DIY: Gift Card Holder (or Hair bow Holder)

Would it not be so dreamy if someone gave you a spread of gift cards for a special occasion? A friend of mine was recently put on bed rest in the latter weeks of her pregnancy. Our church rallied together to collect some gift cards to help out that family in these challenging days for them.

I wanted to organize them to make them presentable, instead of putting them all in a box or envelope. Below is the super-easy tutorial. I also used the same steps to make my girls' hair bow holder that hangs on the wall.

What you need:
-newspaper
-wood frame
-flat head screwdriver
-paint & paint brush (or spray paint)
-coordinating ribbon
-hot glue gun & glue sticks
-paper clips
-sticky adhesive (used hanging things on walls) *optional*

$2 frame from Goodwill. Always buy an all-wood frame. 
And that heart artwork...whew.
It leaves something to be desired for sure. 

Don't let cheesy artwork deter you from buying a solid frame
that could be turned into something great. 

I removed the back paper, the art, the mat and the glass. If there are staples, you will need something like a flat head screwdriver to help bend those staples up enough to get the glass out.

Find a little helper to help paint.

Painting finished

Hot glue ribbon onto back of frame 
 Be sure to pull the ribbon as tightly as you can, once you get one side glued down.

Notice that I did not hot glue the ribbon on the very back of the frame, but instead on the inside of the frame. Right where the glass would sit inside the frame is where you want to glue down your ribbon, which gives you some room between the ribbon and the wall. If you're using this as a gift card holder, then ribbon placement really doesn't matter, but if you're making a hair bow holder, then it's nice to have a little bit of room for the hair bow to clip on so you don't scrape the wall. I don't feel like I explained that well, so feel free to ask questions if you have any.

I like to space out the ribbon randomly on the frame, using wide and narrow ribbon.  



Almost finished...

After I took this picture, I added one wide cream grosgrain ribbon in one of the middle gaps.



Add gift cards with paper clips.
I folded most of the paper part of the gift card, so as to provide more room on the frame and make for a prettier presentation. I tried my best to hide the paper clips.


Be patient when trying to hide those paper clips. Take a few deep breaths if you get frustrated. It's only frustrating if you have to keep moving them, especially after you add the sticky foam tape too.  

I did a lot of moving around, because I get particular and picky, and I designed it as I went along. If you don't mind that the paper clips show, which is a fun look too, then it will be easy adding the cards.
I even thought about using clothes pins, and that might look neat if you don't have lots of cards.

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I also used a foam sticky tape to make the cards more secure.


The foam tape was leftover from my teaching days and is used to hang plastic hooks on the wall if you don't want to put a hole. It's not necessary to use this, but keeps the cards from shifting. Double-sided tape might work too or those little scrapbook squares.




Project FINISHED!
Now take a look at the before/after.


Before:

After:

My friend loved the fact that this was a dual-purpose gift. She was SO excited that she could use the frame for her girls' hair bows as well, since she's having another girl!


Happy Crafting!