Money Cards for the Grandkids

I haven't bought much in the way of new crafting supplies in months ... but I did place an order from MFT Stamps back February since this Money Card die was back in stock. I didn't grab it when it was first released, because I tend not to stalk the new releases. There are just too many! Anyhow, by the time I saw this one - it was sold out. I enjoy different ways to dress up a gift card - so the stamps that go with this die set (which had also been sold out) work great for Gift Card Holders too. In fact, the die set has a coordinating gift card pocket die set which I used for Mother's Day. Did I remember to take a photo of those though? No ... sheesh.

I already had the lip balm pouches (also MFT) so used them with the Money Card set to make some cash gifts for our grandkids. These were fun to make and a good opportunity to try out the stamps & dies.

I lined up some bills at their short ends, and taped them together with washi tape. Then I tightly rolled them up and tucked them into the lip balm pouches. After the first one - which immediately sprung open, I was sure to have the top layer and the backing place adhered together above the pouch. Then I simply had to hold the rolled bills in place and thread the end of the top bill through the slot in the back piece. A little more glue - I used wet glue) all the way around the remaining outer edge and the cards were all assembled. The kids can simply pull the first bill and they should all come out of the slot. In theory, at least - but if for some reason they get stuck, the cards are easy enough to tear into. Ha.

I packaged them in clear bags to prevent any accidental bill pulling until I give them to the grandkids.

I think the fact that I have already used the set 8 times (the five shown here and the three for Mother's Day that I forgot to photograph) shows that these items will get well used over the years!

Supplies used:

Money Card - MFT Stamps

Lip Balm pouches - MFT Stamps

Birthday Cash stamp set - MFT Stamps

Patterned paper - Over the Rainbow, Recollections

Enamel Dots - stash

Mini Gift Bag for a Bracelet

Earlier in the year, Karen Burniston released some cute gifting sets that I couldn't wait to get my hands on. While they were themed for Valentine's they work all year round - which is good because I didn't get them until March! I've already shared the little gift boxes in a post (and video) HERE if you are curious.

Both the gift box and this Mini Gift Bag can hold a gift card - which is why I wanted both sets. I love to make gift card holders!  In the photo below you can see the mini size a little better. The cute tag comes with the die set and I added it with a jump ring to the ribbon bow.

I made this Mini Gift Bag for a friend who had just had a birthday - and inside I added a little bracelet I made for her in her favourite colours. Since we are both dog people, she got a little paw print charm as well. 🥰

Here is one more look at the bracelet - it's always a little nerve wracking for me to make a bracelet for someone as our wrists are all different sizes. Thankfully this one fit her.  It fit perfectly inside the Mini Gift Bag.

Supplies used:

Mini Gift Bag dies - Karen Burniston

Patterned paper - Flower Market, Carta Bella (6x6" pad)

Seam binding

Jumprings

Stickers - from the Flower Market 12 x 12" package, also by Carta Bella

Cute Little Gift Boxes!

I loved the Candy Hearts Box die set by Karen Burniston when it was released back in December, but didn't get it until recently. Definitely not in time to use it for Valentine's Day but I LOVE boxes and Gift Card Holders so I had to play with it right away. The die comes with basic shape dies so you can create a window in the front of your box and back it with acetate, and some cute candy heart dies as well. I have a walkthrough of my first play with the die set on YouTube!   

I LOVE how versatile this die set is going to be - and when I cut it out of double sided paper I was even happier with it. The floral boxes will be for Mother's Day and I'm looking forward to decorating them. For the blue marbled box I added a stitched rectangle with notches cut in the top with scissors to hold a bracelet.

I made this as a gift for a friend, and will be adding her name to the fishtail banner.

Supplies used:

Candy Hearts Box - Karen Burniston

Patterned paper - Guilded ink - Recollections

Stitched Rectangle #2 dies - Pink & Main

Ephemera - Woodland Stories, Little Birdie

All Occasion Cards From A Card Kit

Hello my crafty friends.  Today I'm sharing some all occasion cards and I have all the details on YouTube:    

I started out with this pretty card kit from Stampin' Up, called Gorgeous Posies. I loved the colours and of course that the envelopes were also coloured to match. The kit came with the supplies for sixteen cards, so instead of overwhelming my friend with that many cards, I created two identical sets of 8 cards. That gave me two gifts for two special friends!

Since you can see most of the cards in the first photo and I went over each one in my video, I'll share a couple of pictures of the card interiors.

This blog uses affiliate links whenever possible. This means, that at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through one of my affiliate links that I may receive a small commission from your purchase. I only link products that I own, love and use for my card making!

Any supplies I'm unable to link are listed at the very bottom of my post.

Additional Supplies:
Gorgeous Posies Card Kit - Stampin' Up (retired)
Sympathy stamps - Hero Arts (retired)
Doilies - Stampin' Up (retired)
Kindness & Compassion - Stampin' Up 
Forever Fern dies - Stampin' Up
Happy Birthday Peel Off's - Elizabeth Craft Designs
Happy Thoughts - Stampin' Up

Stashbuster Gift Card Holders

Good morning friends

I had this older patterned paper out for a different project, and decided to use some more of it and make a pair of Gift Card Holders to have on hand. Sometimes you need something like that quickly!

For my projects today I used a bunch of stickers and embellishments from my stash and also a few that were included in that older paper pack. The Gift Card Holder itself is a BigZ die by Sizzix designer Lynda Kanase. It had been on my wish list for awhile, and I managed to find it earlier this Spring.

The die cuts two pieces - the front and the inside, complete with score lines. After assembly, you just slide the Gift Card into the slot and when the recipient opens it the gift card slides out for easy access! (I added used gift cards for the photos.)

This second one has a very dimensional rosette sticker on the front, so it will likely be one that is hand delivered. It would be pretty tucked into a cello bag with a chocolate treat and tied off with ribbon.

While I have used gift cards on the photos, the die works for a cheque or folded cash as well and I've used it for all three!

Supplies:

Patterned paper and stickers - Basic Grey

Card, Slider - BigZ die by Lynda Kanase (Sizzix)

Black fine point marker

Rosette - Paper Cottage

Stickers on front - K & Company

Small metallic flower stickers - Sticker King

Stickles

Thanks for stopping by today

(Mostly) Holiday Lip Balm Holders

Good morning friends

Note - this is a LONG post with lots of photos.

Today's share will be some of the Lip Balm holders I've made and given out as gifts. Most of the photos are of holiday ones, but I thought I'd start with non holiday ones. This first one I made for a friend who was coming to visit me. It can be dry here if you aren't used to it - my Mother In Law always needs lip balm when she visits - so I thought this would come in handy.

I was really excited when MFT came out with these lip balm pouches and the coordinating window and frame dies and added them to my stash right away. In fact, a friend who is on a different time zone than me and awake much earlier, emailed me the link and said "YOU NEED THESE". I hadn't even seen the new release by MFT yet! Ha - I make my own lip balms and she has received a couple so thought of me when she saw the release.

This first lip balm holder was a little fancy, because I had the time to sit and play. I used the pretty Succulent Serenity paper pad by Lynda Kanase and just wrapped a coordinating paper scrap around the balm so it looked pretty in the package.

The leafy sprig is from Karen Burniston's Flowers & Bee set and the paper succulent was in my stash.  I swiped the edges with Distress Oxide inks before adhering it over the sprigs. I also added some bling to the centre, just because.

I added this patterned paper to the back side, along with a thumb hole to make it easy to tear off and get to the lip balm.

This next one was for a friend who was going to be visiting on Mother's Day. I wanted a little something for her, and since they love the ocean this is what I came up with.

She loved it - the Born to Swim is perfect for her! I added the sea turtle from Karen Burniston's Sea Animals and also the 'enjoy' die from the new Word Set 6 - Summer. That die alone is going to get a ton of use!

I added a piece of patterned paper, cut slightly narrower and shorter than the 'born to swim' panel, then cut a notch for a thumb hole. This was adhered on the two sides only and it was easy for her to lift that piece away and get to the lip balm without tearing the card.

Then the whole 'born to swim' panel was adhered to the underwater panel at the top edge only.

This next one was quick and easy ... I was practically heading out the door to pick up our dog from the groomers, and realized I wanted to bring a little somethin' somethin'. She was thrilled, as she says her lips get so dry while she is working.  The patterned paper is nice and sparkly, which you don't really see in the photos. A friend had just given me these cute holiday dog stickers so I added one to white card stock, fussy cut it out and popped it up with foam tape.

When I was getting our holiday parcel ready to send back East, I decided to add in a lip balm surprise for my Sister-in-Law as well. The pink is actually glitter paper so this was SUPER sparkly!

I cut the frame from glitter paper as well.

Finally, I decided to pick up some 'masculine' looking lip balms and made these to give the guys in the family on Christmas morning. I was able to use up some of this older 6 x 6" patterned paper from a Stampin' Up Paper share so that made me happy as well.

Supplies:

Succulent holder:
Patterned paper - Linda Kanase
Lip Balm Window and Frame dies - MFT Stamps
Lip Balm Pouch - MFT Stamps
Tag Topper punch - Stampin' Up
Paper flower - Michaels
1026 Flowers and Bee - Karen Burniston
Bling
Seam binding
Tiny tag die - MFT Stamps
Black marker
White ribbon - swap
Stickles

Born to Swim:
Lip Balm Window and Frame dies - MFT Stamps
Lip Balm Pouch - MFT Stamps
1052 Word set 6 - Summer - Karen Burniston
1037 Sea Animals - Karen Burniston
Patterned paper - Craft Smith
Teal card stock
1054 Rectangles, Crosshatch - Karen Burniston
Wink of Stella

Groomers:
Patterned paper - My Minds Eye
White card stock
Lip Balm Window and Frame dies - MFT Stamps
Lip Balm Pouch - MFT Stamps
Open Me stamps - MFT Stamps
Christmas Dog Stickers - Recollections
Red Nuvo Drops
Oval punches - Stampin' Up

Pink Snowflake
White card stock
Snowflake panel die - Your Next Stamp
Lip Balm Window and Frame dies - MFT Stamps
Lip Balm Pouch - MFT Stamps
Pink glittered fun foam
White glimmer paper
Black shimmer ribbon - Stampin' Up
Snowflake punch - Martha Stewart

Masculine Holiday 
Lip Balm Window and Frame dies - MFT Stamps
Lip Balm Pouch - MFT Stamps
White, red and black card stocks
Wonky stitched rectangle dies - MFT Stamps
Patterned paper - Stampin' Up
Banner - Blueprints #13 - MFT Stamps
Black fine point marker
Crayole red marker
Bakers Twine
1012 Snowman Twist Circle Pop-Up (snowflake) - Karen Burniston
Fun foam
Glitter Dots

Thanks for stopping by today

Pretty Lip Balm Holder Trio

Good morning friends

I make lip balms and when I give them to friends, I like to dress them up. I was super excited last year when MFT Stamps came out with the Lip Balm Window & Frame dies, and the coordinating pouches and used them a lot. In fact I have several photos I haven't even posted yet! I was content with using that set to gift the lip balms and then I saw this die set by Lori Whitlock. It jumped right into my shopping cart!

The die set comes with several cute embellishment dies, but I didn't use them on these first two holders simply because I needed them done QUICK. We were invited to a friends house and I wanted to bring her a lip balm so quickly made up the blue one. I knew we were going to visit other friends the following day so just made another quick one to give her.

Look how perfectly the balms fit in the little holder, with notches to hold it in place at either end. You can just tell a lot of thought went into designing this die set.

The blue one had a fussy cut butterfly, and for this bright one I punched a butterfly and popped it up with foam tape.

This next one was actually the first one I made with the die set and I did use the included 'smile' dies. How perfect is that to include with a lip balm?

Supplies:

Lip Balm Holder - Lori Whitlock, Sizzix

Patterned paper - Basic Grey & DCWV

Ribbon

Stickles

Butterfly punch - Stampin' Up

Washi Tape

Thanks for stopping by today

A Special Gift for a Special Lady

Good morning friends

Hold onto your hats - there are a LOT of photos in today's post. First of all, this was a Christmas gift for our granddaughter's aid at school. Miss F is totally amazing. She is also the mother of a special needs child and she just gets it. She is supportive and understanding and well, amazing. Olivia loves Miss F. And because of that, we all love Miss F. I asked Heather if I could make Miss F a special gift for Christmas and would she like a Travellers Journal. Heather said YES, and said that something very classy would be perfect.  This is what I came up with...

I use my journals daily, and they are hauled around and stacked and piled on etc etc, so I wanted her cover to be pretty without being 'fragile' and bulky. The patterned paper has lots of sparkly, glittery bits in it and I used the Katherine Label Pop-Up to cut the labels throughout. A paper flower from my stash with a silk covered, embroidered brad was pretty much the only cover decoration. I did add a little bling to the spine with a clear drop jewel and black tassel.

I also added a pretty heart charm to the elastic to symbolize the love Olivia has for Miss F.

Here is a look at the inside, where I added a pocket to the inside front cover. I handmade the inserts, printing a dot-grid onto lovely 24 lb printer paper and cutting everything to size. The insert covers are made from the same patterned paper stack and they are also embossed and glittery.

This next photo shows the back of the first insert and the front of the second one. You can sort of see the glittery areas - it was very hard to capture in a photo.

Wrapped around the third insert, is a purchased vinyl pocket wrap. I added a bookmark to the front pocket as a good visual that there was actually a pocket there.

The other side has places for business cards etc. Below you can see the cover on the third signature/insert.

The vinyl pocket wrap also has a zipper bag on the opposite side to the pockets, which is always handy in a journal. It fits under the elastic binding perfectly and wraps around that third insert.

Then I wanted to wrap it up nicely as well - even though it was a Christmas gift I wanted to keep everything coordinated. I decorated a white gift bag with more sparkly paper from the paper stack and made a sparkly layered tag as well.

I can tell you that the gift was a big hit, and Miss F truly felt appreciated and loved. Can't do better than that.

Supplies:

Glittered card stock - My Minds Eye

White card stock
Matboard - Sizzix

Tassels

Charms

White 24 lb copy paper printed with dot grid

Xyron

Journal BigZXL die - Eileen Hull (Sizzix)

1011 Katherine Label Pop-Up (labels) - Karen Burniston

Stamps - Papertrey Ink

Tag die - Papertrey Ink

White gift bag

Thanks for stopping by today