Today we are going to venture to something near and dear to my heart, crafting.  I find craft time is very limited right now.  Anytime I get to craft and it has a dual purpose (i.e., Valentine’s gift), it is a win-win for me.  These gift card holders make great Valentine’s Day gifts for teachers or anyone you care about!

VALENTINE GIFT CARD HOLDERS

Today’s project will be Valentine gift card holders made out of recycled material.  In this case, I used recycled Kool-Aid drink pouches. I love this project, because it is environmentally friendly, hello upcycling!  It is is also cute and makes a fun gift for the receiver.  It takes a little sewing, but it does not take long to do one. (If sewing is not your thing, I am sure some hot glue or even fun duct tape could be used to put these together.)

MATERIALS NEEDED

Here are the supplies you will need:

• scrapbook paper
• empty drink pouches (I used Kool-Aid)
• thread
• pins / sewing clips
• scissors
• lamination or clear contact paper
• velcro – either dots or the kind you can cut (the one with the adhesive on the back works well)
• sewing machine

INSTRUCTIONS FOR BEFORE YOU SEW

1. Begin with your empty drink pouch.  I always cut a slit in the bottom and rinse these out well before any projects, so they are not sticky and smelly.
2. Now use your scrapbook paper. This is a fun part because you could use any paper.  You could even use a picture.  Draw a heart that is 2 1/4″ tall and 2 3/4″ wide.  It will roughly cover the front of a gift card.
3. Cut your heart out.
4. If you have a lamination machine, you can laminate your heart that way, and then trim the excess laminate off, leaving 1/8″ – 1/4″ of laminate around the edge.  You can now skip the next step for the contact paper!
5. For those (most) who don’t have a lamination machine, you will have to use clear contact paper.  Take the clear contact paper and cut out double the length of the heart.  Now take and peel back half the backing on the contact paper.  Place the heart on this side.  Then peel the second half and fold it over on the heart.  Now take your scissors and leave about 1/8″ – 1/4″ around the edges so the contact paper can also adhere to itself.  There, now you know how to cheaply laminate (just in case you are ever in a bind and need it for a classroom station or a work related activity where dry erase markers are involved).

SEWING INSTRUCTIONS

1. Pin the heart to the front of the drink pouch. The top of the heart measured 1 3/4″ from the top of the drink pouch and 1 3/4″ from the bottom of the drink pouch.
2. Using your sewing machine, sew around the heart onto the drink pouch.  I used a zig zag stitch to make it fun. (I played with my sewing machine on a separate drink pouch until I found the length and width I liked for my zig zag.)
3. When you are done stitching the heart on to your gift card holder, trim any long thread.  Then turn it over to the backside of the drink pouch.  Fold the bottom of the drink pouch up. As you do this, match the edges.  Keep going until you reach the tip of the bottom of the heart.  Then using your same zigzag stitch, stitch up the sides.  When stitching the sides, stitch close to the edge, so you will have room for your gift card to fit. See picture:

FINAL TOUCHES

1. Now all you have to do is attach the velcro so your gift card holder closes like an envelope.  If you have the dots with adhesive, I would attach one dot to the top by pulling the back off and pushing it on. Then I would put the matching velcro together (rough and soft sides together).  Then I would pull the backing off the other side and push the top of the gift card holder down until the top touches the bottom part that was stitched (like closing the top flap of an envelope). The top should not go past the heart on the front, or you’ll make the holder too short for a gift card.

That is all there is to this fun craft project.  Because the heart is laminated or wrapped in contact paper, it offers opportunities for lots of creative variations.  You could use a Sharpie marker and write names on the hearts or any other notes.  I think the gift card holders are cute with just the pretty designs in the paper too.  However you create this,  I am sure whoever receives it will love it!