Money Envelopes - Great for Making a Boring Gift Extra Special

I always feel a little guilty when I gift someone money because it seems like the easy way out - rather than take the trouble to find a really thoughtful gift, I end up giving cash. Well now I found a way to feel better about it - with handmade money envelopes. I mean you can seriously go nuts with them and then suddenly presenting money will actually be a welcome prospect!

My first envelope is a dramatic black one. I found that Itsy Bitsy has launched this new line of masculine coloured flowers aptly titled 'Gentleman'. And I decided to take that colour scheme forward with a whole lot of greys and blacks. What do you think? Does it say drama?

For my second envelope, I kept it simple and just went crazy with the flap. I used Itsy Bitsy's heart lattice punch to create that border for the flap and edged it off with a line of purple pearls. The end result was this fun frilly envelope. Totally love how it turned out!

For my third envelope, I went all soft and summery - after all we are in the middle of a sunny Indian summer right. I used the Cuttlebug Vintage die to cut little panels in the envelope and then trimmed that off with some pretty Itsy Bitsy flowers and pearls. Buttons were perfect for the centre, what do you think?

Have you tried making your own money envelopes? We would love to see. Leave a comment and we'll pop by!

Supplies Used

An Exploding Box with Explosive Flowers!

I love Exploding Boxes! They're so innovative and clever - a wonderful way of giving a card... nothing beats it. I've done one before for this blog which you can view here. This is my second attempt albeit 8 months later. However this time I wanted to make a really EXPLOSIVE exploding box. One where the contents literally explode out of the box. So here's my creation. 

                                      

My exploding box is a testament to Spring Flowers. Not that we really have the season here in India but  it seems like a wonderful time of year overseas where flowers start blooming all over the place. So my papers are all from the DCVW Fresh Floral Stack and the lid of my box has been embellished with some gorgeous Antique Fusion Blooms from Itsy Bitsy. Here's a closer look at the box when it's closed along with a closeup of the flowers on the lid. 

  

Now onto the explosion! So when the box opens, it opens to a flat card base and right in the centre I carried forward the flower theme with a pot of gorgeous blooms from Itsy Bitsy. As you can see, there are some flowers which hug the pot and others that just burst out, hence the explosion. In fact they burst out and continue bouncing about a bit so it's really a treat for the eyes! 

                           

Here's a closeup of the central flower pot to give you a view of the suspended flowers as well. I used some adorable sunflowers from Itsy Bitsy for the bouncing ones and connected them via a thin strip of OHP or transparency sheet to create that bursting out effect. Isn't that fun!

As far as I was concerned my box ends with this centrepiece but of course I had to add some details to the panels surrounding the flower pot so grudgingly I did.. ha ha... And then I had fun with that as well. Here are  some pictures of the inner panels. 

 

Finally here's a picture which I also really love. It's shows how the box looks when you take off the lid. It's so pretty as all you can see is this bunch of flowers that is literally bursting to come out.

For this project, I have made a video tutorial demonstrating how I created certain aspects of the box.  I have shown how the Itsy Bitsy Heart Border punch works for embellishing the sides of the box and lid. I have also displayed how I used the Itsy Bitsy Scoring Board to make the box which works wonderfully for such projects and is a really economical scoring option for crafters on a budget. Finally I've also shown how I created the flower pot with the flowers bursting out. I will be uploading the video very soon so watch this space for updates!

Update 22nd April 2013: The video is ready and you can view it here

Thanks so much for dropping by and I would love to hear your thoughts about my explosive exploding box. 

Supplies Used: Please click on the image to visit the product page on our website

Crafting with the DCVW Card and Envelope Sets

Die Cuts with a View is an American scrapbooking and card making brand and they come up with the most gorgeous pattern papers to add beauty and style to all our projects. But did you know they also have card and envelope sets to make gorgeous projects with a readymade base? I recently got my hands on 2 such sets - one from the DCVW Linen pack and the other from the Mariposa Pack. Here's a look at the cards I made, before and after. 

This card is from the Mariposa pack and it's all about butterflies. So to embellish the card, I decided to use my foam punch with a black glitter foam sheet to make some miniature butterflies. I added 2 tiny crystals in the center for a touch of glam and a rich dark ribbon knot at the top. I embellished the envelope as well with the same butterflies and voila my card was done!

Next I got to work on the card from the Linen stack. It had a very neutral design so I figured a splash of pink would do some good.  I got out my eyelet punch and punched a row of eyelets at the bottom. I lined up 2 rows of crystals above the eyelet row and finished off with a bright pink bow at the top. I used this adorable pink elephant sticker as a final touch and my card was ready. For the envelope I punched 3 eyelets on the envelope flap to continue the theme and on the reverse side I placed the crystals.  Here's another look at the card and all its elements.

I have filmed the making of both these cards so that you can see first hand how the foam punch works, how to punch eyelets, how to use the glue gun and how to use glue dots. You can watch it here:

Supplies Used: Click on the caption beneath each thumbnail photo for the product page at our online store website.

Pink Grosgrain Ribbon

Grosgrain Ribbon 

Aluminium Eyelets

Eyelet Punch

Glue Dots

Glue Gun

Yellow Crystal

Butterfly Foam Punch

Pink Crystal

Elephant Mini Embellishment

Linen Card & Envelope

Mariposa Card & Envelope

Pattern Paper in Recycling crafts..by Guest DT Dr Sonia

At ItsyBitsy we are keen to present new ideas and perspectives on craft which is why we will frequently be inviting guest crafters to add their creations to our blog. I am very pleased to say that Dr. Sonia of Cards and School Projects has returned for another fabulous GD post. This time it's all about recycling and making something new and beautiful from something old. At the same time I asked Sonia to include pattern papers in her creation since that's the theme of the month here at ItsyBitsy. I never fail to marvel at her creativity and I'm sure you will too. Over to Doc! 

Shadow Box

Dear friends Dr Sonia here once again from Cards ,Crafts and School projects.Thank you so much Sunehra & team Itsy Bitsy for inviting me again to Guest post.

Dear readers first of all let me share a secret..I don't craft much with pattern paper ..not that I dont like pretty paper ..I just cant bring myself to use it !!
[I was actually sorely tempted to tell Sunehra I couldn't GD for this theme!]
To feel better about cutting up pretty paper, I recycled a cardboard box into a shadowbox using mostly a single 12 x 12 sheet of pattern paper

Recycling craft

I cut and glued the flaps of the box to make the compartment of my shadow box

Recycling craft

I used the gorgeous pearlised paper to line the compartments of the box.[I buy this from Itsy Bitsy in huge chart paper size rolls as they are so versatile..they come in handy for punchcraft,school projects,card making and recycling!]
I die cut , punched  ,cut borders out of  and made punch-craft flowers all from one single pattern paper[okay..call me stingy!!]

Shadow Box

I have used the Victorian square and Itsy Bitsy Venetian die to cut the patten paper
All the the flowers in this project were made using pattern paper ,punches and some gorgeous Itsy Bitsy pearls

Punch craft flowers

On the Itsy Bitsy Venetian die cut banner, added some quilling , punchcraft flowers  and used some gorgeous Itsy Bitsy epoxy stones on the sides.

Quilled Flowers

Here is the side view of the shadow box with flowery borders and a beautiful cheerful pattern paper.I used the versatile glitter strips to line and highlight each compartment

Shadow Box

The lacy hearts were made using an MS punch..You can make a similar design using Itsy Bitsy's own new 2 in 1 Lacy Heart punch

Shadow Box

Here is a closeup of the homemade stick pin

Stick pin

Most of you may be knowing how to make one..but I made my first pin only recently so to help others like me sharing how to make a stick pin

Stick pin tutorial

I used a beaded pin , flower caps , pearls and a glue gun to make a stick pin. Thread the flower cap onto the pin as shown and put a bit of hot glue into the cap..thread in your big bead immediately.

Apply a thin thread of glue on the pin stick and thread the rest of the beads and your stick pin is done! [You just need to work fast but carefully so as to not burn yourself!]

Stick pin tutorial

Here is the aerial view showing the scallop and flowery borders on the roof and doilies on the floor of each compartment

Shadow Box

So many wonderful entries have already poured in for the Pattern paper challenge and I am mesmerized by the display of creativity. Thank you so much Sunehra and Itsy Bitsy for inviting me to GD once again.

PS: Do drop by my blog Cards ,Crafts, School projects later to see what my daughter converted this into!

Supplies Used:

Victorian Panels Square Die

Easter Time Pattern Paper 

White Pearl Beads

Pink Pearl Beads 

Purple Pearl Beads

Pink Pearl Card Stock

Glitter Strips

Pink Quilling Strips

Venetian Panels Die 

Heart Border Punch

Hairpin Findings