Bet you can’t make a card with this Hand-Penned Designer Series Paper, like this Hand-Penned Gatefold Birthday Card, without feeling happy afterward! It’s not about making the card, it’s that designer paper that just is so pleasing to me!
Just to make things a little more interesting, I made this into a gatefold card. Instead of folding the card the normal way, you fold in both sides. The center greeting is just glued on the left side so that it can be opened!
The card base is Basic White. Cut the cardstock in half like usual – 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″. But don’t score and fold in the middle! Score each end at 2 1/8″. The math is that you want the center of the card to be 5 1/2″ x 4 1/4″. So you divide 4 1/4″ in half, so each side “gate” will fold in to cover the center of the card. That gives you 2 1/8″ on each end. Mine somehow didn’t quite meet in the middle. Maybe I should have folded the sides in from the opposite side. You can try both ways!
For this card, I cut a Highland Heather piece of cardstock to go on the inside of the card. I made it the usual layer size, 5 1/4″ x 4″. I stamped a greeting on the inside before I adhered it to the center of the card. This greeting is from the Inspired Thoughts Stamp Set.
On the front of the card, I cut a layer of Highland Heather to go behind the Hand-Penned Designer Series Paper. Since the gate-fold panel is already pretty narrow, you have to cut the other layers pretty narrow. The Highland Heather layer is 5 3/8″ x 2″ on each gatefold panel. The designer paper is 5 1/4″ x 1 7/8″.
Now as I was putting glue on the back of this pretty floral designer paper, I also liked the Highland Heather color print on the other side. So I added that side of the designer paper to the inside panels of the card!
For the greeting on the front of the card, you could use a variety of shapes – circles, rectangles, squares, ovals. Use whatever you like or fits the greeting. I used these two die cuts from the Stitched So Sweetly Dies. The Happy Birthday greeting is from the Peaceful Moments Stamp Set. I stamped that in Highland Heather Ink and also stamped a few flowers and leaves in the Hand-Penned Petals Stamp Set. Layer the Basic White stamped piece on top of the Highland Heather piece. Be sure to only apply adhesive to the left side of the greeting from the middle over to the left side. Check the inside to make sure no glue is showing on the inside or it will stick to the other side of the card. I added two Elegant Faceted Gems to each side of the Highland Heather die cut.
Here is a fairly recent card I made in the gatefold style using the Expressions In Ink Designer Series Paper.
This is an easy card but the gatefold gives it a little extra pizzazz. Try your hand at making something like this Hand-Penned Gatefold Birthday Card.
