It occurred to me yesterday that it’s been ages since I last made a gift card holder. In fact what reminded me was seeing how many of my gift card holders I have sold recently. So what better way to celebrate than to make more…

PAINTED SUNFLOWER

I began my project with the pretty small sunflower image from the Celebrate Sunflowers Stamp Set.

Using VersaMark ink I stamped the image onto some Shimmery White Card. Next I sprinkled the sticky ink with Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder and tapped off the excess. Then I melted the rest of the powder using my Heat Tool set on 2 (high).

Once the embossing was cool I was ready to start colouring the image. For this I chose three Stampin’ Write Markers; Terracotta Tile from the 2019-2021 In Colors, plus Bumblebee and Just Jade from the 2020-2022 In Colors. Although I was using markers I wanted to give my flower a watercoloured look so I also grabbed a Water Painter with a fine tip.

Colouring the image was just a matter of patience. Using the brush tip of the Bumblebee marker I scribbled a little ink at the base of a couple of petals. Then with a barely damp Water Painter I brushed the ink to the tip of each petal. I continued this process until all the petals had their first coat of colour.

While I waited for the petals to dry I repeated the process on the leaves using the Just Jade marker. Then I coloured the centre of the flower using the Bumblebee Marker. As before I brushed out the colour with the Water Painter. However this time without waiting for this area to dry I coloured the centre of the flower with the Terracotta Tile Marker. Once again I brushed out the colour with the Water Painter, then when I’d finished I blotted the centre of the flower with a paper tissue. This had the effect of lifting some of the colour giving it a softer look.

Finally I went back to the petals but this time with the Terracotta Tile Marker. Now when I brushed out the colour I only went about halfway up each petal. With that done I set the piece aside to dry thoroughly.

SIMPLE GIFT CARD HOLDER

Now it was time to start putting together the actual gift card holder. I cut a piece of Terracotta Tile Card 3″ x 7″. First, with the long side at the top I scored it at 3-1/2″. Next with the short side at the top I scored it at 1/4″ and 2-3/4″. Then I folded the card along the scored lines and sharpened the creases with a Bone Folder.

If you’re not familiar with my simple gift card holder you can watch this video of an older project where I demonstrate the process.

Before going any further I remembered that I’d need to add a thumb notch to get the gift card in and out more easily. This I did using the edge of the Label Me Fancy Punch.

With that done I trimmed the tabs off the front of the gift card holder (as shown in the video). Then I added Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to the two remaining tabs and assembled the gift card holder.

LET’S CELEBRATE YOU

Next I needed to create the layers for the front of my project, starting with the sentiment piece. For this I cut a wood design from the In Good Taste 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper (DSP). Then using VersaMark ink I stamped “Let’s celebrate you” from the Celebrate Sunflowers Stamp Set. I sprinkled the VersaMark with Gold Stampin’ Emboss Power and tapped off the excess. Then I melted the rest of the powder with my Heat Tool set on 2 (high).

To complete my layers I used liquid glue to mount the sentiment layer onto some Bumblebee Card. Then I wrapped some Very Vanilla 3/8″ Scalloped Lace Trim around them and secured the ends on the back with Tear & Tape Adhesive. Finally I used Stampin’ Dimensionals to fix the assembled layers to the gift card holder.

All I had left to do was cut out the embossed and painted sunflower using a coordinating die from the Sunflowers Dies Set. With that, I attached the flower to the gift card holder with Stampin’ Dimensionals and my project was finished.

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Celebrate Sunflowers Stamp Set and Sunflowers Dies using a single ‘bundle’ item number. This meant that I saved 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. I’ve included both options below so you can explore these further if you wish.

BONUS DAYS – There’s only one more week to earn $6 CAD Bonus Days coupons! Receive one $6 e-coupon for every $60 spent in a single order until August 3rd. Coupons can then be redeemed against any order placed between August 4th and 31st. This is perfect timing as it coincides with the release of the Stampin’ Up! 2020 August to December Mini Catalogue!