It’s Friday, yay! Yesterday was a busy one for me with a longer to-do list than I’d have liked. Still, I managed to get through it all. This included looking through the other new products I recently ordered from Stampin’ Up! Today I wanted to show you my first attempt using the Mini Pocket Envelope Dies. As the name suggests there’s a die to create a mini pocket, plus there’s another 9 dies to create decorative elements and labels. So to start off here’s a simple wedding gift card holder.

SIMPLE POCKET

I have lots of ideas for using the main pocket envelope die but decided it was best to start simply. Mind you that didn’t have to mean boring. So as I already had the wedding theme in my head I reached for the very fancy Splendid Day 12″ x 12″ Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP). I chose a pattern of white leaves on a Fresh Freesia foiled background and cut a 4-1/4″ x 5″ piece to fit the main pocket die.

After cutting out the DSP using my full-size Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine I was ready to assemble the pocket. This was really simple as the die also imprinted some ‘scored’ lines to indicate where to fold the DSP. I decided to do this using just my fingers to reduce the chance of cracking the foil surface. There were just three straight folds to make.

First I folded down the centre line between the large front and back sections. Then I folded the two tabs (one at the side and one at the bottom of the front section). Finally I put Tear & Tape Adhesive along both tabs and tucked them in as I folded over the back section. And just like that I had a pretty pocket.

BOW AND LABEL

To decorate the pocket I chose two dies from the Mini Pocket Dies set to make up a bow. The Y shape die creates the ribbon centre and tails. The other die reminds me of swimmers goggles and is used to create the loops for the bow. Instead of using regular cardstock I decided to cut these two pieces from the Snowy White Velvet Sheets. Then I set to work assembling the bow.

I began by gently pulling each ‘eye piece’ between a Bone Folder and my thumb to add a gentle curve. Then I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue to fix the end tabs onto the section between the two ‘eye pieces’. This gave me a basic bow shape, but I also wanted to add the optional tails which is when I realised I had a problem.

The Y-shaped piece is designed so you wrap the long straight section around the centre of the bow. However my velvet paper was only velvet on one side so that wouldn’t work. Instead I had to cut the long section off. Then I wrapped this small piece around the centre of the bow and secured it on the back with liquid glue. Finally with more liquid glue I fixed the bow on top of the remaining part of the Y piece and set it aside.

Next I cut a 1/4″ x 4-7/8″ strip of the Showy White Velvet Sheet to wrap around the pocket. Then with the the cut ends at the front I glued the bow on top to hide them.

At last I was ready for a sentiment and immediately reached for the Celebrating You Stamp Set. Using Gorgeous Grape ink I stamped “Wishing you a happily ever after” onto a scrap of Thick Basic White Card. Then going back to the Mini Pocket Envelope Dies I found a small rectangle shape. This was the perfect size and also added a nice embossed border detail.

To finish I added a few Pearl Basic Jewels to the sentiment and tucked it into the band around the pocket. With that my project was complete.

I have to say that this was probably the easiest gift card holder I’ve ever made. However I can see many more uses for the Mini Pocket Envelope Dies. I’ll show you another idea along with a video tutorial in the next week or so.

For a card project featuring the stunning Splendid Day Specialty DSP see my earlier blog post Splendid day for a sneak peek.

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