{Graduate Gift Card Holders with Free Cut File}

Hey, y'all!  School has me so very busy because of all the end of year craziness, and I've missed y'all.  Thankfully, I'll be done with the school year soon and will be on a regular blogging schedule again.  Speaking of school ending, that's what today's post deals with.  If you're like me, almost every year around this time, you have at least one person to buy a graduation gift.  I think every graduate can appreciate a gift card, but you know what they would appreciate even more?  A gift card in a cool gift card holder.  Check out these awesome gift card holders that I designed and created with my Silhouette.  And because I love you, I'm sharing the cut file I used to create these later in the post!  Here's how to make them...

You only need a few supplies.

You need card stock or thick scrapbook paper, double sided tape or a glue stick, your Silhouette, and the free cut files I'm sharing with you today.  (There are a few optional supplies that I'll discuss later in the post.)  Of course, you also need gift cards because I don't think a graduate would be too happy about getting an empty gift card holder, even if it does look fabulous!

Download the free cute file from {HERE}, open it with your Silhouette, and cut the gift card holders out of card stock.  Notice that there are two styles of holders: an envelope style and a sleeve style.  You can cut both styles or the style that you like best.   NOTE: Do not resize the holders when you open the file because they won't fit your gift card!

If your gift card is pretty, you can leave the graduation cap open so that your gift card shows through.  If you don't really like that look, you can simply glue a small piece of colored paper behind the graduation cap cut out.  (This step uses the optional supplies I mentioned earlier.)   For one of my holders, I simply glued a piece of blue paper to the back of the cut out.  For another one, I glued a piece of paper that I had covered with washi tape to the back.  That one ended up being my favorite.

Now it's time to fold and glue your gift card holder.  Fold on the perforated lines.   For the envelope-style holder... Fold in the small side flaps and apply adhesive to the bottom two thirds of those flaps.  Fold the bottom flap over them and press to adhere.  Fold the top flap over and secure it with the semi-circle cut-out on the bottom flap.   For the sleeve-style holder... Fold the bottom flap up and put adhesive on the outside of it.  Fold in the shorter side flap.  Put adhesive on the edge and very bottom of that flap.  Put adhesive on the inside edge of the big side flap and fold it over the small flap. All that's left is sliding the gift cards inside the gift card holders.

Aren't they cute?

Using patterned card stock for the holders and a solid paper behind the graduation cap cut-out would be a really cut combination.  You could also personalize the outside of the holders with vinyl shapes and letters cut with your Silhouette, or you could even use your sketch pens!

I'd love to see the different combinations you come up with.  Post your gift card holder creation pics to my Facebook page or tweet them to @PitterandGlink! Happy crafting!