Hb 14!~

This morning I made a little money book, gone wild, for Brett's best bud, Alec, for his 14th birthday.  I also made a coordinating box.

I knew I wanted to use Lisa's coin envelope design and incorporate it into a money holder and last night before bed thought it would be fun to bind them all together to make a book of sorts.   I use these coin envelopes frequently for gift cards and cash; they are so easy to make and are the perfect size for both.

Once I decided on the envelopes, I thought I would use what I have at home to make the project.  Being just a week and 2 days since I came home from the hospital, driving around, while allowed, is a little fatiguing.  So, Graphic 45 A Proper Gentlemen to the rescue. :)

The envelopes are bound together with an O ring.  While I wanted to use the Bind It All to punch the holes, the envelopes were a little wide and would have had half punches on each end,  not something I wanted.  So I made a template by punching a scrap piece of paper and used that to mark where the 4 holes would go on each envelope.  I used a handheld rectangle punch to punch the holes for the O ring.  Once they were all punched I used the BIA to crimp the O ring together. All the envelopes were distressed with a sanding block and decorated simply using G45 coordinated papers and punch outs.  Each page has a Cuttlebug chipboard/ cardstock covered die cut letter that spells out his name.

The box is 4" x 3" x 1" and is made using the Scor-Pal.  The box is decorated using G45 papers, a Nestabilities circle die, Cuttlebug letters and numbers and a Cuttlebug tag.  

There are some kids who don't get a handmade gift holder as I know that it finds itself into the garbage once the gift is opened.  However, I recently learned that Alec's mom (my good friend, Anita) has saved every card, box or enclosure I have ever made for their family, so I know that this will be appreciated.  And, I am not sure I know a teen who doesn't like to see their name personalized on their gift!

On the recouping side, my surgery went well and my recovery is scooting along quite nicely.  I am up to a mile walk and can finally sit and stand easily.  Previously it felt like I had done far too many crunches!

Have a beautiful day!

V.~