Making a gift card holder

I've got a cute little project to show you that's great for all year long, but the design I'm using today makes it great for winter birthdays and, dare I say it.....Christmas! Sorry, but it is October, and Christmas is right around the corner!

So onto my project for today....

Gift cards – love ‘em or loath ‘em there here to stay and they make great gifts!

I used to feel really uncertain about giving a gift card as a gift. I thought they looked a bit impersonal. I worried that the recipient would think that I had either forgotten about getting them a gift and that the gift card was a last minute effort, or that I couldn’t be bothered to take the time and buy them something they would like…or worse, that I didn’t know what they would like! But they are perfect in so many ways – the recipient can choose exactly what they want, right size, right colour etc., and who doesn’t like to go out shopping and treat themselves to something? (Ok, my hubby would the one who hates that, but he’s the exception that proves the rule!)

So here’s my way to show that you took some time and care over the gift of a gift card.

The perfect, handmade gift card holder. Cute, practical and personal! 

The little penguin motif is from my website www.TangledThreadsOnline.com and it's a great little alphabet for many reasons. Apart from the fact that it's super cute (!) it's great to use for  winter birthdays. It's also brilliant for using up all those odd bits of threads that we collect. you can easily change the colours of the borders, hats or scarves to suit either the recipient or whatever threads you have in your stash! Cool uh?

Here’s how I made it.

You will need –

Cross stitched design (Penguin alphabet from www.TangledThreadsOnline.com)

Iron-on interfacing

Felt in co-ordinating colour approx. 18 ½ cm x 11 ½ cm

Stranded cotton thread

Self-adhesive Velcro dots

Fabric glue

1. Iron out any creases on your cross stitch motif then back with iron-on interfacing.

Trim round design 1 square from the edge of the stitching.

  2. Fold felt into thirds, this ‘pocket’ should fit a standard size gift card, but do check just in case you have a wacky sized gift card!

3. Pin edges to hold in place.

4. Blanket stitch using all six strands of thread.

5.  Find center point of the top ‘flap’ and trim to form a triangle.

Glue the trimmed cross stitch motif centrally to flap.

6.   Attach self-adhesive Velcro dots.

 7.     Insert gift card!

 Simple!

 So there you have it! A simple, easy way to show you care and still give a gift card.

Until next time...happy stitching!

Rhona