Every once in a rare while, in that "twilight" between sleeping and waking, inspiration will strike! That is what happened with today's
Stamp Simply project! I woke up with an idea forming in my mind and I'm excited that it turned out just as I had envisioned. ☺️
From the outside it looks like any other top-folding standard-sized card...
...but once it is opened there's a surprise, and not just one but TWO! It's a perfect two-fer for one person, or for his and hers gift cards. Here's how it was made (much easier to do than it looks/sounds, so give it a try!). All you have to do is add the following to a standard sized card base.
Score a 4 1/4 x 7 1/2 inch piece of card stock at 1/2, 2, 3 3/4, 4, 5 1/2, and 7 inches. Fold and burnish the score lines. The score lines near each end will be "valley" folds, and the wider sections will form the "mountain fold" pockets with two valley folds between them in the center.
On the wrong side, carefully place a narrow line of glue along the sides of only the wider sections to seal the edges of the pockets.
It should look like this when the glue is all set.
One pocket at a time, die-cut on the fold, centering the edge of the labels die to form the pocket opening. You may need to run it through the machine twice to cut through the double thickness. You'll also need to snip through a small portion of the fold (not too close to the edge!) on each side with paper snips to widen the opening so that a gift card will fit inside.
This is what the bottom of the pockets looks like. This will be glued securely to the inside of the card with the fold of the lower pocket at approximately two inches from the bottom of the card.
I cut three pieces of designer paper to cover the mechanics of the pockets. Here are those measurements:
- 4 1/4 inches wide x a scant 2 inches
- 4 1/4 inches wide x a scant 1/2 inch
- 4 1/4 inches wide x a scant 3 inches
Be sure to check that things open/close and lay flat before you adhere them, and if your paper is directional be sure to align everything correctly. Isn't it kinda cool that it ends up looking so cleanly finished and almost like a single sheet again after it's glued in place?!
Here are the supplies used for today's project:
And...I couldn't resist making an "everyday" version of this card, this time with a side fold just to see how that would work out.
The pears were stamped on a piece of Craft Consortium paper, so no coloring, just simple stamping, some clear Wink of Stella, and then fussy cutting. Isn't the mottled color and that bit of blush just perfect?! Serendipity.
Again, I added designer paper to make the inside look more finished. Here you can see the pockets without the gift cards inserted. When cutting the decorative papers for the inside of this side-folding card, you will likely need to slightly reduce the width of the decorative paper as well, to accommodate the side fold.
If I were to do it again, I'd add another 1/4 inch to the width of the side-fold card and give it a "spine" like a book to accommodate the extra bulk. That isn't as much an issue with top-folding as it is with the side-folding version.
For my second card I used the same products as above, with these additions or substitutions:
I hope you'll try out a two-pocket gift card of your own! You could easily even add more pockets if you wanted to!
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