This super cute Gift Card Box is easy to assemble and perfect for giving gift cards to loved ones in style. The cutting file is now available in the Silhouette Design Store here. Use cardstocks to suit the occasion!
The Gift Card Box has been designed with Heavy Cardstocks in mind. It is possible to use lighter cardstocks but the fit may be slightly looser. I have made the Gift Card Box with copy paper and while a little loose still looks great. For best results use medium to heavy cardstocks. The cardstocks used in the following photos and video are heavy cardstocks. The Gift Card Box fits on 8.5×11″, A4 or 12×12″ paper and can be cut on both Silhouette Portrait or Silhouette Cameo Machines. The gift card holder fits the standard gift card size which is the size of a standard credit card or ATM card. The Gift Card Box Cutting File finishes at approx 108x76x46mm including the ribbon.
Scroll to end of tutorial to watch video of assembly or continue reading written instructions below.
First cut all the pieces in cardstock colours of your choice. The pieces for the bottom and bottom gift card insert are shown as the same colour (teal) in the cutting file. The top is shown in purple. The ribbon parts are shown in teal. Start by assembling the bottom pieces. Fold each of the scored sides and side tabs. Place adhesive on each tab on the side of the cardstock that will face the outside of the box. Once adhesive is applied, attach each tab to the corresponding side of the box ensuring the right angles are flush. Repeat for each tab.
Repeat for the other bottom piece and the top. Insert the gift card holder into the bottom box piece. It may be easier to first insert the gift card before inserting the card holder into the bottom box piece. The gift card mockup I use in the video below was slightly bigger than standard so it was a little trickier to insert than a regular gift card.
Attach the two ribbon crosses together so that they sit flush in the center. The smaller ribbon cross should be on top with ribbon ends of the smaller ribbon cross visible.
There are two shapely bow pieces and a small piece to fold over the top bow. With each shapely bow piece attach one end of the piece to the center of the underside using craft glue taking care to place the end just before the curve starts on the other side. Repeat with the other side attaching the end to the piece already stuck down placing the end before the curve starts on the other side. Ensure pieces are firmly adhered. Place a dab of craft glue in the middle of the crossed bows and adhere the center of the bow to the center of the cross ensuring the bow is placed with the straight section of bow in the center.
Assemble the second bow piece in the same way. Once complete attach the small bow piece to the center of top bow with craft glue and also glue the sides to the underside of the bow. Once firmly attached, place a dab of craft glue on top of the bow attached to the crossed ribbons and adhere the second bow so that it faces the direction of the opposite length of the crossed ribbons. Once firmly attached, fold the sides along the score lines for each side of the cross ribbon. Place adhesive on the underside of the crossed ribbon and on the ends of each piece. While taking care to place in the center of the lid piece, and ensuring each side sits flush with the box corners adhere the ribbon to the top and sides of the box top.
You can now place the box top on the box bottom! See the video below of assembly. Note that the video is done with different coloured cardstocks.
There is a basic assembly tutorial which works for all my cards to date available here. With his card I wanted to include the option of having different colours for each layer of cake so if you wish to use that option some extra steps are involved.
The included cutting parts for cake background pieces is optional to use to add extra colour to your card. Check out one of the links above to see the difference between a card with and without those pieces. If you wish to make a card more quickly you might choose to just use a patterned or brightly coloured paper insert. Making different cardstock colours when you have the time however gives the card a bit of pop, so I have included the cutting files to do so.
Pieces are designed to sit flush against each other inside the front of the card. Place pieces in position and check they are covering cake and swag accents correctly. The top of the top piece sits parallel with the top of the card and each piece sits flush under the other.
Tip: Mark corners of pieces while holding in place to ensure correct placement after glue is applied.
Once you have marked the corners (unless you prefer you prefer to wing it then skip the corner marking) spray the left side of the card with adhesive. If you prefer another method of gluing that is of course your choice. I used a glue stick for a while till I got the spray adhesive, but I find the spray adhesive gives better hold on the delicate pieces. I usually cover the other side with scrap paper before spraying to ensure the other side does not get sprayed.
Attach the cake pieces in the correct positions. Then once pieces are attached add more adhesive on back of cake pieces.
Attach the insert to the adhesive covered side of the card to complete your card.
I also have envelopes available which allow you to cut envelopes with custom coordinating cardstock to suit a large range of sizes.
Instructions are for the Square Envelope Cutting File set are for files suitable different cutting machine types including SVG, DXF, EPS, Studio & PNG formats. Scroll to the bottom for an assembly video or continue reading for the written tutorial.
Open the appropriate file for your cutting machine software in the size to suit the card it is for. Each envelope is sized slightly larger to make sure it fits the card the envelope is chosen for. For example, the 5-inch envelope is slightly larger than 5 inches when assembled so that it will fit a 5 inch card inside it.
The dotted lines are designed to be score lines where you make the folds to assemble your envelope. The outer lines the cut lines to cut the shape of the envelope. Cut the file according to your machine’s software and paper settings. Make sure the score lines are set to score in your cutting machine software.
Cut the envelope as required in your cutting machine software. The top right flap is the top flap of the envelope. You will notice the edges at the top of the left and right flaps of the envelope have a straight side rather than curved angles. I like to fold the first three flaps and then open the second and third flap again so that I can apply some adhesive tape (or other adhesive) to the rounded outer corner of the left flap. Then I fold down the second flap so that it adheres to the first flap.
On the third or bottom flap I apply adhesive tape to the three outer edges. Once applied I fold the third flap down onto the first two. You should now have an open envelope. Fold down the top flap to close it. I usually apply a small amount of adhesive to the top angled corner of the open envelope to seal it once my card is inside. Alternatively, you could use a sticker or envelope seal.
If you are having any issues with your software, I will do my best to troubleshoot with you. I use Silhouette Studio for my cutting files, but I also have the Cricut Software to test my files in and am therefore somewhat familiar with the software. Please do get in touch leaving reviews if you have any issues. I am more than happy to help you out and would much prefer a happy customer than one who is unsatisfied with their purchase.
I also have other envelope sizes available which you might find useful for your cards and invitations. Please do also let me know if there is a particular size you are looking for and I can make that size a priority when planning upcoming designs.
Alternate available sizes are in my stores as follows.
This tutorial assumes you have a basic knowledge of using your individual cutting machine and appropriate settings for the papers you are using. If files are not cutting at the correct depth, please see instructions for your cutting machine. If your cutting machine does not use one of the above file formats, the cutting files may not work with your machine. I sell SVG, DXF, EPS, PNG & Studio formats.
Cutting the Card Place your chosen cardstock on the correct spot on your cutting mat and insert into your machine. Open the best file for your software and choose the appropriate settings for your chosen cardstock to ensure the cut lines cut appropriately for your cardstock. Send the file to your machine for cutting.
Once your machine has finished cutting the cardstock, eject from your machine and weed the cardstock to reveal the final cut card.
Before I go any further I will post a video which some of you might find easier. I made this video assembling a different card but the assembly applies to all of my basic folded cards with inserts. If you prefer written tutorials, just scroll on further and the rest of this tutorial will continue below.
At this point you can fold the card along the score line and add the insert cardstock or paper for cutting into your machine. Ensure appropriate settings are chosen in your software and send the file to your cutting machine for cutting. Once your insert has been cut, remove from your cutting machine and weed the insert for use inside the card. Fold the insert along the score line.
Open the card and place glue to suit your preferred opening experience. It is best to only glue on one side of the card to prevent problems with opening. Some people might prefer the front side of the insert be glued down completely to the front of the card, but others might prefer the back side of the insert be glued down. It is entirely up to you and your preferred style. Spray Adhesive works well to completely glue down insert on intricate parts of cards. When using spray adhesive, I like to cover the other side of the card with paper so that only one side is glued. With this particular card I glued the insert to the front of the card.
My cards are designed to be quick and easy to make. I am not someone who enjoys making overly intricate cards, but I do love being able to give people a handmade card.
I also have square envelopes available which allow you to cut envelopes with custom cardstock to make a gorgeous coordinating envelope.
I had a question today about recoloring the png files I include with my Photoshop brushes, so I thought I would do a quick tutorial on how to recolor in Photoshop. I am using Photoshop CC for this tutorial but the instructions will work for any version of Photoshop. For the purpose of this tutorial I am going to use my Clean Watercolor Splodge Photoshop Brushes available in my Etsy store, Clikchic Designs store and Creative Market store.
For this tutorial I am going to use the .png of the brush named Clikchic_ABR_PaintSplodgeClean_03.png.
As you can see, all the .png’s of my brushes come in black as this is the best shade for making Photoshop brushes. It is also more easy to recolor sometimes than other colors.
I am going to recolor the brush stroke to pink, since that is my favorite color. As for most things in Photoshop there are multiple ways to do that. For the purpose of this tutorial I am going to do it using my foreground color picker. On the toolbar on the left side of the Photoshop screen there is a tool where you can select your foreground and background colors. I am going to change the foreground color to the color I want my brush stroke to be.
The foreground color is the black square and the background color is the white square. To change the foreground color, I need to click on the black square, which will bring up the color picker.
With the color picker, I can slide the rainbow scale to the color range I want to work in and then choose the color shade from the resulting screen.
As you can see I have moved the slider up to a reddish pink and clicked and moved the cursor to a mid range pink on the gradient. The color I have chosen appears in the new rectangle.
Once you have chosen the color, click OK and that color will become your foreground color.
Now we have to adjust the color of the brush stroke using the foreground color. To do so we need to go to Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation
In the Hue/Saturation screen you need to click on the Colorize check box which will change the color tone of the brush stroke to your foreground color. In my example this is a dark shade of pink. The black of the stroke is a much darker shade than the pink so we need to adjust this to get the correct shade.
To do this we need to adjust the saturation and lightness. To do that you move the sliders till you are happy with the shade of your chosen color.
As you can see I have increased the lightness by quite a bit, and have also increased the saturation to get a good depth of color.
This is the end result of the recolored paint stroke.
You now have a gorgeous colored stroke and can now save as a new file so that you preserve the original in black.
Photographic Composition can have a dramatic effect on the impact of your photographs.There are several easy techniques which you can use help improve your photography.
Distracting Backgrounds
Distracting Backgrounds can spoil an otherwise great photo. For instance, a brightly coloured object behind the subject, say a child, can draw your eye away from the subject. I took a snap of my daughter when she was 2 while she was playing in the backyard. The background was the plain green of the grass apart from one distracting element, a bright red swing in the background. The bright colour drew your eye away from the main subject. It was such a nice natural candid shot it was a shame to have it spoilt by the swing in the background.
Wherever possible it is best to keep an eye out for such distracting elements when taking your image and change your position or recompose.However this is not always possible and in this case I was able to remove the swing with the help of the clone tool in Photoshop.
Fill the Frame
Another way to avoid distracting backgrounds and maximise photo impact is to fill the frame with your image. Because the frame is filled with the subject it draws and holds your eye on the subject. Simplifying the photo further by converting to black and white can also dramatically improve an image, or simply give a different feel or mood.
Depth of field
Depth of field can also help with distracting background elements. Using a narrow depth of field works to keep the field of focus on the subject and details in the background are blurred out. In the case of using long lenses, you might also get bokeh effects which are commonly a pleasing (and currently popular) effect created by the shape of the shutter and sometimes becomes apparent with narrow depth of field and highlights in the background of an image. If bokeh highlights are too bright however, they too can be distracting. You can avoid bokeh effects by using shorter lenses.
Rule of Thirds
It is not always best to fill the frame as sometimes you need to show more to tell the story. Sometimes positioning the subject in a certain way can add tension to the image. A common technique is to use the ‘rule of thirds’. When using this technique you mentally divide the frame into thirds by way of horizontal and vertical (mental) lines. The points at which these lines cross are the best points to position the subject to take advantage of maximum ‘tension’ and compositional ‘correctness’ emphasise the feel or mood.
It can be very tempting to place a subject in the centre of the image. Using the rule of thirds makes an image more interesting to look at and increases tension and balance. Below is a photo of my son being born with him positioned in the centre of the frame. Also shown is the same image cropped using the rule of thirds to add interest to the composition. This format makes the image more interesting to look at and adds tension. Take a look and decide for yourself.
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