Hello again, crafty friends! Whether you’re still in fall crafting mode or have gone full steam into Christmas, I have a cute gift card idea for you. These adorable coffee (or tea or hot chocolate) cup shaped gift card holders are super easy and quick to make. There are so many occasions they’d make great gifts for like Valentines, teacher appreciation, and more.
Since I’m a holiday deal insider for Scrapbook.com, I can go ahead and tell you my absolute must-have item is a freebie today (while supplies last). The Magic Mat has changed my die cutting game completely. If there are any left, you can also snag two free Pops of Color embellishment bottles and use the code “BLACKFRIDAY” for an extra 10% off today’s purchases. I have never seen that many deals all in one day. (An extra freebie you won’t see advertised is a copy of this magazine, so snag that too!) If you’d like to see a full list of all the crafty sales, deals, & coupon codes I’ve been collecting, please consider bookmarking this resource list I’ve made HERE, because I’ll keep updating it throughout the holiday sale season with all the deals I find.
Now, onto today’s project…
Step 1: Gather Supplies
The first thing I typically do when beginning a new project is to shop my stash. Since we only have a couple more weeks of fall, I wanted to use my “Fall” 6×6 paper pad before I started packing away all my fall items into the closet. I also pulled out
- Crop-o-Dile hole punch & eyelet setter
- Eyelets
- Scissors
- Twine
- “Fall” Sticker Book (or Tags or Ephemera Pack)
- Leaf Shaped Sequins (or Embellishments)
- Peppermint Paper Pad
- Glitter Paper Pads
- Coffee Cup Gift Card Holder (or Shaker) Die Set
- Nested Circle Die Set (or circle punches)
- Cover Weight Cardstock
- Magic Mat
- Mint Tape
- Adhesives: Foam, Tape Runner, Tear Tape, and/or Liquid
Step 2: Die Cutting
Next, I die cut all my pieces, so I would have a little buffet of pieces to mix and match. For the gift card holder base, I used a heavier weight cardstock and used papers from the “Fall”, Peppermint & Glitter paper pads for the layers. Since the patterned paper and solid paper pad are made of a lighter weight, I was able to cut two or three layers at a time. To maximize how many cuts I could get from each paper, I secured the layers with mint tape. This keeps the dies and layers of paper from shifting around in my die cutting machine which can be frustrating and wasteful.
There are several pages in the mega paper pad which have sentiments on them, so I used my circle dies and punches to cut them out. I needed more though, so here’s where I ended up pulling out my sticker book.
Step 3: Assembly
Once I created my die cut buffet, I mixed and matched all the pieces until I had combinations I liked, and started securing the pieces in place. In this picture you can see where I only used patterned paper to cover what would be the front of the coffee cup and lid to save on paper. It would be cute to stamp or write a message on the back or inside though. You can also see at the top, how the belly band forms a loop which the cup will slide into and keep it closed. Super cute!
Since the circle punches and dies I had on hand ended up giving me a base circle which hangs over the edges of the belly band, I was careful not to place adhesive where it would stick to the card base. You can see on the dark blue circle where I left the top and bottom clear of tape, so I didn’t accidentally glue the band to the card. I cut a smaller circle for the sentiment layer and secured it over the larger circle with foam tape. For the ones I was adhering over a glitter circle layer I added a dab of liquid glue to give it some extra grip.
Step 4: Punch & Set
These gift card holders could be finished at this point, but I wanted to turn them into tags, so I punched and set eyelets into the tops of each one and added a loop of twine. Subsequently, this also made a nice extra security layer, because the flap of the base now tucks in quite securely.
Step 5: Embellish
Once everything was done, I thought they looked a bit plain, so I went back and pulled some leaf shaped sequins out of my stash. It looks like they’re already sold out, but I found a set of similar leaf shaped embellishments I like even better.
And there you have it! I ended up making a boatload of these in no time and have already started making a Christmas version of them as well to add to the set I made back in July. With holiday season upon us, I like to bulk up on my gift stash as much as possible. I usually go through hoards of these, but if I have any left over, then I just save them for next year, because they’re such a staple in my gift giving.
For more photos of this project and a full supply list (including all the freebies), visit my gallery post HERE.
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Until next time… stay crafty! – Laura Evangeline
Laura Evangeline 
