Each year for Valentine’s Day my youngest daughter and I have fun coming up with DIY class valentines for her to share at school. She’s really into bubble gum right now and wanted to include that in her class valentines, so this year we decided to go for pocket valentines to hold a pack of bubble gum for each of her classmates.
We really liked the modern look and colors of the gum packaging, so that was our inspiration for the colors of cardstock we chose for the pockets. We also wanted to add the sparkle of foiling, so we pulled out the Foil Quill pens and my Silhouette Cameo 4.
Let’s start with how we made the foiled tags, and then I’ll show how I made the pockets with the Pocket Punch Board.
First, I created the design in my software using a couple of single line fonts that I have. I made the foiling lines (the text) a different color than the cutting lines (a simple circle) so I could do each job separately.
Then I plugged my standard tip Foil Quill pen into my power bank to let it heat up for about 5 minutes. While waiting for that, I placed a 12×12 sheet of smooth white cardstock on my cutting mat, and covered that with an 11×11 sheet of Fuschia pink foil that I cut.
Once the Foil Quill pen was hot, I added the D adapter to it and inserted it into the blade holder in my machine. With all other Silhouette machines you’ll use the A adapter, but the new Cameo 4 has a different holder and the D adapter fits perfectly!
In my software I selected the foiling lines and foiled on my cardstock first, making sure NOT to unload the mat once it was finished.
Then I carefully removed the foil with the mat still loaded in the machine and switched out the Foil Quill pen for the blade.
In my software I selected the cutting lines and cut circles around each of the foiled tags. This is my favorite part about using the Foil Quill with my electronic cutting machine–combining the foiling with the cutting features! It’s so convenient!
Once the foiled tags were finished, I cut slightly larger circles from the colored cardstock as a mat for the tags. Then I got to work making the pockets for the packs of gum!
I trimmed my cardstock to the size indicated on the chart included with the Pocket Punch Board based on the size pocket I selected. Then, following the included instructions, I cut, scored, and adhered the pockets together.
Tip: my favorite adhesive for folded paper projects is hot glue, and my favorite hot glue gun is the We R USB Mini Glue Gun. It’s portable and has a steady flow of power from the USB plug rather than batteries that run out.
Check out a quick video tutorial for making pockets with the Pocket Punch Board:
To assemble these class valentines I added the tags with foam adhesive squares for dimension, included small enamel heart stickers from the Dear Lizzy She’s Magic collection, and then tied some twine around the top.
To keep the pack of bubble gum from sliding out of the pocket I added a small foam adhesive square to the back of each pack.
My daughter is a big fan of word puns and bubble gum, so she’s excited to share these with her friends at school for Valentine’s Day! Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting friends!
