Create card sets to give as gifts

I have a terrible habit of buying crafting supplies, tools and paraphernalia with the justification that “I’ll make my own and it will save us money”.

Do you do that?

I have the best intentions of making all of the projects that the items I’m purchasing can make – but it doesn’t really happen. Or, I’ll make one or two and then move on to the next “must-have” item.

I was surfing “Minted” for Christmas cards the other day – and they are so gorgeous – but I was feeling guilty that I have all of the materials I need to make my own, but was still wanting more.

Greed.

Greed- no more! I decided to put my Silhouette to use!

An easy gift for just about everyone on your Christmas list is Thank You cards. We all need them, particularly after the Holidays – so why not give a handmade gift that is useful?

Cut your cardstock to 5.5″ by 4. 25″.

I chose to add a swipe or two of watercolour paint to a few of my cards, just to see how it would turn out.

While the paint is drying you can stamp or write your thank you message on the inside. I also have a stamp for “Handmade Stationery”, so I added that to the back of the card.

I pulled out my Silhouette sketch pens in gold, copper and silver and put them into the machine. I selected my thank you image and set up the machine per the instructions.

Note: when using sketch pens (instead of the cutter) you’ll want to select “No cut”, “card stock” and “sketch pen” from the options menu.

Click start and voila!

The glitter pens did a nice job of making the cards look almost gold/silver foiled.

On the downside, my pen ran out of ink after just 10 cards. (What a rip off!)

I made some with watercolours, some with scalloped edges (using a large scallop punch) and some plain-jane with just the gold/silver wording.

I packaged them up in clear boxes and added two strips of paper around the middle to act as a belly band.

A 2″ circle punch for the outside circle, and a 1 3/4″ circle punch for the inside one. Some Holiday stamps to decorate and you have some really cute packaging.

I even stamped the envelopes (tucked in the back of each package) with a “Thank you” stamp on the back flap, just for that extra touch.