'Tis The Season Gift Card Holder Tutorial

Hello everyone!

Today, I'm sharing the first of my November tutorials for the Tim Holtz Media Team and as we put away all our Halloween crafting items, it's now that time of the year when we start thinking about Christmas! It's always lovely to make and send handmade gifts to loved ones but sometimes, there are those difficult people in our lives that have just about everything and no matter how hard you try to think of something that they might like ~ you just can't and you resort to a gift card. So for today's project I wanted to show you how to turn that gift card into something a little extra special and I have created a step by step tutorial showing how to make a gift card holder.

To begin with, cut three pieces of kraft card to measure:

23.5 x 18.5cm ~ Card Folder

8.5 x 12.5cm ~ Tag Pocket

10.5 x 7.5cm ~ Gift Card Pocket

Take the card folder and with the longest edge horizontal in front of you and measuring from the left hand side, score two lines vertically at 11cm and 12cm. Fold along scorelines to create your folder.

Place the tag pocket in front of you and score the panel of card at 1cm, 2cm, 10.5cm and 11.5cm. Score at 1cm and 2cm along the bottom edge of the card. Fold along the scorelines

Measure and score 1cm from the edge around three sides of the gift card pocket. Fold along scorelines.

To form the tag pocket, cut away the bottom left and right hand corner sections, 2 x 2cm on each side of the card. See below.

To form the gift card pocket, cut away an angled corner section on the bottom left and right hand corners.

Attach double sided tape along the flaps on the back of both pockets.

Apply some Picket Fence Distress Paint around the edges of each section of card.

Cut pieces of paper of the music score paper from the Merriment Paper Stash to measure 10 x 17.5cm. Ink around the edges of each piece of paper using Frayed Burlap Distress Ink and matt onto a piece of cream card, leaving a narrow border around the edge.

Mount the matted layers of card onto each of the inside panels. Cut two further pieces of the paper from the Merriment paper stash, ink around the edges and mount onto the front of each of the pockets. Attach the pockets onto the inside of your gift card folder.

Add the Special Delivery Ephemera piece onto the tag pocket.

Apply small amounts of Aged Mahogany and Festive Berries Distress Ink to a craft sheet, mist with water and then dye a length of crinkle ribbon by mopping up the stains. Heat dry the ribbon.

Wrap the dyed ribbon around the centre of your wallet, taking it around the back and tying the ribbon into a bow on the left hand spine of the folder. Place the folder to one side, whilst you start working on the decorative panel for the front of your wallet.

For the decorative panel, begin by cutting a piece of Manila card, 8 x 15.5cm. Below, I'm showing you two ways to ink the Manila card ~ in the following photo, I inked the card by blending Distress Inks over the surface using a blending tool and then misting the ink with water before heat setting the ink onto the card. As you can see, this technique gives a slightly softer, diffused appearance to your card.

For the second piece of card, I used exactly the same colours of Distress Stain as I did Distress Inks in the photo above. I applied the stain to a craft sheet, misted them with water and then swiped the card through the inks to pick up the colour. This gives a more mottled effect to your card and a slightly more shabby appearance. 

I chose to use the Distress Stained card but either piece of card will work for this project, it's entirely up to you and of course, it depends on the products that you own.

Once the inked card is dry, I distressed the edges and inked them with Walnut Stain Distress Ink before inking up the starburst stamp from the Christmas Nostalgia stamp set with Antique Linen Distress Ink and stamping over the background of the inked card to give a very soft pattern.

 Machine stitch around the edge of the card.

Stamp the 'Tis The Season message onto the stitched card using Jet Black Archival Ink. 

Cut a piece of decorative paper from the Merriment paper stash, distress the edges of the paper by ripping and tearing them and then matt onto black card. Matt the stitched card onto the centre of the matts and then attach the mounts onto the front of your gift card wallet. Distress the edges of the wallet even further using Black Soot and Antiqued Bronze Distress Paint.

We're nearly there now and all that's left is to decorate this panel and for this, I used the Candlelight die to die cut all my pieces from Grungeboard. I then painted the body of the candles with Picket Fence and Antique Linen Distress Paint and the flame using Scattered Straw and Wild Honey Distress Paint.

Ink the edges of each individual die piece with Black Soot Distress Ink and then layer all the pieces to create the dimensional candles. Add highlights of glitter to the candles by sprinkling Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter over a layer of Glossy Accents.

Die cut some foliage using the Holiday Greens die and ink the die cut leaves with Peeled Paint and Iced Spruce. 

To give a frosty, snow covered appearance to the foliage, lightly spritz some Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain over the top of the inked die cuts and heat dry. Shape the leaves to give a more realistic look to the foliage.

Layer up all your die cuts onto the front panel of your wallet.

 I also added some Mirrored Stars and some ephemera pieces to the arrangement, together with cheesecloth from my own stash.

 

Apply some Picket Fence Distress Paint over the top of a Word Band, let the paint sink into the wording and then, wipe away the excess. Attach some Paper String to each side of the word band and position it on the front of your arrangement.

Finally, I created a tag to fit into the pocket inside and if you choose, you can add a written message onto this tag. Ink up the tag by applying the Distress Stains to your craft sheet and picking up all the ink. Emboss the tag using the Snowflakes Texture Fade from the Beaded Garland and Snowflakes set, add some Frayed Burlap Distress Ink to the raised embossing before spritzing the tag with Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain.

Tie some of the previously dyed crinkle ribbon at the top of your tag and add a piece from the Christmas Ephemera Pack together with a Flashcard.

Now, all that's left is to place your gift card in the one pocket and the tag in the other...

...tie the ribbon into a bow...

...and that completes your gift card wallet.

I really hope you've been inspired by today's tutorial and that you've enjoyed the process of making one of these wallets!

Thank you so much for stopping by and I'll see you again very soon!

Emma x

Supply List:

Surfaces: Ranger Manila Card, Ranger Kraft Card, Ranger Black Card, Merriment Paper Stash, Ranger Size 8 Manila Tag

Dies: Candlelight Bigz Die, Holiday Greens Thinlits Die

Texture Fade: Beaded Garland and Snowflakes

Stamps: Christmas Nostalgia, Handwritten Holidays 2

Stain: Brushed Corduroy, Old Paper, Pumice Stone, Aged Mahogany, Festive Berries. Picket Fence Distress Spray Stain

Ink: Black Soot, Peeled Paint, Iced Spruce, Walnut Stain, Frayed Burlap, Antique Linen. Jet Black Archival Ink

Paint: Picket Fence, Antique Linen, Antiqued Bronze, Black Soot, Scattered Straw, Wild Honey

Embellishments: Christmas Word Band, Christmas Ephemera Pack, Flashcards, Merriment Tissue Tape, Crinkle Ribbon, Mirrored Stars, Paper String Stripes

Glitter: Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter

Mediums: Glossy Accents, Adhesive Tape

Tools: Vagabond, Blending Tool, Craft Sheet, Scoreboard, Scoring Tool