Think Outside the Album: Gift Card Holders 12/18

It’s the season for gifts and giving, and in our family, we’re all about gift cards. Whether it’s teenagers who don’t trust anyone to buy them clothes, older family members who don’t want more “stuff” but love dining out, or people you want to thank – like your hairstylist, mail carrier, or an employee or colleague at work – that you don’t really know on a personal level, gift cards are the ideal present.

A gift card – also known as a gift certificate – is a card containing a set amount of money to be used for purchases. They’re either issued by a specific retailer for use in their store or business, or they’re issued by a bank for use anywhere that accepts payment via credit card. Nearly 50% of all gift cards sold in a year are purchased in the month of December, and in one survey, 71% of consumers said they’d rather get a gift card than a physical gift.

Some people, however, dislike giving gift cards because they feel they’re too impersonal. Well, we have an easy solution: create a DIY gift card holder that’s personalized to the recipient!

Welcome to the December installment of Think Outside the Album, where we look at different ways to take our digital supplies off the scrapbook page and instead, use them to make the rest of our world just a little bit sweeter! This month, we’ll show you how to use your favorite digiscrap kits to create adorable and customized gift card holders.

Most physical gift cards these days are made of plastic and are what’s known as a CR80 card: sized 3.375″ x 2.125″ (85.6mm x 54mm). Knowing that standardized size makes it easy to whip up a gift card holder that’s unique and easily personalized. Today, I’ll show you samples in three different categories of gift card holders as we step up from simple to complex: a basic tri-fold holder, a layered card with a belly band, and for the ultra-“WOW!”, 3D gift card holders. Let’s get started!

How to use Digital Scrapbooking supplies to create gift card holders

Simple: Basic Fold-Over Gift Card Holder

If you’re looking for a quick-and-easy project, it doesn’t get much simpler than a basic fold-over card holder. Here’s what the template looks like:

It prints on a single 8.5×11 sheet of paper. As always, I recommend printing on bright white heavyweight paper (I recommend 48lb and up). Once your printout has dried, trim around the outside edges and score along all the fold lines. Then fold it in half vertically and use double-sided adhesive to stick it together. Now just fold it like a tri-fold and add the gift card in the center panel. You can use a little more double-sided adhesive here, as it will easily rub off the gift card once it’s been removed from the holder.

For my first sample, I created a coffee shop gift card holder using Whole Latte Love by WendyP Designs. This is what my finished design looked like when I sent it to print:

Created with Whole Latte Love by WendyP Designs

And here is what the final assembled card looks like:

Created with Whole Latte Love by WendyP Designs

Created with Whole Latte Love by WendyP Designs
How to use Digital Scrapbooking supplies to create gift card holders

Now that I’ve got the template set up in Photoshop, it’s easy to create additional versions of this card. How about one for a restaurant gift card?

Created with Wine & Dine Bundle by Jocee Designs & The Nifty Pixel, Christmas Whimsy Collection by Kristin Cronin-Barrow & Studio Flergs, and template Single 250 – Winter Wonderland by Cindy Schneider

And the finished gift card holder – outside:

Created with Wine & Dine Bundle by Jocee Designs & The Nifty Pixel, Christmas Whimsy Collection by Kristin Cronin-Barrow & Studio Flergs, and template Single 250 – Winter Wonderland by Cindy Schneider

And inside:

Created with Wine & Dine Bundle by Jocee Designs & The Nifty Pixel, Christmas Whimsy Collection by Kristin Cronin-Barrow & Studio Flergs, and template Single 250 – Winter Wonderland by Cindy Schneider

And since I was on a roll, I created a third version perfect for giving the handyman in your life a DIY gift card:

Created with Handyman Bundle by Blagovesta Gosheva and Secret Santa Bundle by The Nifty Pixel

Created with Handyman Bundle by Blagovesta Gosheva and Secret Santa Bundle by The Nifty Pixel

Created with Handyman Bundle by Blagovesta Gosheva and Secret Santa Bundle by The Nifty Pixel

Created with Handyman Bundle by Blagovesta Gosheva and Secret Santa Bundle by The Nifty Pixel

Intermediate: Layered Gift Card Holders with a Belly Band

If you’ve got a little more time – and some solid colored cardstock – you can step up your gift card holder game by creating a layered card with a belly band.

I found a video on YouTube with all the measurements and assembly instructions for a gift card holder decorated with rubber stamps. It was easy to replace those stamped pieces with printed pieces I made using Photoshop and some of the gorgeous kits in the Sweet Shoppe.

Created with Candy Cane Lane Collection by Studio Flergs and Let’s Go Shopping by Jocee Designs

Created with Candy Cane Lane Collection by Studio Flergs and Let’s Go Shopping by Jocee Designs

It never fails to amaze me just how much of a difference an additional layer of cardstock can make in elevating the appearance of a papercraft! I decided to use this same project pattern to try my hand at a more masculine yet still Christmas-themed gift card holder.

Created with A Feeling of Christmas – Merry Memories by Kristin Cronin-Barrow

Created with A Feeling of Christmas – Merry Memories by Kristin Cronin-Barrow
How to use Digital Scrapbooking supplies to create gift card holders

Advanced: 3D or Interactive Gift Card Holders

If you’ve got a Cricut or Silhouette machine and a little more time, you can create some super fun gift card holders that will totally knock their socks off!

Sugar Babe Esther created this gorgeous gift card envelope with a 3D bow:

Created with A Charlie Christmas by Simple Pleasure Designs by Jennifer Fehr

“For the bow,” Esther said, “I used a cut file by Jaimie Lane Designs (available in the Silhouette Design Store).” You can download the gift card envelope pattern right here: tag pattern

I was inspired by Esther to give a 3D-style card a try. I found a cut file in the Cricut Design Space for a pop-up gift card holder. It took a little longer to make sure I had my digital design in the correct sizes, but I was able to use the print-and-cut feature of my Cricut … and I’m tickled pink with the results!

Created with Homemade Holiday Bundle by Ponytails Designs and template from Xylia by Alchemy Wild Studio. Cut file for project can be found in Cricut Design Space by searching Pop-up Gift Card Holder by Christine Gauthier.

Created with Homemade Holiday Bundle by Ponytails Designs and template from Xylia by Alchemy Wild Studio. Cut file for project can be found in Cricut Design Space by searching Pop-up Gift Card Holder by Christine Gauthier.

Created with Homemade Holiday Bundle by Ponytails Designs and template from Xylia by Alchemy Wild Studio. Cut file for project can be found in Cricut Design Space by searching Pop-up Gift Card Holder by Christine Gauthier.

Created with Homemade Holiday Bundle by Ponytails Designs and template from Xylia by Alchemy Wild Studio. Cut file for project can be found in Cricut Design Space by searching Pop-up Gift Card Holder by Christine Gauthier.

Esther shared another project with us that’s perfect for holding a gift card … it’s a 3D handbag! She combined a cut file from the Silhouette Design Store with the Sweet Shoppe 2022 Advent Collection White Christmas and this darling holder is the result:

Created with White Christmas Advent Collection by SSD Designers
And that brings us to the end of this edition of Think Outside the Album! No matter what you celebrate this time of year, I hope your days are filled with peace, laughter, and the love of family and friends. Have fun whipping up a few customized gift card holders for your last-minute gifts, and be sure to snap a photo and share it with us in the Gallery. I can’t wait to see what you create when you Think Outside the Album!

How to use Digital Scrapbooking supplies to create gift card holders

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