350 Cards & Gifts: The Card Set Challenge

Here is one of those 2 somewhat unusual projects I mentioned in my post yesterday. Moxi Fab World currently has 5 challenges posted relating to the PaperCrafts Special issue '350 Cards & Gifts and I've made this one for the Card Set Challenge.

When I first spotted them this one stood out to me first. I think it's probably because it involves packaging. I won't go off on a tangent, suffice it to say have an mild obsession with packaging. While the challenge calls for 3-4 cards I decided that I wanted to to a set of 5 because if I were to give them as a gift 3 cards would feel like too few and well... 4 is an even number and odd numbers just work better. (Never heard that before? Check out my April OWH Design Bootcamp ...Now That's Odd).

I included what I thought would be the most used sentiments and because I wanted them to coordinate closely I opted to print the sentiments on my computer. I chose a font called Honey Script. It's fairly easy to read and what I'd consider a casual script  that almost looks like handwriting. The die cut is from the Silhouette store and cut on my Cameo.

Solid color card stock is from My Favorite Things and the liners are various brands. I chose the solids first and then fanned through my paper to find patterns that would coordinate for each.

The liners were cut using the A2 Envelope Liner Die by Papertrey Ink. I've had it on my wish list for a long time and finally splurged. It's a really nice finishing touch, especially for a project like this one.

The bag is actually cut from 100# Accent Opaque card stock. I designed the base of the bag myself and then placed the matching die-cut window in the center of one side. The two sides of the bag are actually identical except for the die cut. When you break down packaging, step-by-step it's often easier to make than it appears. I use ATG tape to add a piece of clear cellophane over my die cut window and simply punched holes to add the sheer ribbon handle. If you've heard the old saying 'Measure Twice, Cut Once'... it applies to hole punching too!

Here are all the pieces ready for assembly. Creating the 'pieces' took much longer than the assembly did. You can see in this photo that on the back side piece of my bag I took a scissor and slightly angled the side and bottom tabs. Those would ultimately be glued inside the tabs on the front piece of the bag with a heavy coating of ATG tape. This 'trim' doesn't have to be precise but it's a trick that helps keep everything neat.

To add just a little dimension I 'popped' the front panels off the card bases with 3M Foam tape. This set was a lot of fun to make and came together pretty easily because I thought about it (and the steps I'd need to do) for a long time before I got started. I will mention that this was not the cut file design I had first planned on using but I opted for this one because it was less delicate (the first I had in mind was a detailed floral) and gender neutral making the card set more universal.

Happy Crafting!