I have tried the concept of gift card pockets before, but so far I was only creating designs with my Cricut. I had the opportunity to try it out again and this time I decided to include design paper. I am still cutting the card slot template I have created on Cricut Design Space, but the shape is simple enough to cut with a scalpel, if you have a steady hand. The base shape is a rectangle and can have some extras. The hole is a long rectangle with circles on the ends. In Estonia it is quite popular to have plastic gift cards in the size of a bank card – so my template has a slot with the length of 9 cm and width of 2 cm. The height of the folded slot should be at least 2,5 cm to hold the card properly. As you can see on the photo, the whole slot piece is only big enough to cover 2 sides of the outside panel. Making it longer makes the card too thick (3 sides of double layers) and the folding gets complicated. The panel provides you with enough space for a short handwritten message.
I recommend to put extra effort into scoring, as there are quite a few folding lines. I have a machine suggestion in my first post about paper crafts. If not available, you can also use a ruler and a tool with a finer edge that is not too sharp to cut through the paper (such as the blunt side of scissors or a butter knife).
Now I have different layouts, depending on the paper I use for the outside. I started with A4 structured cardstock, but there are also same size design papers available. The latest card I made from 30×30 design paper. In the next pictures I have tried to create some blueprints – the dotted line indicates scoring lines, the solid line shows the cut sections. NB! You can’t use them as a templates – the scale is not accurate!
1. Using A4 paper and hiding the ribbon on the inside, you need longer strips for the outside and can cut the A4 sheet in 2 strips. Between the 2 left sections you need to make a cut in the fold, to have a gap for the ribbon. The section on the right side (4th) can either be cut off and glued on top of the ribbon or folded on top with an extra gap for the ribbon.
You can also leave the ribbons outside and then you don’t need the extra panel piece from the right.
2. Using 30 cm (or actually 30,5 cm) design paper and attaching the ribbon to the inside, you can cut the 30×30 design paper in 3 equal strips. The options with the panel on the right are the same as with the A4 example.
3. Using A4 paper and attaching the ribbon on the outside, you can cut the A4 sheet in 3 equal strips. However, in this case you would need to make the card slot slimmer, as the panels will be under 10 cm in width (A4 papers are usually under 30 cm) and it might work for folded cash, rather than a plastic card.
I hope it is understandable. I really like the idea of this little pocket. During busy times it is quite common to quickly grab a flower bouquet or a bottle and then add a gift card or a bit of cash. I think this card makes that type of gift a bit more special and personal.
Blue Crafting Soul 