Giving a "Gift Card"

So often when I am giving a "gift card", I struggle with what type of card to make or use. While searching for some inspiration online one day, I came across a card that really stood out to me. The more I studied the picture, the more I fell in love with the card. I even found a blog post with a great picture tutorial on how to make the card.

Here is the link -- Easiest Gift Card Holder Ever

I went down to my craft room and started working on the card (from memory). This is the card I created. The card is a Z-fold except the piece on the right side is folded to the inside of the card and glued at the top and bottom to form a pocket which will hold a gift card.

When I went back to my computer, I discovered that my memory had gotten all mixed up. It should have been a landscape card and I had made mine the opposite way. So it was back to the drawing board.

For the second card I chose blue and yellow -- the University of Michigan colors. All of the sentiment stamps I used were from the Our Daily Bread Designs set called "As You Graduate". The cap and diploma stamp was from another stamp set that I purchased somewhere else. Use school colors and you will have a great graduation card. Use pretty papers and stamps and you have a lovely birthday card.

A Couple of Special Cards

I was just looking over some of my pictures taken in March. I found two cards that I had not posted. The first one was for my daughter's birthday. We had been traveling the first of March and got back home the day before her birthday. It took me about a week to get her card made. It was a little too late to say "Happy Birthday"; I had talked with her by phone on her special day. When I saw this sentiment, I knew that it was what I wanted to add to her card. Purple was always her favorite color when she was in high school. I came across the purple card base and the white embossed panel. I heat embossed the sentiment using white detailed embossing powder. After cutting the leaves with one of my dies, I used some punches to make the flowers. I am truly thankful for Angela; she is a very special daughter.

This was a thank you card even though it does not have any "words" on the front. I made the front panel a long time ago when I was doing some watercolored background washes. It had been in a scrap box for many months just waiting to be used. The rose is a Penny Black stamp that I had colored with markers, spritzed with water and stamped. It made the perfect card when I was in a hurry and needed to get the card done. What do you have lying in your scrap box just waiting to be used?

Tunnel Cards

I set out a few weeks ago wanting to learn how to make a new fold card when a friend had showed me her card. She had a die for making the card, but I did not. I searched the internet and searched Pinterest until I found instructions on the SplitcoastStampers site  -- Tunnel Card Tutorial.

The piece of designer paper (which I found in the scrap box) became my inspiration for this card. I loved the colors and I had the card stock to go with it. The "Happy Birthday" is from the Stampin' Up retired set "Sassy Salutations". The butterfly is from a Stampin' Up embosslit called "Beautiful Wings", also retired. Lastly, I used a stamp set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps called "Sunshine and Flowers". I would encourage you to give this card a try. It was a lot of fun to make.