Ever wish you had gift wrap to match your handmade cards? Angela’s here to help with a matching card and gift box set that’ll work perfectly the next time you want to be the sweet spot in someone’s day.
Hi friends! Angela here, and in today’s video I’m sharing a cute little card and gift box duo. I don’t know about you, but when I receive a card from someone that has a coordinating gift box, I’m thinking “WOW, that person really has their life together!” It’s rare that I’m quite so prepared, but these projects were so enjoyable to make that I think I’ll be making matching gift packaging more often. After all, craft therapy really is the best kind of therapy, isn’t it?
In this video, you’ll learn:
- Tips for stamping your own prints and backgrounds
- How to assemble the Essentials by Ellen Two-In-One Box
- A trick for getting better results when hot foiling that you may not have tried yet
- How to ensure your handmade tags lie flat when you tie them to your gift packaging
Tips:
- When making ‘random’ stamped backgrounds, it can be helpful to start in one area of you cardstock and alternate through each image you want to stamp, rather than stamping all the strawberries, then all the flowers, etc. Doing this allows you to ensure roughly equal amounts of each image in your print. It also makes it less likely that you’ll end up with odd spacing, or trying to squeeze a too-big stamped image into a spot that looks strange if left empty.
- For greater flexibility, try making your backgrounds using acrylic blocks instead of a stamping platform. I like this method because it allows me to turn my paper and stamps more freely, and as long as your ink pads are nice and juicy, you shouldn’t need to do any double-stamping.
- If you’ve tried all the combinations of heat, cardstock and shims that you can think of but still can’t get a crisp impression with your hot foil stamps, try foiling on yupo paper. This super smooth synthetic paper has been a lifesaver for me on days when my usual methods fail!
- When making sentiments with the Casual Taglines stamp set, why not make a few batches with various colors of cardstock? The one-piece die makes it easy to create 14 sentiments in a single pass, and your future self will be grateful the next time you need a card in a hurry.
- Having trouble getting the tag on your gift box to lie flat? Try threading both ends of your twine/ribbon/string from the back of the tag hole to the front. This way, the tag can lie flat on the gift box while you tie a bow to secure it.
May is Mental Health Awareness month, and regardless of age, I think it’s important for everyone’s wellbeing to play like we did as kids. I hope these projects have encouraged you to enjoy some play time, and let your creative juices flow. I’ve linked up all the supplies used in these projects below, and if you decide to share on Instagram, I’d love for you to tag @ellenhutsonllc, and me, @mycraftyperspective, and so we can admire your makes.
Thank you so much as always for stopping by and watching today’s video. I’ll see you back here soon!
– Angela
