Enjoy the Moment and Gift Card Holder...

This is another image from Patterned Bugs and it kind of stumped me until I saw this card on My Blog by Cammie. I had printed it out a while ago, but wasn't quite sure how I wanted to replicate it until today. When I print the images, often times I don't print directions unless I feel like I really need them. Most times I'm just winging it (no pun intended). This one stumped me just a bit in that I wasn't sure just what she used to make the butterflies pop out. Too lazy to come back into the house and computer to find it, I tried stamping in white on vellum, then heat embossed clear powder. That didn't work well because you couldn't see much of the black. So I stamped with Versamark on vellum and then heat embossed with clear. That looked a little better so I used that. :o) I adhered the "body" part with some liquid adhesive. I matted the white onto Topiary and used foam tape to give it a little lift.

Credits: Cardstock-Topiary (CTMH), Patterned paper-Two Scoops 6x6 pad (Basic Grey), Inks-Black, Topiary (CTMH), Stamps-Patterned Bugs (Inkadinkado), Mixed Messages (Papertrey Ink), Ribbon (Big Lots), Acrylic discs (Michaels), foam tape.

My good friend's son is having a birthday at the beginning of May and for the past few years (when I was a consultant) it literally snuck up on me! This year I've been thinking about it most of the month and trying to decide how to package the usual gift card I send. I am bound and determined to send it out so he will get it before his actual birthday, rather than a few days after! Sending a gift card isn't a surprise, but I do try to "dress" them up a bit and they are always curious to see what I come up with. Here's is the latest version of a gift card holder, inspired by this one I saw (and others similar to it around the blogosphere) on Dawn's Stamping Thoughts blog.

She posted a tutorial so I'll let you go look there rather than be redundant with directions. I had pulled out this birthday set because I liked the candles. I colored them with markers, then added Stickles and glitter glue and also some Paper Glaze (like CTMH's Liquid Glass) to make them shiny. This was after I clear heat embossed the image so my black ink wouldn't smear. You probably can't read it, but I stamped the sentiment image that says "blowing birthway wishes your way," You slide the gift card in the cut-away part. I used a file folder tab punch and a circle punch to punch out the opening. I hope he likes it!

Credits: Cardstock-Holiday Red, Outdoor Denim (CTMH) Ink-Outdoor Denim, Archival black pads, Holiday Red, Topiary, Honey, Moonstruck, Orange, Sunny Yellow markers (CTMH), Stamps-Birthday Brackets (Stampendous), Stickles (Yellow) Glitter Glue-Orange, Green, Paper Glaze, Gingham ribbon (??) White Gel Pen (American Crafts)

Thanks so much for visiting. I hope you have a great beginning to your week!