Giving cash has got to be one of the easiest gift solutions, versus buying a gift specifically for someone (in the hopes they like it!). However, cash is also most often the least favored gift solution, as I have heard it coined, 'the easy way out'.
So, to work around the perceived 'stigma' of giving a cash gift, I voted to spend cherished time on the handmade enclosure for the cash! :D
Today, for my birthday gift dilema, of which I opted to give cash, I came up with this idea after staring at a couple of plain, white matchboxes and a few of Tim Holtz's new hardware pieces, and a pile of Inchie Squares.
I cut a strip of skinny and long patterned paper 3/8" wide and 7" in length and covered the sliding interior box edges. Cut another small piece for the inside bottom. Another piece of patterned paper measuring 2" x 4" covered the outside of the matchbox. Stamped and colored a White Inchie Square and adhered. Done.
On the Lockhart Cupcake box I added a snippet of pink ribbon (Stampin Up).
The new item on these altered matchboxes is the addition of the mini metal pull knob - these are new from Tim Holtz and are called Hitch Fasteners. They are securely attached to the interior sliding box lid and really add a nice touch to these cash carriers. I used a 3/8" hole punch and installed these in seconds.
These mini altered boxes each feature an embellished White Inchie Square, matted onto black cardstock. The Inchie Square truly kicks these dressy boxes up a notch. I used the Lockhart Packages image I geared one toward a masculine birthday and the other, same image, for the winter holidays.
Need more info on the wonderful world of Inchies? Please visit www.inchiearts.com. Lisa Lee offers more information on the superior quality of the Inchie Squares used with these gift boxes. Her secret? Ultra premium matboard - the superior quality is what makes these a dream to stamp on, that and the quality feel and heft to the material/matboard.
I would hope the recipient to re-use/recycle the gift box to house small items either on their desk at home or at the office, in their purse or automobile glove box - I'm thinking a few extra emergency packs of Listerine Breath strips, gum, paperclips, mini binder clips. I would not think chocolate would work - it just does not hang around (here) long enough to get put into a box...lol...
Thank you very much for stopping by, and I hope this post inspires you to create a clever box to guise a cash gift!!! ...my Christmas to-do gift list just got shorter!! :D
sources: Lockhart Stamp Company - Itty Bitty Cupcake, Packages, Memory Box cardstock - Licorice; Copic Markers, White Inchie Squares - all available through Ellen Hutson, LLC. matchboxes, Tim Holtz hardware (Hitch Fasteners) - StarLitStudio.
