on the first day of christmas ...

my true love gave to me ... a gift card in a gift card holder!

that's right dear belles, we're changing it up just a teeny bit this time, because, as our lovely guest star ♥GINA CUNNINGHAM♥ pointed out to us, at least *some* of our lovely holiday cards each year also need to hold a gift ...in the form of one of the many fun and practical gift cards we all love to bestow, so she suggested we get started early and make at least one of them right now... an idea we heartily support!

you may recognize gina's name and uniquely fabulous card-making style from the many prompts she's played along with (and one she helped us host!) here at JINGLE BELLES in the last two years; if you've not yet checked out her blog, tyggereye art, you definitely have a big treat in store! in addition to being one of our favorite crafters who works in a variety of media (including paper and digital scrapping, art journaling, sewing, painting, stamp-carving, and more!) gina is mom to two adorable dudes, and supervises a menagerie which at any given time might include rescue pugs, huskies, lizards, rats, fish ...and a very easy-going husband, lol! :) be sure to check out her gorgeous hand carved stamps and digi-kits in her tyggereye etsy shop!

Gina's Gift Card Holder

Gina says, "I made the card with mostly scraps of Cosmo Cricket papers. I took a very old Stamping up set I had with a large cup of coffee, stamped it on some shrink plastic and colored it in with copics. Then I shrunk the coffee cup stamp image to use on the card. I added the green Starbucks card in a pocket on the front of the card with the half circle punched out of the paper so that you can see the gift card better. Lots of sewing happened on this card and some added pieces from Cosmo cricket like the ticket and snowflake. The base is Bazzill cardstock. I usually make gift card holders for teacher gifts and this is perfect for that; I can't wait to be able to give this out at Christmas-- One less card to make for the holiday season!"

The Outside of Lauren's Gift Card Holder

...and...

The Inside of Lauren's Gift Card Holder

Lauren says, "i've done lots of little wallets and pocket cards, but one i come back to time after time is this little folder that i found on amy tsuruta's blog a few years ago. not only does it always look fab, thanks to amy's wonderfully clear tutorial, it's super-easy to make and can be changed up in size, shape and style to accomodate absolutely ANY design! this time, i adhered basic grey and fancy pants papers back to back before scoring, folding and stitching my pocket... (you could use adhesive or washi tape if you don't sew!) ...so all that remained was the good part-- embellishments! i've used a fabulous revival of a sketchy thursdays sketch from platinum scraps and the palette of the EAD designs may color challenge in my design." 

Stephanie's Gift Card Holder

Stephanie says, "I saw these fun little owls, and knew that one would make a perfect gift card holder.  My pillow box template was larger than the one in the post, so I had to make some revisions to the punch sizes (details on my blog).  It will be fun and sparkly for the holidays."

speaking of owls... and AWESOMENESS... miss gina did not come along empty handed! she's offering two of her gorgeous hand-carved stamps, a happy little reindeer and an adorable owl, as a prize to one lucky (randomly chosen) belle who links up with us this week!

just in case you need some EXTRA inspiration--or engineering help--here are some gorgeous gift card holders from the two peas' garden girls; the google image search results for gift card holder template; and a similar search of pinterest to get you going! make them as plain or as fancy as you like, but don't forget to link them up here by 6pm (EST) on wednesday, may 30th! keyword for galleries and our flickr group is JB12-11.