Ever work really hard on a project but you just can’t get it to come together? This is the way I feel about this card. This is an older idea that has been around for awhile so I thought I would pick it up and make it metric. I ran into a lot of problems with the mechanisms and this card is my result. It looks pretty good and I love the colors and Designer Series Paper but it just isn’t right and I can’t quite lay a finger on why. Any comments would be appreciated.

Supplies

Unbound Love Photopolymer Stamp Set
Sketched Butterflies Stamp Set
Thoughtful Journey Designer Series Paper
Mossy Meadow Card Stock
Basic Beige Card Stock
Mossy Meadow Stampin Pad
Multipurpose Liquid Glue
Paper Trimmer

Directions

Prepare the Pieces

Cut a standard half sheet card base, 21cm x 14.85cm (8-1/2″ x 5-1/2″) from the Mossy Meadow card stock. Score halfway at 10.5cm (4-1/2″), fold and burnish. Card will be turned so that the fold is at the top.

The “frame” piece is cut from the same Mossy Meadow card stock at 10.5cm x 14.85cm (4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″). To complete the frame cut out the center leaving a border of 1.5cm (5/8″) all the way around.

Cut a liner for the card10.5cm x 14.4cm (4″ x 5-1/4″) out of basic beige.

The next pieces to cut are the mechanism pieces. You will need three of them cut to 5.5 x 10.5cm (2-1/8″ x 4-1/4″). Make the following score lines on each piece, be sure each piece is oriented the same.

With the short side at the top of your score board/paper trimmer score a line 1.5cm (5/8″).

Turn the piece so that the long side is at the top and score 1.5cm (5/8″) on each end.

Turn the piece again and score from the top down to the score line at 1.5cm (5/8″) and while the piece is still in place move to the bottom and score another 1.5cm (5/8″) From the score line to the bottom. (see photo)

Now on the side with the long score line cut away the space between the score lines, see photo. Be sure to do this on all three pieces.

The last step for the mechanism is to cut narrow splits at the score marks directly opposite from side you just cut away, again, take a look at the photo below. Repeat on all pieces, they should all look exactly the same.

Cut three pieces of Designer Series Paper, 3.5cm x 7cm (1-3/8″ x 2-3/4″). These are the front pieces of your flaps. I used a ‘picture’ piece of the Designer Series Paper and arranged my cut pieces accordingly, see photo.

The next three pieces of Designer Series Paper are cut to the same size but of a different pattern. These pieces will be the back side of the flaps. Since my card stock is so dark I cut a fourth piece to use on the card base at the ‘end’ of the shutters. If you are going to use stamping on any of these pieces do it at this point as it will be easier than trying to stamp once the pieces have been glued together.

Optionally you can place Designer Paper between the flaps to further decorate the card. If you are working in imperial and using imperial sized card stock cut three pieces of decorative paper to 1-1/2″ x 4″. If you are working in metric you will find that there is a slightly larger space to the right of the flaps. For this project I opted to cut four of the ‘back side of the shutters’ and stamp onto the fourth piece as shown in the photo, and leave out the decorative paper between the shutters.

Assembling the Card

Place the beige card stock ‘liner’ on the inside of the card being sure to leave an equal amount of the Mossy Meadow card stock showing all the way around. If you are stamping or decorating this piece it may be easier to do it before you stick it down.

Adhere the ‘front’ pieces of the Designer Series Paper to the front of each shutter, see photo. These pieces are designed to show a small amount (2-3cm or 1/8″) all around the Designer Paper to act as a border.

Turn the shutter pieces over and adhere the ‘back’ panels, aligning them the same as your did for the front of the shutter panels.

Line up your shutters as shown in the photo with the front side facing up (photo with the water color flowers. Place multipurpose liquid glue on the back of the left tabs. Line up the tabs with the left side of your card and align the whole shutter piece top to bottom. (See photo). Be sure to only put glue on the square tabs.

Fold the right side tab up and out of your way. Place the next shutter piece aligned with the tabs almost meeting the first piece and aligned top and bottom. Place the third shutter next in the same manner aligning the tabs up to the second shutter and even top and bottom. Give the glue a moment to dry before flipping up the shutters for the next step.

If you are decorating the space between the shutters now is the time to glue the pieces into place. For this example I only have the fourth shutter Designer Series Paper piece.

To make it easier to adhere the top frame turn the card upside down so the shutter tabs are facing to the right. Place glue on each tab and carefully lay the frame on top. Align the frame to the right side and the top and bottom, the left side should automatically line up. Gently press the frame down onto the tabs. Give the glue a moment or two to thoroughly dry before opening the shutter.

You may have to do some subtle trimming for the shutters to open and close smoothly. I had to do this for my original sample made to imperial measurements and the first metric sample but I did not have to do it for this card.

Other options for this card are to make a small ‘pull’ tab with an arrow and affix it to the left side of the frame. Or perhaps you could stamp a subtle pattern on the frame. There is a lot you can do with this fun fold.

Thank your reading today. As stated above I am not satisfied with this design but when my husband saw this card he loved it. And so I am posting this at his insistence since I trust his opinions. My dear hubby does not cut me any slack, if he does not like something he will flat out say it. And tell me why he does not like it, which can be very helpful. So I hope you give this card a try, I would love to have your opinion too!

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