Inspire Me Monday: Decorated Gift Card Holders

Hi there! Elizabeth Zaffarano here, and welcome to another edition of Inspire Me Monday!

Today I wanted to share how to make some simply-constructed--but still quite decorative-- gift card holders.   I first learned how to make these while on a cruise this past summer!   Onboard the ship, we just used solid and printed construction paper, but these are wonderful “blank canvasses” for decorating with your favorite Power Poppy images! We’ve just entered the season for family gatherings and gift exchanges, so I figured now would be a good time to get practical yet creative with the paper crafting!

Let's get started by making the card-holder bases.  I was excited to learn  that one 8 1/2 x 11” piece of card stock will make the bases for TWO card holders!

Start by cutting your paper 4 1/2” by 11”, so if you’re working with 8 1/2 x 11, just cut it in half lengthwise.

Widthwise, score at 3” and 7”. 

Turn the paper lengthwise and score at 1 1/4”

At the panel on the right, make a vertical cut just to the right of the score line.

Then trim the rest of the paper from left to right, along the score line, and stop at that vertical cut line.  

The paper you cut away can be used for the belly band that holds the gift card holder together.  The flap that remains attached to the larger piece will be folded up and secured to hold the gift card. Set the base aside for now. 

Now here’s the fun part, time to decorate!

You can use bits of coloring that didn’t quite make it to a finished project, stuff from the #thedailymarker30day coloring challenges, or stamping trial runs.  Of course you can color up something specifically for decorating your card holders, but sometimes, just experimenting with no specific purpose in mind is very freeing. 

Since it's November, I wanted a Fall theme, and I reached for the Chrysanthemum XL stamp set.  I loved the chrysanthemums in the bouquet from the Autumn's Opulence digital stamp, and was delighted that Marcella decided to go big with a clear stamp, because that meant plenty of space for coloring! 

I stamped and gold heat-embossed several of the chrysanthemums onto Bristol card stock, because I planned to use watercolor markers in reds, oranges and yellows to color my flowers. I have the most amazing flaming floral yuzen paper in my stash, and this was my inspiration. Here in Southern California, we don’t get the blazing fall-forest vistas that I remember from growing up on the east coast, so anytime I can bring out that autumnal glow, I’ll go for it.

I started coloring the background with Scarlet and Orange Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers, but realized that my Scarlet Red marker was getting dry.  So changing gears, I sketched out the general dimensions of the panels I’d use to decorate the gift card holder, and concentrated my coloring there.

When coloring with watercolor markers, I like to draw with the markers and then use a water brush to move the color around. For the petals of the chrysanthemum, I used Flesh Color, Lemon Yellow, Yellow and Bright Yellow. I also painted some metallic watercolor on a few petals for extra shine. To add the darker red patterning, I used a stencil and colored in the openings with the Scarlet marker.

After my coloring had dried, I cut three 3 3/4” x 2 3/4” panels and two 2 3/4” x 2 3/4” panels from scratch paper, and used these to trace which areas would become the decorative panels on my card holder.  After cutting the panels out, I ran the edges across a Delicata gold ink pad for a finishing touch.

I cut my card-holder base from olive-colored card stock.  It was scored, cut and folded, following the instructions above.  I decorated the inside with Distress Oxide stamped leaves from the Chrysanthemum XL set.

Before assembling, I wanted to add a few sentiments to my chrysanthemum panels. Of course, you don’t have to add this many sentiments, or any sentiments at all, but I was pleased to discover how nicely these fit—with the theme AND in the space.  I used sentiments from Dahlia XL, Olive and Oak Expanded, and Poppies.

Assembly time! After arranging the panels on my work surface, I discovered that one of my rectangles was too skinny! Easy fix: trim the panel that would go next to it to match.  I'm sure the recipient won’t notice (fingers crossed!).

I adhered the panels to the base with tape runner.  For the pocket that holds the gift card, I used a very thin line of Super Tape (very strong double-sided tape) just on the right edge, and I decorated that part with a small piece of the original yuzen paper.  I also used a corner rounder on the upper left corner of the pocket.

Next, I inserted a gift card into that pocket, and then folded the gift card holder closed.  Then I took the smaller “belly band” piece and wrapped it around the assembled card holder.  I made a note of where to add strong adhesive (red line tape again).  If you assemble the belly band before this, you may find that it will be too tight to slide. Before assembling the belly band, was decorated with a strip of yuzen paper. 

That deep olive card stock just makes the oranges and golds of the chrysanthemums glow. I think this gift card holder might be more exciting than what's inside!

Of course, you can use scraps and leftovers to decorate your gift card holders as well! In the next example—I very quickly put this indigo, blue and white project together, using a piece from my experiments with rozome/batik effect techniques and the Bee Kind Toile stamp set. 

 My leftover piece was only 8 1/2" by 5 1/2", so I needed to make adjustments.  

I cut the decorative panels 1/2” smaller all around, and matted them onto light blue card stock (cut to the original dimensions above) that I crumpled and then flattened out. 

These matted panels were adhered to some 100% cotton card stock, that had been cut, scored and folded.  

I hope you'll try making your own gift-card holders this season.  Once you've made the base, you can get very different looks, and whether you start from scratch or choose to upcycle from another project, you'll create unique and personal gifts!