Gift Boxes

Another post sharing some of my Christmas crafting from the last couple of years.

[  Apologies in advance for some of the bad photos. Me and my shaky hands you know :-)  ]

Allan gives his nieces and nephew a gift card for Christmas each year. I've always had a problem with just sticking a gift card in an envelope and instead have searched for ways to package the gift card in a fun way. *Val - I think you had the same thoughts when you gave you nieces and nephews their Christmas cash. I seem to remember some origami for dollar bills. You'll have to refresh my memory on all the creative ways you came up with.

One year, we enclosed it in a puzzle box that they had to solve before they could get to the card.  Another year we wrapped it with flat pieces of quartz we bought at the Renaissance Art Fair.

This year (2014) I thought it would be cool to stand the gift card up in a box fill of M & Ms and make each box a personalized keepsake that would fit for each one.

The one above is for Alexis, the youngest of the Mozingo nieces. She seems to love the bling so I did hers in bright pinks and black with a really cute monogrammed "A" I cut out of SU glitter paper with my Silhouette.

Allan graciously agreed to do all the decoupaging. So now Cricut man has earned the title of the "King of Mod Podge".

  

After multiple coats we started loading up the M & Ms and tucking in the gift cards. . .

This is Abbey's box.  Another "A" monogram with some bling and a digital patterned paper in Tiffany blue - the color of her teenage bedroom.

This is Caroline's box - done up in her high school colors with some clip art I found of the school's mascot.  That happens to be Allan's alma mater - the New Bern bears.

Next is the box we did for Kaitlyn, the oldest of the nieces.  She's now a cosmetologist.  I found a really cute clip art in some really hip colors.

And last but not least if the box for the only nephew in the bunch - John Ross.  He loves South Carolina and we just found out a few weeks ago that he was accepted there.  So his box was one that I hope will be put to good use in his dorm room next year.

Thank goodness for Pinterest and all the good ideas floating around out there.  Stay tuned for posts about what I did for 2015 and 2016. Not sure what next year will be but I'm sure I'll come up with something.!

Time to Get Ready

 

Well, now that Thanksgiving is behind us and most of the leftovers are gone, it's time to start thinking about Christmas projects.

 

Here's a cute, cute, project that Tuesday card group made last week.  They are gift card holders that used this Hot of the Press template.  Debbie said they are getting more in for the shop.  Can't wait!  Count me in for one, Deb :-)

 

They look pretty easy to do.  See how Frosty's hat lifts up to reveal the slot for the gift card?  And the cuff of the mitten moves in a similar way.  Apparently there's also a Christmas tree shape and the top of the tree lifts up.

 

Too cute!

Money Holders

Sifting through old craft projects and stumbled on these 2 money holders I made for my neice and nephew several years ago.  They were at that age when spending cash was all they really wanted but it just seemed to cold and impersonal to put cash or check in an envelope.  So I made these 2 money holders and used Jolee's Boutique sets to quickly embellish the fronts.  Really liked how they turned out. 

Hope you all have a great weekend.  I've declared it a "free" weekend - minimal chores, no obligations to anyone, just planning on floating whichever way the wind blows me :-)

See you Monday.

This Year's Gift Card Holder

One other Christmas project coming up is to get some gift card holders made. Cricut Man usually gives his nieces and nephew a gift card for Christmas. Since we've been together I've tried to do something a little crafty to deliver them in. Last year I made these little gift bags/boxes. This year I think I'm going to go back to an old pattern I used years ago. It's kind of a tri-fold holder with fold out flaps. I thought putting the gift card in the center and maybe some old pictures of them or of winter in Montana on the top and bottom flaps would be neat.

Here's some pictures of the last one I made like this (for a very special Gal Pal to thank her for her generosity :-) ).  You can see it has a band around the outside that holds it all together when it's folded up.  Until I stumbled on these pictures, I kind of forgot how cute it was.

Hope you have a good day.  Today is my Friday sort of - will be taking off work tomorrow to take care of Cricut Man.  So I'm not sure if I'll be posting tomorrow.  If not, hope you all have a great end of the week and a good weekend.

Gift Card Holders - Part 2

As I mentioned in the last post, Allan gives his neices and nephew a Visa gift card each Christmas.  I wasn't quite sure what kind of gift holder I was going to make for them this year. 

One Sunday morning while we were having breakfast at Cracker Barrell I found these little fidget toys that I thought might make a nice stocking stuffer for the kids and that it might be cute to incorporate them on a gift card holder. 

But then as time got tight and the deadline for getting things in the mail was upon me, I had to think of a Plan B.  Remembered these gift bags I made earlier in the year.  It was from this pattern for a "2-5-7-10 Box" on the Splitcoaststampers Resource page.

So I used a couple of sheets of embossed, glittered Christmas paper from a Debbie Mumm pack I bought at JoAnn's years ago and made a few more.  I tucked the fidget toy down inside with the gift card and a couple of pieces of candy.  In this picture the ribbon is still kind of long as I took the picture before I trimmed it up.  I think they turned out pretty cute. 

I have to say this pattern is really nice to have.  It takes about 5 minutes to make and is a nice little project for those times when you want just a little papercrafted something for someone special.

Gift Card Holders - Part 1

Allan always gives his neices and nephew a Visa gift card for Christmas.  So the last few years I've been making a gift card holder of some sort.  Just so much cuter than an envelope - they are kids after all.  This is a wallet style I made for them last year.  It has a magnet closer on the front flap.  Not sure if you can see in the second picture but I used my Stampin' Up slot punch on the inside to hold the card.  Can't remember where I got the inspiration/pattern for this but here's a link from  Splitcoast with some other ideas for paper wallets.  May have to try those next year.