few other potential projects before I narrow down what will and will not be featured at the class. Hopefully you'll see another wheeled project tomorrow.

Mixed Media

Remember last week's pillow CASE challenge? Today's card is not so much a CASE as an inspiration. I really had no intention of stamping another card based on that lovely bedding ensemble, but as I was cleaning my craft center today I found some pictures that I took a couple of years ago intending to incorporate them into cards. Well, I obviously didn't make the cards two years ago, but looking at this photo made me think of last Sunday's card and I knew I would have to make another.

Because the main image is a photograph, it was a really simple card. first I stamped the green galore card base with a stamp from Boho Backgrounds in craft white ink. Then I added a whisper white and pretty in pink mats to the photo and attached the whole thing to the card front. Last I stamped the sentiment from All Holidays in pretty in pink on whisper white card stock, punched it out with a small oval punch, added a large oval pretty in pink mat and attached it to the card front.

Super simple and a bit unusual for me, but sometimes it's good to mix things up!

Another gift certificate holder

Tonight I had a play date with my friend Barb -- we went to see Baby Mama and then went out for ice cream at Uncle Harry's (the best ice cream parlor in the world!) The movie was great -- very funny but also poignant. The perfect movie to see with a girlfriend. It was perfect to see it with Barb because neither of our husbands wanted anything to do with this type of movie, so we had a fun girls' night out. We decided we needed to do this more often so we made plans to see "You don't mess with the Zohan" when that comes out. Barb's sister will come out with us for that one too, so we'll have a great time. Can't wait!



Anyway, I didn't have time to stamp or photograph my new stuff tonight, so I'm reaching into my projects from earlier in the month that I never had a chance to upload. This was another gift certificate holder. I used Groovy Guava for the base and ginger blossom paper to decorate the certificate holder. The title was stamped with Wonderful Favorites. The rest of the stamping was done with the Embrace Life set. This time I decided to go with a belly band closure. I made the belly band out of a crimped piece of ginger blossom paper with the flower form Embrace Life added to cover the seam. I also added a strip of the same crimped paper to the front of the certificate holder so that when the belly band is on the holder looks like a package wrapped in ribbon. I though it turned out very pretty, so I'll be using this idea again in the future!

Wheeled neighborhood

I spent a lot of time today bonding with my wheels to design cards for my June "You Spin Me 'Round" wheel class. The trouble is that I'm having a hard time narrowing down the projects and techniques I want to teach in the class, so I'm still not sure if this card will make the final class project cut. But I do like it, so I wanted to share it with you tonight.

This card uses one of the most basic wheel techniques -- wheeling an outline image and coloring it for use as a main focal point on a card. Some other wheels that would work well with this technique are Matey's Map Jumbo Wheel, any of the Dilly Dally Jumbo Wheels, Blooms and Bulbs, Tailgating and Time for a Tree.

I started the card by wheeling the Neighborhood jumbo wheel in basic black ink on a piece of 2x5.5" confetti white card stock. I then colored the image using stampin' write markers in various colors.

I liked the multi-color image, but wanted to add dimension without loading the card up with accessories, so I used more confetti white card stock to wheel a couple of the houses again. I colored them in the same colors as the main image, cut them out using my paper snips and attached them to the card front with dimensionals. You can sort of see this a bit better in this close-up. In person this little detail really adds a nice touch.

I added a mat of always artichoke card stock to the image strip and used my paper piercing tool and template to pierce the always artichoke card stock below and above the image. I attached the ready strip to the more mustard card base and stamped the "Welcome" sentiment from the Warm Words set in basic black ink.

And that's it for my simple wheeled card. Hope you liked it as much as I do!

Card Organizer Tin

Tonight I want to show you the cute card organizer tin we'll be making at the June 21st morning class. We'll be using cutie pie designer paper, Taffy and Rough Edges alphabet stamps, and lots of brads and ribbons to decorate the lunchbox tins and make 12 dividers. At the end of the class you will have a great box to keep all your cards and envelopes for different occasions as they come up, month by month.

Or, if you prefer, you could title the dividers differently and organize your cards by occasion types. Or you could forget about cards altogether and turn this into a recipe tin or something else altogether -- the only limit is your imagination.

Make one of these for yourself or make one for a friend and fill it with cards for a truly unique gift.

This is what the tin will look like on the inside, complete with a pen holder and a pocket in the lid for stamps and return address labels. In addition, there will be a printed table attached to every divider to write in the date, occasions, name of the card recipient and a description of the card (to make sure you never give anyone the same card twice, of course). I will also provide an electronic file with the template for the table so you'll be able to print off as many as you need for years to come.

This class will take place in Itasca on Saturday, June 21, 2008, 10 a.m. - noon. Registration and class fee of $20 will be due on or before June 10. The class will be limited to 10 students. Space permitting after June 8, club members will be able to choose this as their June class and attend at a reduced fee of $5.00.

If you would like to complete this project but cannot make it to class, the class kit will be available by mail. The cost will be $20 plus shipping. Shipping via USPS priority mail and is $9.80 for one or two kits shipped to the same address or $12.90 for 3 kits shipped to the same address. The class kit will include the tin and all materials necessary to make the project, including a stamped caption of your choice, except for adhesive (I recommend sticky strip), stamps and ink to stamp the dividers. Orders must be placed by June 10 and all kits will be shipped on June 23.

To register and make payment arrangements e-mail me at stampwithdiane@comcast.net or call me at 847-452-8285. I accept cash, check, visa, master card, discover or paypal.

Another gift card tutorial

Sometimes I get on a roll and I just can't stop working with a certain stamp set or layout or color combination. This week I can't seem to stop working on different gift/cash holder cards. So today I'm uploading yet another gift card holder tutorial and this one is very similar to the tutorial from Saturday, except that it's a bit more detailed and it shows you how to make this style of card in the standard A2 (4.25x5.5") format.

I started with an 8.5x5.5" piece of close to cocoa card stock and scored it at 4.25, 6, and 7.75". Then I bent the card stock along the fold lines into a modified "w" so that it looked like this photo.

Next I took a piece of pretty in pink card stock cut to 4.25x5.5 and added a couple of pieces of sticky strip along one edge. I also added three pieces of sticky strip along the edge of the short flap on my close to cocoa "W". Using sticky strip here may have been a bit overkill and SNAIL might have done very well, but I wanted to make sure that these two pieces will never separate, and since there might be some extra stress on the pink piece which will functions as a card front, I thought better safe than sorry.

Before I attached the pretty in pink piece to the rest of the card base, I added some pretty in pink gingham ribbons (faux knot, of course!) to the 3/4" flap.
This is what the card base looked like after I peeled off the red protective tape and adhered the pretty in pink card stock to the close to cocoa card base.

Next I needed to punch the gift card holder along the center fold. To do this I punched a horizontal half of a word window shape with my word window punch as shown in this photo.
I then moved the word window punch over and punched another half word window shape, as shown in this photo.


I then used the 3/4" punch to punch a semi-circle between the two word window shapes. Please note that this is a smaller circle punch than the one I used on my last card. The reason for this is that due to the different size of this card, the gift card pocket is not as "deep" so the semicircle does not serve as much of a practical as a decorative purpose. Since it is mostly decorative, it can be a little smaller.

After I was done punching, I added a few pieces of sticky strip on the back of the card front as shown in this photo, peeled the red tape off and folded the center together to form the gift card pocket. I also added a strip of Berry Bliss designer paper to the card front.

I continued to decorate the card front by punching a large oval from the pretty in pink section of the front. I took a piece of whisper white card stock and stamped the "you Look Fabulous sentiment in chocolate chip ink. I punched the sentiment out using the small oval punch and sponged the edges with pretty in pink ink. I then used a dimensional and adhered the sentiment to the back of the base centered in the large oval hole punched in the card front.

Because I wanted this card to really resemble a regular card, I took a couple of pieces of sticky strip and attached the gift card pocket to the back of the card base.

Then it was time to finish the card front decoration. I stamped the pregnant gal image from the "She's All That" set on a piece of whisper white card stock in chocolate chip ink and sponged the edges of the card stock with pretty in pink ink. I centered the stamped image on a piece of close to cocoa card stock and attached the matted image to the card front. I then took two close to cocoa square buttons from the neutrals buttons assortment, threaded them with linen thread so that the knots were in the back of the buttons and attached the buttons to the card front with mini glue dots.

And here is what the finished card front looks like. I think it's so cute! I like the inside too, of course. the gift card pocket works well for gift cards, checks or cash! And the best part is that it's a standard card size, so no special envelopes are required. Woo hoo!

Hope you liked this tutorial. It may be the last of the gift card holders. Then again, you never know. Another inspiration may strike tomorrow!

Pillow CASE Sunday Challenge

ETA: Well, here it is. This Sunday's Pillow CASE card. Actually, if you look at the inspiration ensemble (second photo), I actually kind of CASEd 2 pillows. The green and white striped pattern in the background is from one set of shams and, of course, the flowery pattern is form the other shams.

Just for a little more contract I added some Rose red mats and some regal rose wide grosgrain ribbon. The sentiment from Amazing to Zany is stamped on whisper white in rose red and punched out with the 1 inch circle punch, which is layered on a large oval punched out of pretty in pink and a designer label punched out of rose red. I stamped the main image on whisper white with chocolate chip and regal rose markers (using the direct to stamp technique) and colored everything in using rose red, regal rose, pretty in pink and gable green stampin' write markers. The card base is also gable green.

I love the card as much as I loved the inspiration bedding ensemble and i really loved being able to achieve this look so easily with my stampin' write markers. If you want your very own set of markers in the awesome carrying caddy join my marker club! Check out the details here or contact me for more information.

They say the definition of being crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, so I guess I have to be a little bit crazy to keep posting a Sunday challenge when no one else besides me wants to play along, right?

Well, either I'm crazy or I learned how to play well by myself growing up without any siblings or a little bit of both, but I'm having too much fun with these challenges and I found way too many cool pillows to inspire me to stop now. So here's the bedding ensemble that I will use as my inspiration for this week's card. Watch this post for a new upload tomorrow!

Gift Card Holder Tutorial

I am absolutely loving my She's All That set! What a fabulous addition to my stamp stash this set has turned out to be. I'm just crossing all my fingers and toes that this set makes it into the fall winter catalog, because I do not want to stop using it at the end of June!

The birthday cake girl was really perfect for this gift card holder. I simply stamped her in versamark on regal rose card stock and embossed her with white embossing powder. I did the same thing with the sentiment and punched it out with the small oval punch. (As you can probably guess, I custom mounted this set so that the sentiments are separate from the images, making this type of card a lot easier to stamp.)

I added a tempting turquoise mat to the image and the sentiment and used SNAIL to adhere both to a 5 3/4 x 2 3/4" piece of Flowers for You designer paper (if you like this paper and the colors in it as much as I do you will want to get it before August -- this designer paper coordiantes with this year's Ronald McDonald set, so it's pretty certain to retire at the end of this catalog). I then used my Crop-A-Dial to punch two 1/8" holes and threaded some tempting turquoise narrow grosgrain through the holes to create a faux bow. I then set the fully assembled piece aside to make the card base.

For the base I used an 11 x 6" piece of Lovely Lilac card stock, scored along the 11" side at 3, 5.5 and 8 inches. I then folded the base along the score lines so that it looked like the letter W.

I then used my word window punch to punch along the center fold. You want to punch exactly 1/2 of the word window width and approximately 2 lengths. The center of the fold doesn't look too great a t this point, but it is easily fixed by punching a half circle with the 1" circle punch. At the end of all the punching your card should look like this photo.

At this point you will want to open the card and apply sticky strip in the back of the card stock as shown in this photo. Peel the red tape and fond the card again to finish your card base.

As a final step before adding the decorated card front, take a piece of narrow grosgrain ribbon and cut a long enough piece to enable you to tie the ends into a bow. Secure the ribbon to the front of the card base with a couple of pieces of sticky strip, as shown in this photo. If desired, you can secure the ribbon to the back of the card base with SNAIL, or you can leave it loose. (By the way, the binder clip is only nn this picture to serve as an extra set of hands while I'm taking the photo -- you don't need it to make your card)

Then you just need to SNAIL the pre-decorated card front to the front of the base and your gift card holder is done. After you insert your gift card into the center fold you can tie a bow to keep the gift card holder closed.

As with the money holder I showed you yesterday, this gift card holder is sized perfectly to fit into the small open end envelopes. Pretty nifty, if I do say so myself.

Another Money Holder

This is yet another card we made at Wednesday's money/gift card holder class. I like the way this one turned out because it's relatively simple and can be used for so many occasions. It's a scaled down version of the gift certificate holder I posted recently, except that this card is sized pretty precisely to hold US $ bills and to fit into the Stampin' Up! small open end envelopes.

The construction is pretty basic. Start with a 6 5/8x7 3/8" brilliant blue base scored along the longer edge at 2 1/4 and 5 3/8 inches to create two overlapping flaps. Take a piece of 2 x 6.25 inch yo yo yellow card stock, tie a piece of pumpkin pie striped ribbon around it (or, if you're like me and can't tie a decent know without cheating, use the Waxyo cheater knot) and attach it to the outside of the top flap (the flap that's 2.25" wide). Stamp the large star from the classic backgrounds set with brilliant blue ink on whisper white card stock. Use the small star punch to punch out the center, then use the large star punch to punch out the star. Punch another large star from pumpkin pie card stock and attach the outline star directly over the pumpkin pie star. Stamp another brilliant blue star on whisper white cards stock and punch it out with the small star punch. Stamp the sentiment of your choice (I used the congratulations stamp from the Birthday Hugs and Wishes set) in brilliant blue and attach the stars with dimensionals.

On the underside of the top flap attach a piece of 2 x 6.25 inch whisper white card stock with one large star stamped in brilliant blue and layer a small star punched out of pumpkin pie card stock in the center. Leave the rest of the panel blank to write in your message to the card recipient.

Take a piece of 1.75 x 6.25 inch pumpkin pie card stock and punch 2 tabs with a slit punch. This piece is sized so that you should be able to insert the slit punch all the way in and the tabs will be perfectly positioned to hold down the top card flap. Stamp the pumpkin pie card stock with the small stars from the classic backgrounds set and center it on the outside of the bottom panel so that it's visible when the panel is flipped up.

Now comes the hardest part of the card. You need to secure the flap up and to make sure that the adhesive you use is strong but narrow. You could use a line of Tombow mono-multi, but I prefer sticky strip. The only problem is that sticky strip is too wide for this application, so I actually split my length of sticky strip in half so that each side was only 1/8" wide. Sticky strip is plenty strong even at 1/2 its width and this way there is plenty of room to insert the cash with a little wiggle room and no worries about the money sticking to glue that may have leaked out from the seam.

Gift Card Holder

To everyone who subscribes to my blog updates via e-mail -- my apologies. I've been having horrible problems with my PC for a few months now and today the crashes just kept coming and coming relentlessly. Finally I gave up and came to work on my lap top, but the photo editing software I have installed here is awful -- it takes two programs to do what I can do in one on my PC, which means at least twice as much time, which means I missed my midnight feedblitz deadline. Sorry!

To everyone else, never mind.

This was another card we made at Wednesday's gift card/money holder class. The front of the card may look familiar. That's because I CASEd it shamelessly from a card I made at Glenda's stamp camp a couple of months ago. I liked it so much I saw no need to reinvent the wheel and used the exact design except for the card orientation. I needed the card orientation to be horizontal instead of vertical for the gift card holder inside to work. Anyway, since I already talked about pretty much this very same card earlier, I'll just move right on to the inside.


And the inside is so easy! All you need is a piece of 3.75" x 5" card stock (in this case whisper white). This is the perfect size to allow you to punch two tabs by inserting the slit punch all the way in on each of the sides, leaving just enough room between to slip in a gift card (as shown in the photo). To pretty this up a bit, I stamped the edges with the three flower stamp form the Live Your Dream set. But basically that's it. Make two tabs and snail the card stock inside your standard size card. Pretty cool, huh?