Great little Gifts

I posted this on Lindsey's blog and thought I would share it here too.

I have had several ideas I have wanted to make lately for small gifts to give to family and friends. What I really like about them all, is that they are good for beginner stampers as well as "seasoned" stampers. :) Everybody will like any of them and can use all of them!
The first one is this cute little tin full of stampin goodies (above). You can put whatever you want in them, spending as much or as little as you want. You can fully alter/cover them or just add a couple of embellishements as decoration. For this one, I just used my Tree of All Seasons stamp, chalked it with pastels, and added a couple of little leaf punches and a ribbon. I also added a few silk flowers around the goodies in the tin to add a bit more color. Inside it, I have a punch, some jumbo paperclips, some brads, a sponge, a bone folder, a couple of markers and a blender pen. I also added a little ring on the side with a bunch of punches pre-made (card candy) to be used on future cards or scrapbook pages. I love card candy!
This second pic (above) is a picture of the supplies to put together another idea to give away card candy. You can alter/cover and decorate something as small as this "bandaid tin" (and you really don't even have to buy this kind, just use the one you have at home for real bandaids!) Then add a bunch of card candy...anything from brads, rhinestones, tags, punches, snippets of ribbon, clips...whatever you want!Last picture I have for you is a portfolio with cards inside. (pictured above) You can put as many cards in it as you want (and that can fit!). I got the idea from my sister-in-law's blog here.

You start with a regular sheet of 8.5x11 sheet of cardstock, score it in half at 5.5, then on the long side, cut an upside down V, and fold it up. You'll then use sticky tape to tape up the sides and a crop-a-dile to punch some holes. Decorate the front and then run some ribbon through the whole thing. At this point, you can do a couple of different things. You can make some cards to give them and put them in the portfolio (for them to be able to use and give away). The cards can be all made with the same stamp set (It's fun to give this away with the set of new stamps this way.) or they can all be totally different. You can include envelopes on one side and cards on the other, or just fill both sides with cards. OR you can put some blank cards in there (pre-folded) and a stack of printed card sketches/layouts on the other side (which you can find TONS of on splitcoast). With this 2nd way...it's fun to give them the little box of card candy along with it! (For a little more detailed instructions, click on the link above.)

I have to say that I love how the front of the portfolio turned out. I really like the colors and the classic simplicity look as well. I think I'll have to make more of these portfolios. It's a great way to give just a few cards away, but make it look soooo nice!