Make A Gift Card Holder for A Large or Oddly-Shaped Gift Card.
Also...what the heck do you do when your Cricut file is wrong?

I recently bought a couple of Amazon gift cards for Christmas gifts, and they are BIG.  They're super-cute, but come in tin containers, or dressed as ornaments, or snowmen, or similar large non-rectangular or non-pocket-sized items. 

I didn't want to just plop them in the mail, because once it was opened, it would be immediately apparent what the gift was.  I briefly considered putting them in a gift bag, but then decide that if I were a curious child and wanted to know what's good, I'd probably peek...

So, I went to Cricut to find a structure large enough to put this gift card into, and perhaps even large enough to disguise what it might be (and something that didn't look like an envelope, well, because). 

I'll paste the video below in case you would prefer to watch it instead of reading this post, BUT if you'd like to hear the saga, I'll continue below.

https://youtu.be/nbQx-KJqWQU

Project Selection

I fumbled around in Cricut Design Space for a bit until I found something that looked like it would work, if it were a little larger.  As I said in the video, a large gussetted envelope would be kind of perfect. 

I resized the project, felt pretty good about it, went happily along my way with cutting out pieces and selecting pretty Christmas paper, and then went to the assembly table. And I got THIS.

The white arrow is pointing at the smaller piece of the gift card holder, the red piece.  The blue arrow is pointing at the REST of the gift card holder.  Clearly, something was very very wrong.  I assumed that I had made some sort of error when I resized the project.  I must have done something stupid like resized the big piece but not the little one, right? WRONG

Unless I'm totally missing something (and the assembly video will take you through me thinking I've lost my mind trying to figure out what I did), I think the answer is that the Cricut file was just not correct in the first place.  It does happen.  It's also equally likely that it was supposed to be constructed in some other way and I just didn't figure that out.  But honestly, I turned it every which way I could, and didn't see one.  If it exists and I missed it, chances are one of you did too!

One of the reasons I wanted this blog to include Cricut tutorials, is because when I first got my Cricut machine, I was a little stunned by the lack of instructions that came with the design space files.  I think I have determined that the old days of Cricut cartridges for images also included some instructional information that simply didn't make it's way through to the online access of Design Space.  

Fixing the File!

In any event, after some significant tinkering, and a return visit to the original file (to make sure I hadn't resized it and screwed it up in THAT process), I decided that this was the issue: 

THE SEAM IS IN THE WRONG SPOT

In the first pic below, you can see how the original file looked, and in the second pic below, you can see I just needed to move the score marks down to the end of that smaller piece of paper! (The tutorial video has decent details on how to take off the original score marks and put the new ones in place).

In the end, I got a very successful outcome, and a project I was proud of, and happy to send off as a gift!

Some links below are affiliate links.  If you make a purchase through one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.  If you do, thank you in advance for your support of this blog. 

Here are the items used in this project: 

If you don't have a Cricut, you'll want the bundle, which includes some mats and basic materials.  Links to my favorite Cricut resources are on my resources tab, here.  I also have a post dedicated to what you need to get started with Cricut, you can read that here: What Do You Need to Get Started with Cricut?

The paper pack used is Carta Bella, Christmas Delivery 

The glue I absolutely adore is Art Glitter glue.  Links to the glue and the small refillable glue bottles I like, are also on my resources tab.

Finally, my bone folder is a Martha Stewart Crafts bone folder...it's the pink one, embellished with rhinestones because I was feeling a little "extra" the day I purchased. Any bone folder will do nicely for paper projects, but if you love mine it's still available at a few stores (although, as I'm writing this, it's out of stock most places, but with the ability to notify you when it's back in stock).

Until next time, do what makes you happy. 

Love,
Amanda