CHRISTMAS IN THE BANK (#2) GIFT CARD HOLDERS

Time for CHRISTMAS IN THE BANK #2, what fun I have had hearing from you and seeing what your takes on the challenge were.  I so appreciate your feedback!  You can expect some fine tuning to occur as I gain some experience with this, please feel free to make suggestions.  I want to especially thank Heather Hudson and Helene Huber for  their support and encouragement.

Heather has generously offered to sponsor these challenges by offering participants the opportunity to win a digital collage sheet of your choice from her Etsy shop.  So make sure  that you have leave a comment in the Christmas In The Bank post!  Heather has also provided a short tutorial on how to include a link to your blog in a comment.  See details here!

THE JANUARY WINNER BY RANDOM DRAW FOR A HEATHER A HUDSON DIGITAL COLLAGE SHEET IS...Denise of Coffeeberry Cottage!   Denise please email (button on the right) and I will set you up with Heather!!

While I will put forward a few more detailed challenges over the year, this effort for the most part is about producing the basics in a simple and straight forward way.  It's difficult to produce in numbers when it gets complicated.  Simple doesn't mean it can't be beautiful!

I challenge you this month to create 6 Gift Card Holders.  If you don't use gift cards for Christmas, then these of course can easily be made to suit any occasion - show us what suits you!

Directions:  cut a strip of double sided paper 3.5" x 6", score across the width at 1.75" and 4 ", round the top or front corners and punch a hole in the center, fold the bottom up and slide in the gift card, fold the top over, using  approx 14" of ribbon or a double length of twine put this through the hole, wrap around the back of the holder, over the top and tie into a bow.

Tips:  I used some of my "fancy" (these are all Martha Stewart, the poinsettias are foiled and the pine cones are clear embossed)  papers and found that no other embellishment was really needed, do dig into your scrap box!  If you are going for a clean look, inking the edges isn't likely necessary depending on your paper so you save another step!  I have used patterns previously that had "wings" on the sides to hold in the gift cards, I prefer to use a reposition able adhesive to secure the card and be able to cut the pattern very quickly.

You can do these in a couple of minutes at the time you need them but how many projects do we leave for the last moment?  This is all about finding our selves in a place of comfort come the holiday season this year, take an hour now and put "CHRISTMAS IN THE BANK".