Tim Horton's Coffee Cup Birthday Card

Hello Crafty mates!  

My project today is something for my ' Coffee Mates ' .

Take a look at the card below....its part of a gift package for my pal Maria who 

also happens to be a coffee mate of mine! 

You might not guess from the photo, but this card is really a

re-incarnated TIM HORTONS COFFEE CUP!

And appropriately, a stir stick is starring as the greeting!

Now I did not come up with this idea myself but saw it online when I 

googled something, and I thought "how fun!"

So naturally, I wanted to do one!  Here is how I did it.....

UPCYCLED COFFEE CUP TUTORIAL

Basically, grab a clean take-out coffee cup from your fav coffee cafe. 

 I am working with a Medium Tim Horton's cup. 

I found it had enough height to add my focal decoration. 

I have seen the cards using the ' Large ' coffee cups though - so choose one that you like.

Prepare the Coffee Cup.

a)"Open the cup" by cutting off the bottom and top rims.

b) cut  down the side seam.

c) Flatten the cup. 

USE THE CUP AS A TEMPLATE.. 

See my photos - here I cut Gumball Green and Starfruit cardstock for the front

and inside of the cup, using the coffee cup as my template. Not to worry 

that it's 'perfect', but that you leave a margin of approx. 1/4 inch cardstock all around the perimeter

ADD A BORDER TRIM.

Now is a good time to add some trim. 

 I added a scalloped border to the gumball green cardstock

before gluing it to the outside of the flat coffee cup.

INSIDE CUP. 

As you would expect, the coffee cup's interior has a wax coating.

Not good for gluing - so I SCORED some lines with a sharp

pointy edge criss-cross fashion. The glue will 'fall' into the grooves and bind. 

FINISHING TOUCHES

Here is my finished exterior or card 'front' covered in the Gumball Green with Scalloped Border

AND a piece of Starfruit cardstock as cup's " SLEEVE ".  I merely cut that freehand.

I've inked some distressing accents to the edges [which also hides finger smudges from touching the card] and stamped a small monochromatic image on the front to add interest.  

Once I have finished decorating the FRONT, such as adding the above decoration

of i) doily, ii) scalloped circle, iii) stamped decoration [cut out] and iv) 2 leaves ...

I added my yellow cardstock to the interior. 

TIP: when gluing the interior cardstock to the cup - close together and re-open 

the card and press down the cardstock at the fold. It may shift a bit, but just

" work " it till it accepts its position. 

DECORATIVE GREETING ' STIR STIK '

It seemed appropriate to use a real wood stir stick to flag my greeting! 

I stamped and cut a greeting - for her, its a birthday one and punched 

some hearts from co-ordinating cardstock. The pink cardstock is also 

another Stampin' Up! IN COLOR called RASPBERRY RIPPLE.

I then attached the greeting front and back to the stir stick, while adding the 

hearts to one side only which faces the front. 

GLUE THE STIR STIK DOWN INSIDE THE CARD. 

MY GIFT. 

Here it is!  My gift became 'coffee-themed' as I gave some fresh green

kitchen towels, and a pound of coffee beans. I think that is a nice 

way to start the new year off! 

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial, and that you are encouraged

to take advantage of recycling or re-purposing, or up-cycling....whichever way 

you want to call it...a coffee cup!  Toronto does not have a 

recycling program for these cups, a fact many probably do not know. York Region

on the other hand DOES recycle the cups. It all depends on whether the recycling

process is anerobic or not {uses oxygen to break down enzymes} and 

can deal with the thin plastic/wax coating that comes on food-grade containers. 

So we can upcycle items once in awhile - its fun AND good! 

Bye y'all!

Supplies:

 Stampin' Up!

1) 2012-2014  IN COLORS cardstock, inks.

2)  DSP. for trim, leaves.

3) stamps - assorted.

4) Scallop Border punch

5) Bigz Perfect Pennants Die

Other

1) Tim Horton's Coffee Cup and Stir Stik. 

2) assorted glues. 

3) basic tools: scissors, bone folder, clear stamp block.