Sweet, Vintage Christmas Gift Card Holder

Howdy my paper peeps!  I've been busy.  Busy like a little bee {smile}.  But, I did want to take a moment and share a new craft I am working on.  It's a gift card holder.  And I make a lot of these.  So the idea, or template that I use isn't 'new', but the holder is.  {smile}

I make many of these for the holiday craft fairs.  They are super sweet, and super easy to use during the busy holiday season.  They make perfect stocking stuffers, sweet little additions to gift bags, and boxes, great teacher gifts, or hostess gifts.  Purchase a gift card to your recipient's favorite store, and simply tuck it inside to a wonderfully beautiful holder.  Easy peasy!

I love adding machine stitching, it is so sweet, and home-y.  The round tag is hand-stamped with 'Merry Christmas'.  Simple and sweet.  And here is the inside:

The sentiment on the inside is always heat embossed.  I believe the raised lettering is a very elegant touch.  I tucked a gift card inside, from one of my favorite shops for the photo shoot.  I defaced their logo for legal reasons.  But, we all know I have a deep love for them.  {smile}  There is room on the panel where the gift card sits, to write a personal message for the recipient, too.  

Oh yeah, the pattern paper is from Tilda.  The card stock is a very old retired card stock from Stampin' Up! (bordering blue).  I used a very retired stamp set by Stampin' Up! to stamp the tag: Fancy Flexible Phrases in brocade blue classic ink.  And finally, for the inside, I used a stamp set  from Paper trey Ink: season's greetings.  I tuck the finished gift card holder in a clear cello bag, with a bag topper, so whoever purchases one of my gift card holders, the holder stays fresh and untouched.  {smile}

Thank you for stopping by.  I hope all is well, where you are.  I'm off to finish several more. {smile}

Happy Owl

Hello!  I want to welcome my new followers: welcome, please have a look around, and I hope you find something pretty and inspiring {smile}.  And I hope I am inspiring my seasoned followers.  {smile}.  My style has changed over these last few years.  I have really embraced the shabby-chic, country-glamour 'look' of paper crafting.  I just love machine stitching, seam binding, buttons, bows, and polka dots!  But, in my craft endeavors I have learned that sometimes you need to step out of your comfort zone, and spread your wings.  {smile}

Teresa Collins creates some very glamorous pattern paper lines.  And I have to say, that I was really drawn to the Stationary Noted pattern paper collection.  This line is crisp and simple.  Blues, grays, with bits of red, library pockets, simple sayings, and elementary designs.  I'm not knocking this line, but rather elevating the simple beauty of it.

I used a sketch from the wonderful sketch challenge site, Cardabilities.  Typically the sketch designs are beautifully simple.  So you can either embellish your heart out, or keep it minimalist.  And then everywhere in-between.  How wonderful is that?  Here is the current sketch challenge:

I used my Stationary Noted pattern paper, and made a more modern, clean lines card.  There isn't any machine stitching.  No seam binding.  No buttons.  But, I am really happy with how it turned out. {smile}

Recipe:  the card base is made with Bordering Blue card stock.  Retired from Stampin' Up!.  The blue is kinda dusty, soft, mute color.

The blue and white flourish pattern paper is the type writer paper reverse side.  I matted the typewriter paper onto true black by paper trey ink.  It has a clean black color.  

The ledger-owl piece is actually a cut out from another pattern paper from this collection.  I matted this piece onto a scrap piece of bordering blue card stock, just to tie everything together.  The red houndstooth paper was added to help highlight the red label piece.  This red houndstooth pattern paper has rulers on the reverse size, and is also from Teresa Collins, but another collection.  

I added a coordinating brad, and a chipboard sentiment.  I love the bike and sentiment.  It reminds me of a wedding, or anniversary.  

I added my own black bakers twine.  I tied a bow first, and then looped the long tails through the brad's legs.

I love the open label piece on the pocket card piece.  You could stamp a date, or a word, or small sentiment inside.  Or simply leave it blank.  It doesn't look like it's floating, or that its incomplete. 

I hope I have inspired you to craft something using the sketch from Cardabilities.  And use a style of pattern paper that is different from what you typically use, and spread your creative wings {smile}!

Garden Gate for CTD #89, and JAI #14

Since time is precious, I have created one card for two different challenges. (Time management, is a wonderful thing.) Color Throw Down #89 : Almost Amethyst, Sage Shadow, Bordering Blue. Just Add Ink #14 : Just Add Vintage. I especially love how these soft, delicate colors work so well together. I have started experimenting with shabby chic style, and adding vintage seems easy today.

My card base is a bordering blue panel. I inked the background stamp first with VersaMark ink, and then added some Bashful Blue classic ink randomly onto the background stamp, and then stamped my background. While the card stock was on the background stamp, I 'walked' my fingers on the card stock, so the stamp would randomly 'stamp' the card stock, giving the card base a weathered look. The 'Garden Gate' panel, is actually a tag. I matted that with a scrap piece of sage shadow and sponged some close to cocoa ink along the edges. I wanted to add some accent to the flower centers, but couldn't think of something 'flat'. So, I adhered some yellow seed beads to 5 of the flower centers. I ran a scrap piece of almost amethyst card stock through my big shot inside an embossing folder to give the paper some texture. I inked the embossed areas with almost amethyst ink, and then sponged some close to cocoa ink along the edges. For my 'its time to Bloom' tag, I stamped the words in Very Vanilla craft ink onto a scrap of water color paper, and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I took some sage shadow ink and did a bit of resist technique on it. I them edged the tag and the scallop oval with close to cocoa ink. I sponged a little Sahara Sand classic ink on the very vanilla satin ribbon, to help cut down on its sheen. The green flower I had in my stash, so I sponged a little close to cocoa ink on it.

Thank you for looking, and I hope you take a moment to browse some of my other posts. Also don't forget to post a comment about the new colors for Stampin' Up!

diva Coffee Break Design Color Challenge #155

I wanted to submit this card for the challenge, but I was too late. When I went to upload my card, I had missed the deadline by mere hours yesterday. But, I liked the finished product so much, I thought what the heck, I'll share with my followers and anyone else who stumbles onto my blog. Diva Coffee Break Designs have a rule that most/all products used in submissions must be Stampin' Up! I used Barely Banana and Bordering Blue card stock, Bella Birds DSP, Eastern Influences stamp set, stamped in Basic Brown classic ink, and used the watercolor pencils to shade the image. I added some Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the flowers - don't know if you can tell by my photography skills.