Kicking off 2013 with my very first tutorial

Happy New Year! What better to start off the new year than with my very first tutorial? However, I'm still not happy with the quality of photos that turned out from my camera so any tips from any of you veterans would be greatly appreciated.

The new catalogue will be revealed Feb 2013, but it has just arrived and there's a lot of cool new things in there! 

Recently I saw this tutorial: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/gift_card_holder/  but there were two things that made me wonder.

a) Where would I find coin envelopes? I have never seen them around here...
b) When I watched the corresponding video it actually wasn't the same as the tutorial posted - the flap she used to "close" the holder turned into a circle and she used "snaps" from Stamping Up to close her holder. But this sparked a new idea... why don't I just use it as a base and fiddle until mine worked out (with Close to My Heart materials?)

Here we go!

1. Cut a strip of 2 3/4" x 11" patterned cardstock. Score at 2 3/4", 3", 6 5/16", and 7 1/16" spots.

in this project, I've used Wonderland Level 2 Paper Packet (retired)

2. Fold at each score to create a "matchbook" style cover

3. Cut a strip of cream, white or contrasting 2 1/2" x 7" solid cardstock and score at 3 1/2". Fold to create a pocket. 
4. Using a 1 1/4" circle punch, punch a half circle at the top of the pocket. Secure using two brads, but be careful not to make the opening too small (I usually put the gift card in and then punch the holes for the brads. Stamp a pretty pattern on the top part of the pouch.

5. Tie a ribbon bowtie around the middle of the pocket so the cards stay in there.  Distress the edges if you'd like (this is optional) and then attach to the inside of your cover.

 Ribbon thrifting - this one was from Sunterra :)

6.  Cut a rectangular piece of 2 3/16" x 3 1/2" of contrasting solid cardstock and 3 5/16" x 2" of cream or white cardstock. Adhere the cream cardstock on top of the solid cardstock.
7. Stamp your sentiment, an image, and add a 1 1/4" semicircle to the edge to make it easy to pull out.

8. Punch a 2" scalloped circle out of the same patterned cardstock but use the other side, and a 1 1/4" cream circle. Adhere the cream circle to the scalloped circle. Stamp your sentiment on the circle (I used Perfect Fit from the CTMH Winter 2012/2013 catalogue).

9. Using foam tape, adhere the bottom half of your scalloped circle to the bottom flap of your gift card holder. The top half will be loose so that the top flap of the gift card holder can tuck under the scalloped circle. (or, you can buy Hook and Loop dots from CTMH to adhere the flap to the rest of the holder).

10. Add a ribbon, and you're done!

Another fancy giftholder for this year. :)

Michaels, etc:
* Ribbon
* Solid colored cardstock
* Star brads

CTMH:
* Wonderland Level 2 Paper Pack (retired)
* Pear and Partridge Level 2 Paper Pack
* Scallop circle punch
* Circle punch
* Blue and Green Sparkles
* Merry and Bright
* Perfect Fit - Holidays
* Outdoor Denim
* Barn Red
* Ponderosa Pine
* Key Lime
* Indian Corn Blue embossing powder

May the new year bring you everything you wish for,

Chocolate, Cricut, and 10 minute cards...

This year for some reason has been doubly stressful and more jam-packed than last year.  What I did not mention in previous posts is that I lost my job in late August which led to a new job and a new team. As I always enjoy doing, I make little chocolate packages accompanied with Christmas cards.

This is cut using the latest CTMH Cricut cartridge, Artiste. The neat thing about this cartridge is that due to all the 3-D options available on that cartridge, it comes with a how-to-assemble manual for all the 3-D options. The two snowflakes too are from the same cartridge. Learning my lessons from last year I broke out my trusty glue gun and everything stayed put.

A trick for those of you with unsightly glue-gun "strings" after your project is done - give it a few once-overs with your embossing heat tool and they will disappear.

After I was done this I was so exhausted but you just have to pair these with a little Christmas Card.

You'll have to pardon the yellow lighting, as these photos were taken late at night. I was cruising through a card store one day and noticed some cards had a second piece on them and one image. Taking that for inspiration I simply cut these little bases: 3x3, and then picked one color and finished all 7 cards in 1/2 hour. That's a new record!

The best part is that they were the perfect companion to my much fancier chocolate boxes stuffed with Ferrero Rocher.

My Stash:
* Solid color cardstock
* Ribbon
* Foam tape

CTMH:
* Wonderland Level 2 Paper Packet (retired)
* Pear and Partridge Level 2 Paper Packet
* Barn Red Ink
* Ponderosa Pine Ink
* Itty Bitty Sparkles
* Blue and Green Adhesive Gems

Thank you all once again for being such avid readers. Merry Christmas!!

P.S... I couldn't help but add the project (my triangles) to H2H's first challenge in 2013 :)