Welcome back to the craft room and today’s How to Make a Diagonal Joy Fold Card post. If you love cards that wow people the moment they’re opened, you’re going to love this one. The Diagonal Joy Fold Card is like getting two fun folds in one beautiful design. It looks impressive, but it’s surprisingly simple to make.
In this tutorial I’ll show you exactly how to create this unique fold. It’s beginner friendly and guaranteed to impress your friends and family.
Card Base Measurements
Today I’ll be using a piece of Ivory cardstock from the 110 lb Coffee and Cream paper pack by Recollections. We’ll start by cutting the cardstock in half to create a card base measuring 8½” x 5½”.
Using the leftover piece, trim it down to 8½” x 3¼”. This will become the Joy Fold portion of our card.
Next, score both pieces at 4¼”. This gives us an A2 card base measuring 4¼” x 5½” and a smaller Joy Fold card base measuring 3¼” x 4¼”.
Burnish both score lines well, then set the smaller piece aside for now.
Creating the Diagonal Front
Now it’s time to create the diagonal front of the card. We’ll cut from the score line at the top of the card down to the bottom right corner of the front panel. Take your time lining everything up in your paper trimmer before making the cut.
Choosing and Cutting the Patterned Paper
For today’s project I’ll be using the beautiful Die Cuts With a View Primrose paper stack. I’ll use one full 12″ x 12″ sheet along with a scrap left over from a previous project.
I wanted the butterflies in the lower left corner to be the focal point of my card front. What I didn’t want was the word “Memories.” While that would work perfectly on a scrapbook page, it doesn’t really fit the card I’m making today.
I love using my Tim Holtz Rotary Media Trimmer for larger sheets of paper, but it does have one drawback. The bar that holds the blade sits directly over the cutting surface, making detailed cuts difficult. As you can see in the photo, it’s almost impossible to tell exactly where the word “Memories” is lined up.
Once the my focal image has been defined with the original cut, I rotated the paper and cut a strip measuring 5¼” tall.
From that strip, I cut both my card front and the inside mat to 4¼” x 5½”.
You’ll notice in the second photo below that I’m pointing to another butterfly image. Most of it will be covered by the Joy Fold panel, so I decided to cut my inside mat from that side of the paper instead. This let me make the most of the design without wasting my favorite images.
Next we need to make a diagonal cut on the butterfly panel. I switched to my 8½” Tim Holtz Guillotine Trimmer for this cut, going from the upper left corner down to the lower right corner. Again, take your time lining everything up before trimming away the excess.
When I paired the Primrose paper with the ivory Recollections cardstock, my first instinct was to ink the edges using either Vintage Photo or Ground Espresso Distress Ink. After looking at them together, though, I felt there was enough contrast between the two that the extra inking wasn’t necessary.
Once I made that decision, I simply adhered the patterned paper to the card base using Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue. Of course, feel free to use your favorite adhesive.
The last piece we need is the front panel for our Joy Fold. Trim your scrap of patterned paper to 3″ x 4″. Before adhering it to the front flap, I’m going to stamp my sentiment directly onto the paper.
Stamping the Sentiment
For today’s card I’m using the “Happy Birthday to You” stamp from the Opposites Attract stamp set by The Greetery. To coordinate with the colors in the patterned paper, I stamped the sentiment with Tim Holtz Distress Archival Ink in Ground Espresso.
One of my favorite things about this stamp set is the mix of fonts. I love the bold main sentiment and how beautifully it pairs with the more delicate sub-sentiment.
There was one small challenge, though. The decorative swashes at the beginning and end of “birthday to you” make the stamp just a little wider than my patterned paper. Instead of placing the paper in the corner of my Mini MISTI as I normally would, I positioned it slightly away from the edges. That gave me a much better chance of centering the sentiment on the panel.
I was really happy with how it turned out. I did stamp it a few times to get solid coverage on the word “Happy,” and I added a second magnet to my MISTI to make sure the paper stayed perfectly in place while stamping.
Final Card Assembly
After setting the sentiment panel aside to dry, I glued it to the front of the Joy Fold piece. While that dried, I brought in my card base along with the Club Scrap Centering Ruler.
To center the smaller panel inside the card, I positioned the ruler 5/8″ from the top edge of the card. From side to side, I lined it up at 2 1/8″.
After adding Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue to the back of the Joy Fold panel, I lined it up on the centering ruler at 1 5/8″ on each side of zero. Once I was happy with the placement, I carefully laid it down and burnished it well with my bone folder to make sure it adhered securely.
And that finishes our Diagonal Joy Fold Card!
I’m really happy with how this one turned out. The papers from the Die Cuts With a View Primrose paper stack work beautifully with this fold, and I’m glad I chose to stamp the sentiment in Ground Espresso. The darker color stands out nicely against the patterned paper while tying everything together.
More Diagonal Joy Fold Card Inspiration
Before I wrap things up, I wanted to share a few more versions of this fold. One of my favorite things about the Diagonal Joy Fold Card is how versatile it is. It’s a wonderful way to showcase patterned paper, but it also works beautifully with stamped and colored images.
The first card features images from the Simon Says Stamp Thankful Flowers stamp set. I colored them with Zig Real Brush Markers and cut them out using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies. The green cardstock is Canson Papercraft Cardstock.
To add a little more depth to the design, I stamped the Thankful Flowers bouquet twice using Gina K Designs Amalgam Ink before adding the sentiment from the same stamp set.
The next card features the beautiful Mini Bud stamp from The Ton Stamps. This image was also colored with Zig Real Brush Markers and colored pencils, then finished with a touch of white gel pen in the flower center.
For the focal panel I again used the Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Dies, while the blue linen-textured cardstock came from my local print shop. The sentiment is from the Occasions stamp set from Kaiser Craft and also stamped with Gina K Designs Amalgam ink.
My final two examples are just sentiments away from becoming finished cards. Both use patterned paper from the Bella Bohemia paper pad by The Paper Studio.
For the card in the middle, I attached the Joy Fold section horizontally instead of vertically. It’s a fun variation on the design and works especially well when you have a longer sentiment you’d like to feature on the front.
Final Thoughts
Thank you for joining me for today’s How to Make a Diagonal Joy Fold Card tutorial.
What I enjoy most about this design is how much space it gives you to showcase patterned paper while still surprising the recipient with an interactive opening. It’s a simple fold to put together, but the finished card looks much more elaborate than it really is.
If you’re looking for even more inspiration after today’s project, be sure to take a look at my collection of Fun Fold Card ideas. There are lots of different designs to explore, and you’re sure to find another fold you’d like to try.
I’d love to know which version was your favorite. Did you like today’s Primrose Happy Birthday card, one of the Bella Bohemia versions, the Thankful Flowers card, or the Mini Bud card? Let me know in the comments below!
Until then, have a wonderful week ahead, and I’ll see you back in the craft room soon!
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