Pop-Up Gift Card Holder

I know, I know, Christmas is over.  I hope yours was wonderful.  Mine is always bittersweet, as I love watching my kids on Christmas morning, but miss the rest of my family, who are all in another state.  This year was especially hard, as my grandparents, who both passed away earlier this year, would have celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary on Christmas Eve.  It's always tough to be away from that part of my family, but especially so this year. 

Anyway, even though Christmas is over, I wanted to show one more project I made for this season.  This may just look like somewhat boring card, but when you open it....

...SURPRISE!  It's a gift card holder!  This is a very easy project, found on Splitcoast Stampers, and a very fun way to make a gift card a little more exciting.  Can you tell I don't like to give gift cards?  I sure do enjoy receiving them, though!  This looks complicated but is surprisingly easy to make, and could be made for any occasion.  It's also a great way to use up scraps of old Designer Series Paper.  Not that I hoard it or anything...

Easy Gift Giving

I thought I'd show you what my daughter made to hand out as valentines this year.  Cute, huh?

These little bookmarks were so simple to make.  We used the Two Tags Bigz Die and my Big Shot to cut out the bookmarks in Pretty in Pink, then she punched out some scallop circles, using up some of my retired Designer Series Paper.  On top of that was a single sparkly red heart, cut with the littlest heart in the Hearts Collection Framlets and some red glimmer paper.  We finished them off with some retired pink ribbon.  They were a piece of cake for a child to mass-produce.  Oh, and on the back she stamped "Happy Valentine's Day" and signed her name.  So easy, and so cute.

Remember how I mentioned that Valentine's Day is practically non-existent in my home?  Well, I did have a last minute thought to wrap up one of these DVDs that I had stashed away.  Since our whole family loves them, it wasn't just a gift for the kids.  Due to lots of food allergies, we don't do candy, so this was a good option.

I wanted to wrap it up in a cute way, but had no appropriate paper or gift bags.  What I did dig up was some kraft colored tissue paper, which is super-simple to magically turn into wrapping paper for any occasion.  This time, I grabbed a retired jumbo wheel and ran it down the front of the DVD after I had wrapped it.  You could most definitely get more elaborate with a wheel, decorating the entire sheet before wrapping.  But I wanted to keep it simple.  I grabbed some retired red ribbon and tied a simple bow.  My kids then fought over who would get to keep the ribbon. :)  They hoard craft supplies, despite my best efforts to curb this habit. (My husband recently found that they had been stashing empty toilet paper tubes under one of the bathroom sinks!)

Nifty Notebook

Happy New Year!  I'm a little later saying that than I had planned to be.  After we got home from our unexpected trip, I got sick.  Really sick.  I rarely get sick, and rarely get the flu, but I got hit hard on New Year's Day.  Ugh.  Not fun.  I'm glad to be feeling much better now, and hopefully no one else in my family will get it!

I thought I'd share this fun little notebook that I made for my friend for her birthday.  We both turned 40 in December, and have had a great time celebrating.  We took an overnight trip to our alma matter this past weekend, staying in the guest house on campus.  It was great, since the students hadn't returned, and the campus was empty.  We had lovely weather and got to do lots of relaxing.  It was a fun way to celebrate and a great way to start a new year.

Anyway, I used a clear case from Stampin' Up! and decorated it with Designer Series Paper.  This paper is OLD, so it's no longer available, but from all my paper, this is the one that I thought best fit her.  I didn't have a single piece of purple DSP, which really would have been ideal, but I like the funky little flowers, and I think they are fitting for her.  I put a fun little monogram on the front to personalize it.

The inside is simple, with a small notepad, a pen, and a little envelope for any receipts or random items she may want to hang onto.  This was an easy and fun project to make, and I think that I'll be making more in the future!