Teach Me Tuesday
Teach Me Tuesday: Creative Money Gift
This is a re-post from my professional blog with the original title “10 Steps to a Creative Money Gift {Tutorial}”
It’s that time of year again where graduation caps, wedding bouquets and baby rattles take over the scene.
The million dollar question to you: Are you an effortless gift giver or is it difficult to even think of a gift?
There are some people who loves to give gifts. You know those ones who always find a pinch of knowledge about the receiver to buy a personable and thoughtful gift. You always wonder how do they “know” what to do?
But then, there are the others who are in a frenzied panic at the thought of buying a gift. Why?
- The gift receiver has everything already – The question that always remain is “what can I give someone who seemingly has everything or simply is hard to shop for?”
- The gift giver procrastinated on buying a gift – Whether a person is super busy or simply forgot, the gift scramble and its frustrations begins.
- The giver simply isn’t a great gift giver – Maybe some people are simply not great gift givers. Sometimes those potholders or those coasters can’t pull all the stops.
So what’s the next best thing?
A Gift Card
Gift cards are awesome because who doesn’t love to get free coffee or some extra money on a shopping site or free money to spend at a favorite clothing store? However, there are still a few problems with a gift card:
- Some cards have a fee to buy them (you have to spend money to give money!)
- Some cards have expiration dates – and fees if not used every month.
- Some cards are exclusive to the store you’re buying from, which ultimately means you still have to do some research on your receiver.
- It’s easy for the receiver to forget about or lose the card. Whoops, there goes free money…
To eliminate all of this pressure, let’s skip the middleman and just give people straight cash.
(Creative) Cash is King
When I can’t pinpoint a certain item someone may like or if it something they need, I give cash. Not just cash placed inside of a card but “creative cash.” My artistic side could never let my gifts be average. I’m all in.
Thus, here is a fun tutorial on a cool DIY money gift!
A while back, one of my friends got married and moved far away to Texas (coming from Philly). Before he left, his family hosted a surprise going away/engagement party for him. His family wrote in the invitation that all gifts had to be portable enough for him to take to his new home. For some reason, it’s hard to find wedding related gifts for guys. So the best portable gift I could think of was money. And after Pinterest hunting, I put together a few ideas to make this collared money shirt.
[bctt tweet=”My artistic side could never let my gifts be average. I’m all in.”]
Cool isn’t it? This is how I created it:
Money Shirt Tutorial
Total Time: 30 minutes to 1 hour
SUPPLIES NEEDED
- Crisp Cash – Yes, visit the bank and get a bunch of bills, whichever denominations, whatever amount.
- Coins – For the “buttons” of the shirt.
- 8×10 Chipboard – you can even use the chipboard in the back of a paper package.
- 8×10 Cardstock – to place on the back of the board.
- Tape – Both double sided tape and clear transparent tape
- Streamer – for “inseam”
- Clothing Gift Box – to place your shirt in of course!
- Pipe Cleaner/Chenille Stem (optional)
- Marker (optional) – I used this to write a message on the board before applying the money on top of it.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place your chipboard on a flat surface, making sure it is free and clear of dust and snags. Apply your message or design, if desired. If not desired, skip to step 2.
- Begin prepping your bills horizontally and adjacent to each other by placing them where you would like them. Once satisfied, begin taping the bills on the chipboard, wrapping edges around the back of the board with transparent tape and taping the middle with double sided tape.
- Once taped down, turn the board around and tape the cardstock on it, covering the money edges in the back.
- Turn the board back to the front and place a piece of the streamer over the middle of the board, covering the edges of the bills.
- Next, work on the placement of the collar. I used three bills to work a circle and inserted a chenille stem for structure. Once ok, tape the bills together making sure the chenille stem isn’t shown.
- When you find the best placement for the collar, bend the bottom a bit and tape it down. This is probably the trickiest part of this entire project. Be patient!
- Now it’s time to make your bowtie. Fold two bills accordion style and pinch the middle, taping it together. Then tape a small piece of streamer to the middle and unfold the accordion money just a bit on the sides. Tape the bowtie to the collar very carefully.
- For the pocket and pocket square, fold one bill in thirds with the middle being the bigger piece and tape down with double sided tape. Grab another small piece of streamer and fold accordion style. Apply double-sided tape above pocket and place slightly unraveled streamer on top, tucking it a bit inside the “pocket.”
- As a last little touch, add as many coins as you would like to for the shirt with buttons look.
- Voila! You’re done. All you have to do now is place your finished product in a gift box and give it away. You can wrap the box with wrapping paper if you’re feeling really creative.
Project Fun Facts
- Glue will not work for this project. Not only will it become messy, but the recipient would not get the money off after it has dried. Embarrassing much? Eek.
- If the chenille stem is frustrating you to stay put, you can opt to not use it and just use the bills only. I eventually had to do this but with another project, the chenille stem stayed put. Patience can be key.
- You can use any coin for the buttons! It’s all up to you.
- You can also use more bills on the back of the board instead of the cardstock.
- For a bride, make a money dress; a graduate, a money graduation cap; a new parent, a money diaper cake or rattle. The money gift possibilities are endless and if you need more inspiration, check out my Money Gifts Pinterest board.
Have fun and may your gift recipient be happy!
Did you like this tutorial? Let me know in the comments!
