With the gift-giving season fast approaching, I like to start creating fun little gift card holders to have on hand. I found a cute (and super easy!) idea at Tara Bazata's Ink & Paper Café blog using the Scallop Envelope Bigz Die.
The Scallop Envelope Die creates a cute little envelope that you fold and adhere with a couple of Glue Dots. The problem is, it's a little too short for holding standard-sized gift cards. In her video tutorial, Tara shows how to make a longer envelope with the die, so your gift card will fit perfectly.
Making A Longer Scallop Envelope
I took a 6×6" piece of Love Letter Designer Series Paper, folded it in half and aligned the fold between the 3rd and 4th scallops on the die. Run it through the Big Shot, then burnish out the fold line with your Bone Folder. When you're using decorative paper, the design hides the fold line. Or, if you wanted to use card stock, you can add decorative paper or an embellishment over the line to cover it up.
TIP: When using template dies that have score lines (like this one, or the Match Box or Fancy Favor Box dies), the score lines will show up best if you use the Premium Crease Pad. I had no idea, until I saw Tara's video, that you were supposed to use the Crease Pad on the top of your die in place of a Standard Cutting Pad! I tried it and it really makes all the difference! (Use the following "sandwich" for best results: Standard Cutting Pad, shim that comes with Crease Pad, Bigz Die, paper, Crease Pad.)
I also added a trim scallop piece to my gift card holder by running a scrap of Very Vanilla card stock through the Big Shot, folded the same way. You can see how to do this in Tara's tutorial, as well.
Scallop Circle Paper Flower
Rather than adding a velcro or magnet closure, I decided to add a heavy embellishment that would keep the flap closed with it's weight. It was a great time to create a scallop circle punch paper flower. I saw a fantastic Paper Flower Tutorial on Dawn Griffith's blog using the Fancy Flower Punch and I loved it! That punch was a little too big for this project, but the 1-3/4" Scallop Circle Punch was just right!
You can see how to make the flower on her tutorial, but here are the basic steps (use them for any of the circle or flower punches):
- Punch out eight of your shapes from either card stock or DSP. I've tried this technique with fewer punches for a different look. The more layers you have, the fuller your flower will be.
- Mist the punches with water, then scrunch them into a ball.
- Unfold the punches, stack them up, punch a hole in the center with the Crop-A-Dile or a paper piercer, and add a brad.
- Then, layer by layer, re-scrunch the shapes. (Be very careful to not pull the softened paper or card stock off your brad. The wet paper tears easily.) The first layer should be tightly scrunched for the center of the flower, then scrunch the remaining layers as tightly as you can around it.
- Once it's all scrunched, you can loosen up the petals a bit and play with the shape until it looks the way you want it to, then let dry.
TIP #1: If you're using DSP, punch an extra shape out of card stock and use it as your base layer before you attach the brad. Once you moisten Designer Paper, it will tear easily and a sturdy base will help keep your brad in place.
TIP #2: Make sure your flower is completely dry before adhering to your project. Adhesive won't stick very easily to damp paper! This is another good reason to create an extra punch base for your flower. This dry piece will allow you to adhere the flower right away.
I love the softness and fullness of this paper flower—it looks like a mini carnation! And, the beautiful, small patterns of the Love Letter paper look great together the petals on my flower. I added a few Basic Pearls to the flower center and along the scallop edge of the card holder as the finishing touches.
Tomorrow, I'll show you a couple of cards I created to match the gift card holder!
Angie