When I was growing up, anytime we received money or gift certificates for Christmas (no gift cards back then!), it was always placed on the Christmas tree. I remember being so excited to go to my grandparents' house on Christmas day because there would inevitably be a long red envelope of McDonald's gift certificates perched high on their Christmas tree. This was exciting to me as a young girl because the idea of gift certificates was so "grown up" -- it was $5 or $10 that I could take and buy whatever I wanted (well, from McDonald's), and it was all mine! Keeping that feeling in mind, I thought I'd "deck the tree" with holiday gift cards!
The idea is simple -- Crate's Bundled Up lent itself perfectly to creating festive gift card packaging. I used several of the die cut pieces layered on silver glittered tags and 4" paper doilies. I love the dots of silver glitter on the die cut shapes; it just adds something extra special to the already adorable accents. Not to mention, anything glittery on the tree really sparkles when combined with the tree lights.
This "hat" flash card might be my favorite of all of the die cuts. I love the simple aqua and silver hat image against the white/cream negative space. Again, too, there's just the right amount of glitter on the trim of the hat.
These gifts don't just have to be for the kids, either! (My parents also received gift certificates that were placed on the tree.) At first glance, it may seem like Bundled Up is all whimsy and just for kids, but if you look deeper, you'll find beautiful, sophisticated touches -- like the evergreen trees. And while Bundled Up features many of today's trendy holiday colors, like pink and aqua, it contains a nice mix of the more traditional red and green, as well. Personally, I had begun to move away from pairing red and green together in the past few years, but when I was picking and choosing embellishments for this project, I found myself wandering back over the fence toward tradition.
And red and green still look great with silver!
You might be wondering where the gift card part of this project comes in..I took mini envelopes and adhered them to the back of each doily. The envelopes are large enough to hold a gift card, and are decorated with chipboard figures to match. The sweet snow people and winter-loving kids make creating cards and tags for children incredibly easy!
{I used double-sided tape for adhering; it will peel a bit of the envelope off when removed, but will stick well to the doily. You can also choose not to adhere it and instead use the mini clothespin to clip the envelope and doily to your tree branch.}
Oh, what fun it will be to put these out on the tree this year! They're colorful, festive and shiny -- all of my favorite things about Christmas gifts and tree trimmings! Have a merry, merry holiday, Crate fans!
Love love love! I love coming to Crate first thing in the morning as you always have something creative that makes me smile! Keep the Bundled Up ideas coming! I'm off to go order more :)
Posted by: Melissa | December 12, 2013 at 08:24 AM
Such cute illustrations!
Posted by: Holly Brooke jones | December 15, 2013 at 07:48 AM