Set of 3 Print and Cut Christmas Gift Card Holders for Last Minute Thank Yous, Teacher Gifts and Stocking Stuffers

 

 

Happy Friday and a special welcome to all of you Silhouette School Blog readers! With school letting out for the holidays in a little over a week, it's time for that last minute Christmas present rush. 

 

Do you know what tops every teacher's wish list when asked about gifts? Gift cards! Which is perfect because they're easy to find and super useful for everything from treating your favorite teacher to a movie, coffee, iTunes credits, Target runs and more. 

 

So the gift card part is easy, but you need something cute to put it in, right? Cue this week's freebie: 

 

Not one, but three gift card holders to choose from. All you need is a printer and some cardstock or cute Christmas paper. I found some perfect buffalo plaid paper at Hobby Lobby. Michaels usually has a great selection too.

 

This week's download folder is a little larger than usual due to the image sizes and file types, but it will have you covered, even if you don't have a machine. When you open your folder you'll find three folders - Silhouette, Cricut and PDF for manually cutting your cards.

 

Silhouette Studio

First up the Silhouette files. This folder contains an svg file for each of the three cards. Pick one or load them all on the same artboard to cut more than one at a time. 

 

 

After you ungroup, you'll find 3 layers for each card. The bottom (red above) is the solid base. You'll cut these out of your base paper, solid or pattern both work. The black piece shown above is the outline for cutting the printed piece just in case you need it. 

 

 

After you get your bases cut, move your print and cut pieces to the mat. Set up your registration marks and print. Then you'll place the printed paper on your mat and cut it using the registration marks. Here's a print and cut tutorial in case it's your first time.

 

And remember to keep your pieces inside of the cross hatch areas so nothing is cut off.

 

Cricut Design Space

 

Open the Cricut folder. Inside you'll find 3 svg files and 3 corresponding png files for print then cut. (All of this info is in the handy Info PDF included also so you can refer to it later). And here's a print then cut tutorial in case it's your first time. 

 

The svg base layers will load at the correct sizes. Just load your paper and click Make It for those. For the print then cut layers, load the pieces you would like to use to your artboard. Resize the Latte design to 3.9" wide, making sure to leave the lock set to on in the measurement menu (circled below):

 

 

Resize the Snowflake and Tree designs to 4.05" wide, making sure to leave the lock set to on up in the measurement menu (circled below):

 

 

On the smaller cards you can fit a few to a page, simply duplicate the images to print more than one at the same time. 

 

No Cutter? No Problem!

 

Machine's on the fritz or don't have one? Open the PDF folder and print the pages of the pdf file for the cards you would like to make. Each one has a thin black outline to follow when cutting by hand like this:

Assembly

 

Now that everything's cut let get it all put together!

 

Before you take your paper off of your mat, especially is you're using scrapbook paper, make sure to flip it upside-down and roll the mat away from the paper, just like you would vinyl. It will keep the paper from curling or tearing. (Excuse the fur, I swear it flies everywhere!)

 

 

I like to use my more worn mats for paper so they're just barely sticky. Makes it easier to peel the paper off and keeps it from tearing. You can also use a little bit of painters to tape to hold down the top edge of the cardstock too. It keeps the top from getting caught while the housing is moving when your mat isn't very sticky.

 

I tried these with a few combos. Cardstock for the base piece definitely works the best and cardstock for the printed pieces gives the cards a little dimension. You can also use sticker paper for the printed layers to eliminate the need for glue or tape:

 

 

Other options are Glue Dots (super handy and available at your craft store down the glue isle), glue sticks, or double stick tape. If you're using double stick tape make sure to fold it in half and keep it on the edges when securing the smaller fold that holds the card. The regular width of the double stick tape is just a tad too wide. 

 

Here's a little preview of the assembly instructions included with your download.  For the latte here is where you'll need to fold and to attached your printed parts:

 

 

And same for the smaller Snowflake and Christmas Tree cards:

 

 

Best part - all of these can be used for anyone - teachers, mailman, employees, customers, stocking stuffers and more.

 

You'll have your thank you gifts in order in no time!