Well it’s December 1st. Am I the ONLY one who thinks that is INSANE?? Where did July go?!

Yesterday we actually got an accumulation of snow.

What I can’t believe is I have to STOP the talk about gift giving and actually get started! UGH!! This means it will be a crazy next couple of weeks.

Anyway every month on the 1st Nichole gives us a Design Team Challenge, and this month was to create a unique presentation for a gift card or cash.

I think this was a great challenge for us all because I know we have many TEENS in our family, and I’m not killing myself making them some keepsake (that they will toss) or try to figure out WHAT to buy-so I ALWAYS go the gift card route. You can’t lose 😀

I decided this challenge would help me get some holders ready in time for the holiday. Often even if I don’t MAKE a gift, and give cash or a gift card, I always like to present it in a FUN way.

Well I decided when I saw this gift card design

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at Michaels, that it would inspire my design. Did I have FUN!!!!!

You can see how I used a hobby blade to make the mittens “hold” the gift card in the photo above. I stamped my mittens first, then used a coluzzle to cut a circle around them for the body D Easy peasy.

 I think its great to make your theme fit your gift card theme.

Here is the full view of my first of THREE gift card holders: Spender Snowman

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Is he not the most adorable thing you have ever seen?!

I have to say my finished gift card holder just came out better than the vision in my head 😀

The very first thing that ever came to mind when I saw the actual size of the mitten image from the Snowfall set was to hold a gift card! It was one of those ideas that I had, but didn’t execute right away. I just jotted it down, to save for later. Well I’m happy to say that while this was different than my original vision in my head,  I just LOVE it. There is a snowman on the card that sparked the idea, as did the colors in the gift card.

Now the hands and body were the easy part. I had to decide what to do for the face!

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I used the top of the tree from the Merry & Bright set for my snowman nose, and a middle image of a different tree from the Merry & Bright additions set for my little hat cuff! I thought it matched the gift card perfectly! The rest of the hat was just a die cut circle from Ocean Tides cardstock. Added a pom pom to the top.

The sentiment on the bottom of the snowman is from Merry & Bright

Now my eyes are Bella Dots– just colored with a black sharpie marker!!

I used Pebbles Pearlescent Chalks for the shimmery pink cheeks.

Now the scarf I used the Aqua Mist grosgrain and pulled the fiber apart, securing it in place with a brad from Making Memories. A perfect scarf don’t you think?

This lil Spender Snowman took me about a 45 minutes to make, which isn’t bad considering I had NO real idea what I was going to use for each step.

The BEST part of this entire project was when I showed my husband. He said it was his favorite thing I have ever made! ( I thought-WOW! REALLY?!!) Then he went on with a FABULOUS idea. He since since I was seeking inspiration from my gift card I should also make a Santa and a Reindeer!

What  great idea. Considering he never offers creative input or shows too much excitement, I figured I better listen to show him his opinion matters (and get some of our family gift card holders done a tad bit earlier than Christmas Eve! LOL!)

NOTE: You can tell the snow started to fall as I stamped! Put me in the Christmas spirit as I FROZE my hiney off taking photos in our yard outside my stamp room. I crawled out the window-in my slippers-no jacket-to get these photos! OYE! What we do for our hobby eh?

Next up: Santa Sends Some $

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Now aside from the mittens (like above) the rest is just cardstock and creativity!

I used Pure Poppy cardstock , and stamped his mittens in black and white ink.

For the belt buckle that was an OLD punch I had from EK Success and never used-till now! LOL! His beard is done in white-using a scallop circle nestability, and his face was a large oval, punched from blush cardstock, with the addition of googly eyes, and pink cheeks!!

Ribbon makes his hat cuff here, and another pom pom.

Then I debated-a mouth or no mouth?

So I slapped one on, and didn’t like it :C

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I didn’t have the right size circle for his mouth and I wanted him to be happy. At the end of the day I ripped this mouth off! LOL! Oh well. What is your opinion? Mouth on or off? I guess writing this it is kind cute…….HMM.

Now he only took me a bit over 20 minutes.

Now last but not least: Buck-a-roo

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By now its FREEZING and DARK! Sorry this photo is awful :C

BUT…………Isn’t he cute?!

I created him using Kraft cardstock then sponged the edges. For the stamping- his mittens were done with Pure Poppy and Dark Chocolate ink. I made him also hold a snowball.

Want to know what made his antler’s?  It was the OPEN line image of the tree trunk from Father Knows Best, stamped in black, on dark chocolate cardstock, then cut out!

His ears are colored Bridal Confetti flowers 😀

His Rudolph nose was originally the layered circle stamp-also from Father Knows Best, and covered with a large Bling (colored with a sharpie marker), but you can still see some of the circle outline, which is what I hoped for.  More googly eyes to complete the face 😀

His scarf is a polka dot Ocean Tides ribbon, secured with a button that I embellished with some dotted cardstock.

The sentiment on the bottom is from Merry & Bright

The Buck-a-r00 took about a 1/2 hour since I wasn’t sure HOW to make him look just like a reindeer.

Now here we have a photo of the gift card trio-with the inspiration gift card!

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By now I am a icicle! LOL! Covered in falling snow.

I hope you like my version of some cute little gift card holders, all created from the inspiration of the mittens! These didn’t take that long to make, and considering I have done the design part, to re-create them and whip up several, wouldn’t be as long! LOL!

I really don’t care how long they took, as I truly had fun with the challenge, and the extra push of inspiration that my husband set before me 😀 Thanks honey! Im just so happy with these.

Now for MORE inspiring ideas for Cash and Carry be sure to check out the design teams members!

  • Debbie Olson
  • Lisa Johnson
  • Michelle Wooderson
  • Nichole Heady  
  • Pine

    • Thanks for taking the time to stop by! Id LOVE to hear which one is YOUR favorite!

    Mine is the snowman

    Alexa liked Santa

    Amber liked the Santa

    Noah liked the Santa

    I should have expected the kids to say that one! LOL!

    Jay wouldn’t pick-he said they were all equally cute. I think he thought it was a trick question! You know like most men think when we ask them stuff. Too funny.

    Anyway-hope you find some time to stamp for FUN! Challenging yourself while crossing off your “to do” list is a great way to multitask 😀

    Thanks for reading and only 24 more creating days till Christmas!