Fishing Gift Card Holder Tutorial

I will be showing you how I made the Fishing Gift Card Holder. I will also show you how I made the waves that hold the gift card in place.
So let's get started!!


Supplies


To make the waves:
"Life is a Beach" Cricut Cartridge
Distress Inks: Broken China, Weathered Wood, Shabby Shutters, Forest Moss
Ink Applicators
Embossing Machine
Embossing Folders of your choice ( I used D'Vine Swirls and Swiss Dots from Cuttlebug)
Adhesive


To make the gift card:
Paper Measuring 4 X 6 1/4
Scorer & Scoreboard
Paper Distresser
Distress Inks: 
Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Crushed Olive, Walnut Stain, Stormy Sky, & Faded Jeans
Staz-On Timber Brown ink
Ink Applicators
Stamps of your choice 
(I used some Tim Holtz and a wood mounted Bass stamp)
Craft Pick
Embossing Ink
Embossing Powder
Embossing Gun
Hand Sanitizer
Water
1 Brad
2 Hooks with the tip and barb cut off
(Can use another method if you prefer)
Fishing Line 
(Can use a different material if you prefer)


Part 1
Making the waves

Step 1: Using the waves from the letter "R" function on Life is a Beach, you will cut 2 sections of waves; one at 2 inches and the other at 1 1/2 inches.

Step 2: Cut the 1 1/1 inch strips just like the pic below. Do not cut the larger section of waves.

Step 3: Apply the ink using an ink applicator to the waves.
First Shabby Shutters, then Weathered Wood, followed by Broken China. You can't really mess this up so that makes it stress free! ; )

 
 Step 4: Do the same to the smaller wave sections. You will only need to do the tips so don't worry about inking the base.
Start with Broken China First then end withWeathered Wood.

Step 5: Cut the bases off of the small waves.

Step 6: Once you have your waves inked and cut, place them in embossing folders. The large wave was placed in the D'vine Swirls folder. You will need to run the large waves twice because the entire strip doesn't fit.

The small waves were placed in the Swiss Dots folder.

Step 7: Run them through your embossing machine


Step 8: More inking!! I added more Weathered Wood and (not pictured) Forest Moss on the large waves to bring out the swirls.
I also added more Weather Wood to the small waves (not pictured). 

Step 9:  Glue the small wave sections to the backside of the large waves as in the picture below. Make sure to place the small wave portion so that it will show when looking at it from the front (hoping that makes sense).

Viola! Waves! =)


Part 2
Making the gift card


Step 1: Apply Crushed Olive Distress Ink to entire surface of your 4 X 6 1/4 piece of paper.
Then apply Peeled Paint, Forest Moss and Stormy Sky in the same way.
Step 2: To achieve this background in the pic below sprinkle, with your hand, water and then do the same with the hand sanitizer. The hand sanitizer will pull out the Stormy Sky color.

Step 3: After the paper has dried, distress all four sides of the paper with a paper distresser.


Step 4: Apply Walnut Stain Distress Ink around all four of the edges.

Step 5: Turn your piece of paper over. Ink the top 4 inches in Stormy Sky and Faded Jeans and then ink the bottom portion that is left in Crushed Olive, Peeled Paint, and Forest Moss. Note **There will be spots from the front side but it does make for a rustic effect.

Step 6: Place Stamps, in the Staz-On Timber Brown, where you would like them.

Step 7: Stamp your image on a separate sheet of paper. Ink the image how you like then cut it out.

Step 8: Place a small hole in the fishes mouth where the hook will go.

Step 9:  Cover image with embossing ink, embossing powder and then heat emboss your image. You will need to place your craft pick over the hole you just pierced to keep this hole from being closed by the embossing enamel and to hold the image in place so it does not blow away with your embossing gun.

Step 10: Ink your saying/s on the front sides of the card before scoring. Feel free to personalize what you want your gift card holder to say.

Step 11: Score the green inked portion at the 2 inch mark and score blue inked portion at the 4 1/4 inch mark.

Step 12: Pierce a hole at the top for your brad to fit and place brad (refer to last image to show placement of brad).
Step 13: Place and glue stamped image so that the underside of the brad is no longer visible (the fish is now covering the prongs of the brad).

Step 14: Tie fishing line to hook and place the hook in mouth where you pierced a hole earlier (if you would like). 
Step 15: Glue down hook.


Step 16: Score a thin line at the base of the waves. This will provide a tab to glue. 
Step 17: Match the scored line on your waves to the score line on the gift card and glue down. Let dry.

Step 18: Glue tiny portion of the side of the waves to act as the pocket for your gift card. Make sure your gift card can slide in and out easily.

Step 19: Double the fishing line and tie the two ends in a knot around the hook.
Step 20: Place the loop end of the fishing line around the brad, wrap fishing line around the gift card and place hook around the brad to keep it closed.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you have any questions let me know and I would be happy to help. =)

Fishing Gift Card Holder

My husband is a huge, and I mean HUGE fisherman. The amount of money my supplies cost doesn't even begin to touch the amount his cost!!! Anyway, he really wanted to thank a fishing buddy for a taking him out a few times on his boat to fish. They talk all the time on the phone. They are like 2 little girls and they crack me up. His friend recommended a restaurant to us that he just raved about. We went and now my husband is raving about it. We got his buddy a gift card to the restaurant to let him know how much my husband appreciates everything he has done for him. 

This is the paper I used from my Hand sanitizer and Distress Ink Experiment if you would like to see how the background was made. 

I used a small fishing hook, brad and fishing line to keep the gift card holder closed until time to open. Don't worry. I cut off the sharp end and dulled the tip out. =)

They mostly fish for Bass so I had picked up a Bass stamp awhile ago. I knew it would come in handy!

The inside before the gift card is in place.

Again, I used a hook and put it through the fish's mouth. A polymer knot was even tied to the hook with fishing line by none other than yours truly...me (I do a little fishing as well (= ).

I used some waves that I made for another project a while back that I didn't end up using. It worked out great for the pocket the gift card fits into. YAY!!

The holder with the gift card now in place.

Tutorial to Follow

Quick Hand Sanitizer & Distress Ink Experiment

I had a crazy thought today. While working with some distress inks, I had planned on using the water technique that Tim Holtz demonstrates here (scroll down just a bit and you will see the water in his hand). However, I glanced across my craft table and noticed some hand sanitizer...Hmmmmmmm...

I will show you pictures of distress inks used with hand sanitizer, hydrogen peroxide, and rubbing alcohol.

The pic below shows the hand sanitizer applied to the paper noted by the black arrows. The last color I used was faded jeans so I thought it was awesome that the hand sanitizer pulled out the blue.

 After applying my heat embosser, the blue spots bleach out to white. If you don't heat emboss, the blue will stay

The second pic shows the reaction of distress inks with hydrogen peroxide noted by the black arrows. You can now see the "bleached out" areas where the hand sanitizer was heated.

The third pic shows the reaction of rubbing alcohol noted by the black arrows. 

This pic shows the reaction of water noted by the blue arrows and the reaction of hand sanitizer noted by the black arrows. What did I use this background for? Check out the next post and you will see. Time to put all of my test tubes, flasks, and beakers away. =)

Thanks for stopping by. Have fun experimenting!

"Saije" Minnie Mouse Cupcake Toppers

NOT AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE

I made these cupcake toppers for another 1st birthday by request. I can't wait to see the pics from Saije's (pronounced like Sage) party. I hope she had so much fun! I changed them up just a tiny bit from the first ones I made by adding polka dots to the bow on the front side...

...polka dots to the "1"...

...and polka dots to her name!! 

Happy 1st Birthday Saije!!

Monogram Pendant & Charm Necklace with Tutorial

I really wanted a monogram necklace but wasn't sure how to go about it. I found this bracelet on sale at HL and had an idea. I took apart the bracelet and used the circle pieces to hold the monogram. I made one for my Mom, Mother-in-Law and myself. I did them all in our favorite colors and picked out some other charms to add a little vintage style. 

(Tutorial below)

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Monogram Pendant Tutorial

You will Need:

Glue

Clear Embossing Enamel

Embossing Gun

Embossing Ink (I used Versamark)

Necklace

Desired Charms

Circles cut to fit the inside of the pendant

Either ink and ink blenders or colored paper

Monogram (Mine were stamped)

Tweezers

Step 1: If you are not using colored paper then you will need to either leave the paper white or use your favorite color ink. 

Step 2: Stamp or place your monogram in the center of the circle.

Step 3: Next, you will need to cover your circle with embossing ink.

Step 4: Shake clear embossing enamel over the circle until fully covered.

Step 5: Using tweezers, gently and carefully pick up circle and shake to remove excess embossing enamel.

Step 6: Heat emboss until your surface is clear and shiny as in the picture below.

Step 7: Once the circle has cooled, place glue on the inside of your pendant. Align your circle inside the pendant and gently apply light pressure around the edges (Some glue may pool over the edge of your circle. That is no problem, wipe it off as best as you can).

Your pendant should now look like the picture below.

Step 8: Hold your pendant with tweezers and heat the already embossed circle. This will cause the enamel to melt again. 

**WARNING: THE PENDANT MAY BE VERY HOT TO THE TOUCH SO BE CAREFUL NOT TO BURN YOURSELF!!**

Step 9: Quickly apply a layer of embossing enamel over the circle. Again, shake off the excess enamel.

Step 10: Heat emboss until your monogram is clear and the enamel appears smooth. 

Step 11: Repeat steps 9 & 10 until desired thickness of enamel is reached.

If the Monogram begins to rise, you may need to let the monogram cool for a bit before reheating the enamel and applying more.

As you can see in the picture below, there are bubbles of enamel on the sides. Not to worry, when you are done you can scrape the sides with your fingernail and the bubbles will be removed.

Step 12: Once you have scraped the sides to remove the bubbles, heat emboss again to remove any scratches you may have caused on the face of the monogram. 

There may be voids on the sides which can add a little bit of a distressed look. But, if you want a void free surface, continue to apply the enamel.

Step 13: When you have reached the look you want, set it aside for a few minutes to cool before assembling.

Step 14: Assemble pendant onto your necklace and show it off!!!

Enjoy!