Stampin’ Up! Gift Card and Tea Bag Holders….Tis the Season!

Hi All,

Winter has arrived here in Southern Oregon with chilly temps, lots of rain, hail and something that’s a cross between snow and hail!  So naturally with Christmas just around the corner and Valentines coming soon after (with my birthday in between – LOL!) my mind is thinking Tea and gifts!  Tea to warm up and creating fun gift card holders for that most modern of all Christmas Gifts.   So much easier to wrap but boring if just tucked inside an envelope.  Gotta keep the fun going right?  Besides with the right holder you can hang them on a tree or tuck in a stocking to keep things interesting.  At the bottom of the post I’ve added links to some documents I created with lots of creative links for Tea Card Holders and Poems and also a gazillion kinds of Gift Card Holders.  Enjoy!

Here’s a tea bag  and gift card holder all made from the same Big Shot die  from my last couple of stamping events.

Tea Bag Holder using the Baskets and Blooms die – Works for Gift Cards too!

Couldn’t print the cardstock with an appropriate verse (don’t you hate it when the printer announces its out of ink the day of an event)  so I  hand wrote a schmaltzy quick one with a marker.  The idea was CASE’d from a swap from Regionals my Upline Cheryl brought home.  See the swap at the end of the pictures.  As an alternative a creative stamper from our event used the Peace, Love, Joy stamp from All Holidays in place of the tea verse and that looked absolutely lovely as well.

In CASEing the tea bag holder I switched out the DSP to cardstock watermarked with the Simple Snowflake stamp and created a mini tag with two newer punches.  Ever since I figured out a way to showcase our new little oval punch I can’t stop making variations on this tiny tag.  LOL!   Love the original creators use of the Bitty Buttons as a faux Build a Brad and now I’m addicted to that as well!  Both these options are perfect for the frugal crafter on a budget.

Tip: And one of the things I love about the Big Shot and its sturdy steel rule dies…. its possible to cut paper for more than one of these baskets at a time.  I used my Table top Cutter to cut an 8-1/2″ x 11″ standard sheet of Stampin’ Up Cardstock into fours (same as if creating card fronts for swaps).   Then stacked all four pieces together, placed over the lower basket image on the die and ran through the Big Shot with the usual sandwich.   Voila…two gift card baskets ready to put together!   That little feature sure saved me some time when prepping for the events showcasing this little gift holder!

Supplies for the tea bag holder version:

Stamps:  Simple Snowflake (single stamp), Itty Bitty Bits (tea cup), Tiny Tags (4you)

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla Cardstock, Nite Owl DSP (from the Holiday Mini)

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake (daubed around the edges),Versamark, Cherry Cobbler Marker

Other:  Big Shot, Baskets and Blooms die, Medium Oval Punch (I think of it as small – lol), Jewelry tag punch, Decorative Label Punch , Snowflake Punch, Itty Bitty circle punch, Piercing tool and Mat Pack, Itty Bitty Buttons, Tinsel Trim, Linen Thread, glue dots, dimensionals, Sponge Dauber, Sticky Strip, Dazzling Diamonds and two way glue pen (doesn’t show up in the picture).

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The layered background to the Decorative Label piece  is another Decorative label punch piece cut in half and postioned above and below the full punch piece.  The Tinsel trim with its wire core makes getting the tea bags in and out very easy.

 

The snowflake bitty button piece was created by stamping the tea cup image from Itty Bitty Bits on a scrap piece of Very Vanilla Cardstock, punching with the Coordinating Itty Bitty punch then attaching with a glue dot to the back of the button.  Attach the button piece to the snowflake punch piece with a glue dot then attach the completed snowflake/button piece to the holder with a dimensional.  Easy Peasy.   I did discover that the round punch and button were the easiest though with the coordinating punches and buttons in the Itty Bitty collection you can use the scallop or flower shape too – they’re just a bit trickier to line up correctly!

 

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Here’s the Gift Card Version with two slight variations as offered at Decembers Christmas Gifts Stamp Camp

 

 

 

And here’s a bit of a close up that shows the gift card in place as well as the back side of the holder.  I’m noticing that the Dazzling Diamonds on the mini tag aren’t showing up in either picture.  Must be the scanner!   I was also very pleased when designing this to find that the Merry Christmas Postcard stamp fits completely onto the basket!  It looked so much larger in the Holiday mini catalog.  Very cool too that it also coordinates with the Bells & Boughs stamp set I used too (note it also coordinates with the Christmas Collage stamp and the Deck the Halls Paper and Fabric).  Have to say too that once again I’m enamored of the Tinsel Trim (boy do I hope Stampin’ Up adds that to the permanent line up).  Provides bling and ease of opening and closing all in one lovely package.

 

Gift Card Holder - front

 

Gift Card Holder Back

Supplies for the gift card holder version:

Stamps:  Merry Christmas Postcard (Holiday mini single stamp), Bells & Boughs (Holiday mini), Peaceful Season (Holiday Mini Hostess set – to from stamp image), Short & Sweet (snowflake)

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla Cardstock

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake

Other:  Big Shot, Baskets and Blooms die, Medium Oval Punch (I think of it as small – lol), 1/2″ circle punch,  Piercing tool and Mat Pack,  Tinsel Trim, Linen Thread, Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding,  Sponge dauber, Sticky Strip, Dazzling Diamonds and two way glue pen (doesn’t show up in the picture).

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Overall a very quick project.  Die cut the baskets, sponge dauber with Crumb Cake ink around the basket and the handle opening.  Stamp the images, create the little hanging tag with punch and stamp and add a little dazzling diamonds to the snowflake (and anything else that strikes your fancy) with a two way glue pen and Voila a gift holder (or 2) in under 10 minutes.  Inexpensive too.  Depending on the bling and embellishment factor you can make these for between 30 and 60 cents apiece!

 

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And the Tea Bag Holder Shoebox Swap from Portland Regional that started it all.

Here’s the lists of links for both Gift Cards and Tea Bag Holders (poems too to go with them):

Gift Card Holder ideas

Tea Bag Holder Poems – templates – tutorials

And a template for a basic teabag holder:

Tea Bag Holder Template

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Time to get a cup of tea and start creating more of these little darlings.   Makes the perfect little hostess gift, teacher gift or gift exchange item.  Fun to hand out to just about anyone and won’t dent the pocket book (depending on the size of the gift card of course – LOL!)!

Hugs and Holiday Blessings – Jean

Merry Christmas and Holiday Blessings!