Handmade Gift - revisited

Hello Hello

So I'm back today to share with all of you a simple yet unique graduation gift, I created this coupon book for my oldest daughter for her birthday several years back and surprisingly she has mentioned it several times since then - hinting around that she wants another one - so I take that to mean that she liked it a whole lot. Of course I've no doubt she'll want teen-age appropriate coupons now: date w/friends to the movie theater, a week free of household chores including the weekend either before or after (yes we believe in our girls having chores - absolutely), a weekend sleepover w/5 of her best friends...

...until I figure out which one I'm willing to sacrifice, my sanity or my pocket book, I have not made another one...lol

Moving forward, the way that I made this is simple...I took card stock and cut it down to the size I wanted keeping in mind that the left 'binding' side would need to be left over when the coupon was torn out; so to accomplish this I used the perforated blade (which cuts the paper in a dash type line here) that came with my paper trimmer and measured over about an inch from the left-hand side and cut, after I had my cut line done I used my smaller 1/2 inch circle punch to punch out the side - dividing that perforated line evenly to make it look like a 'ticket'

With the coupon 'pages' done I just needed to make the coupons. That was simple enough...I pulled up a blank document on my computer, typed in the text making sure I gave myself plenty of room in between each coupon so that I could cut them out, cut them to appropriate size and adhered them into their spot. As for the ticket outline that you see in the photo below, I simple cut out my own template on a separate sheet of card stock, punched the corners with my ticket punch and then traced around it onto each coupon with a silver pen.  

Now the fun part is when the recipient wants to use a coupon... because I've used that perforated blade the coupon will tear off just like a ticket stub, that's exactly what I was going for.

As for the binding you ask?...I used screw posts, you can find them at Hobby Lobby I know and most likely at Michael's as well but if not check Amazon, they are fairly cheap no matter where you get them and easy. You punch your holes, slip the post through your holes then drop in the screw and tighten, easy peasy.

As for the covers 9 times out of 10 I use medium weight chipboard and cover it with a pattern paper. That is exactly what I've done here and then I add on a few embellishments to spice up the cover, in this case I went with a 'less is more' attitude because eventually all the coupons will be used and I doubt that anyone will hang on to an empty booklet so there is no reason to go all out - it only wastes your time and your money at that point so keep it sweet and simple. 

Alright that is all that I have for you today, I hope that this gives you a new idea for gift giving, if not for graduation maybe a birthday or an anniversary gift to your spouse - you could get quite creative with that I'm sure. Some coupons for the graduate that I'm thinking of just now are:

a free tank of gas

(everyone can appreciate this)

a free book for a class taken

(encouragement to start college immediately)

mom's weekend laundromat

(for a college student living in a dorm but close enough to drive home for a weekend)

 a week of homemade lunches

(for the ones that are staying close to home daily)

That's all folks hope you are inspired and try thinking outside the box every once in awhile, it's good for the brain and good for the soul I believe. Thank you for stopping in and checking this out, catch me on Instragram if you'd like or even try my Face Book Page if you prefer although the later is fairly new and I haven't added much to it just yet.

Hope you all have a fine end to the rest of your week and take care.

Thanks again!

just B