Welcome back to the craft room and today’s Flashback Friday Gatefold with a Twist post. While I love making gatefold cards, I’m not a fan of how they never stay shut unless you add a belly band. I’m also not a huge fan of belly bands, since I can never seem to get them to fit properly.
Most of this frustration comes from trying to take a picture of my finished card without my finger holding it shut—and accidentally ending up in the photo. So back in August of 2011, after making a gatefold card for a release party challenge, I tried to come up with some kind of closure. Let me show you my crazy idea!
Gatefold Card…Take 2
While thinking about a card to create for this month’s release party challenge, I settled on making a gatefold card. Almost immediately, I was reminded how frustrating it is to take a good picture of one. I usually end up photographing my finger as I hold it closed, or taking a dozen shots trying to get just the right angle.
My mind kept coming back to the thought that there had to be a way to close them up and keep them closed. After a few hours of thinking, I came up with the idea of using the same concept as a lattice fold card to create a buckle of sorts. Here’s the card I came up with…
To start off, I created a bit of a template on some scrap paper. This helped me wrap my brain around the concept and visualize how everything would work together.
My finished card measures 5 ½ x 5 ½, so I started with a card base of 5 ½ x 11. The patterned paper pieces are as follows: one piece at 5 3/8 x 5 3/8 for the inside center, and four pieces measuring 5 3/8 x 2 5/8 for the inside and outside side panels. When adhering the outside panels to the card base, it’s important to use an all-over adhesive, such as a Xyron machine. You’ll need those two layers of paper to stay firmly together while making your cuts.
Begin by adhering the outside panels to the card base. Then, using light pencil marks, create a template for your cuts. As you can see in my image, I kept the triangle approximately ¼ inch from the card edge.
Use a straight edge and a sharp blade to cut along the lines from the point to the edge that runs parallel to the card edge. In the next image, you can see that I used my 6” metal ruler to help bend this piece down. And yes—even with a straight edge, my cut lines are a bit crooked… lol. That just proves this card is truly handmade!
You can’t see it in the next image, but after bending back the edge, I use it to lightly mark where I want to make my cut on the opposite side. Once again, using a straight edge and blade, I cut the slit through both layers of the card.
At this point, you can adhere the patterned paper to the inside of the side panels. I chose to have the pattern facing inward. Be extra careful when applying adhesive in these areas so the card can still close properly and “lock” into place.
The inside of the card is decorated with a stamp from the Friends are Forever stamp set by Gina K Designs. It’s stamped directly onto the patterned paper. Separate flowers are colored, cut, and glued into place to add interest and a pop of color. I also added a single flower to the front of the card to tie everything together.
Thank you so much for joining me for today’s Flashback Friday Gatefold with a Twist post. While this concept sort of worked for its intended purpose, I’m not a huge fan of it. Perhaps it would have looked better if I had used double-sided patterned paper. Or maybe this is one of those ideas that needs to go back to the drawing board!
Please let me know in the comments how you feel about gatefold cards. If you make them often, how do you keep them closed? Don’t forget to check out the gatefold card that inspired this post here: Flashback Friday Gatefold Card Challenge. Until then, have a fantastic weekend, and I’ll see you back in the craft room soon!
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