I don't know about you, but over here at Bridgering the Gap, we love interactive things. Today's card-making craft will be perfect for the upcoming Valentine holiday, or any occasion!
All you really need is two pieces of paper, scissors, a ruler, a pencil and some glue or double-sided tape. If you have cardstock or construction paper, that's wonderful, though printer paper works just fine!
Some optional supplies include: Markers, crayons, stickers, patterned paper, stamps, ink, scrap paper, magazine clippings... any fun things to decorate a card with really!
Today we will be making a card with a pink cover and white inside, you can choose any color you'd like, but we recommend a lighter inside color so you can write in it (unless you have gel pens, then go wild with the inside color!).
We are going to start by making the "inside mechanism".
Step one:
Trim off 1/2" off the side and bottom of your inside paper. This should make your inside piece 8"x10.5"
Step two:
Cut out 2"x4" rectangles from each corner as show in the picture below. We marked the rectangles with pencil first, and then cut. *Save the rectangles if you are wanting to make a banner on the front or message squares to the pop-out like our card*
Step 3:
Draw a line straight down the middle of this cross-shaped paper (the top width should be 4", so the middle point should be at 2").
Step 4:
Fold in half, bringing the top edge down to the bottom edge. Try to get this fold as even as possible.
Step 5:
When you open this fold back up, you will have the center crease going left to right, and the line you drew from top to bottom.
Step 6:
You are going to make a diagonal fold, but not quite in the middle... take the right edge and match the crease up with the pencil line like the image below. Take your time with this fold, you want the crease to be as straight up and down as possible (we show it here with the grid mat so you can see what we mean by straight up and down).
Step 7:
Unfold and repeat for the left side. Taking the crease and matching it with the center line. Again, taking your time to make sure it's as straight up and down as possible.
Step 8:
Open the fold back up, and flip it over so you no longer see the line down the center. You should have a piece that looks like this picture below.
Step 9:
Reverse only the diagonal folds. That just means you're going to repeat steps 6 and 7, but on this backside. This should be fairly simple because you already made the crease, so you are just creasing it again from this side. When you open it back up it should look like arrows pointing into the center. This is your "inside mechanism"!
For the outside of the card you will simply need to cut an 8-1/2"x11" (8.5"x11") paper in half (along the short side) so you end up with two pieces that measure 4-1/4"x11" (4.25"x11").
Select one of these pieces (if you have a "bigger" half for some reason, choose that one). Fold in half, taking the top and lining it up with the bottom and crease that fold. Yep, it's that simple!
We now need a piece of paper that is 2-3/4"x11" (2.75"x11") for the "pop-out strip".
We want 4 equal sections from this strip. An easy way to do this is to fold your piece of paper in half from the bottom up, and then fold the top edge back down (pictured below). Flip the piece over and repeat by folding that top piece back to the bottom as well.
This "pop-out strip" should look like an "M" if you stand it up. The two folds are the top of the "M". The single fold and two ends are the bottom of the "M".
You should now have all your pieces. The "inside mechanism", the "pop-out strip" and the "card base". *If you are wanting to draw or stamp on your "pop-out strip" now is the time. if you are going to wait and add the message squares like we did, you will wait until later.*
Now it is time to start the assembly! We will begin by attaching the "pop-out strip" to the "inside mechanism". This part may seem tricky, but it will be fine! To make describing it easier, I'm going to say the inside mechanism has two "arms", the left and the right.
You will ultimately be attaching the "pop-out strip" to the top of the left "arm" and the bottom of the right "arm". If you are using glue to do this, BE CAREFUL! If you use too much glue and press down, the glue could leak out of the sides and cause your card to get glued together (might we suggest an old paintbrush or q-tip to apply the glue so it's a light coat instead of blobs).
Just so you can get an idea of how things should look, go ahead and place the "pop-out strip" between the "arms". The two folds (top of the "M") should be facing the back. Place the "pop-out strip", centered left to right, on top of the left "arm" and under the right "arm". You will want the "pop-out strip" to be sticking out about as far as the base of the "inside mechanism" (if you are a measurement person, it will cover about 1.5" of the arm and have about a 1/8"-1/16" that goes beyond the edge of the arms) as shown below.
You will want to put glue (or double-sided tape) on top of the left "arm", from the front edge moving down about 1". Place the "pop-out strip" in it's spot that you practiced (centered left to right, with about 1/8"-1/16" hanging over the left "arm" and as far forward as it can be without extending beyond the base of the "inside mechanism" piece).
To attach the "pop-out strip" to the right "arm" you can either glue upside down and press onto the "pop-out strip" (kind of risky), or you can flip the card over so the "right arm" would now be on the left side and you would simply repeat the above step, putting glue (or double-sided tape) on top of the arm (from the front edge back about 1") and press the "pop-out strip" onto the arm.
If you are using tape, move on to the next step. If you are using glue, take some cling wrap and place underneath and on top of the strip (to keep any rouge glue from sticking to anything important), close the inside mechanism and put a heavy book on top to press it while you let the glue dry.
At this point, you can decorate your card front. If you want to add patterned paper, or stamps, or drawings... now is the time while it's still flat, with nothing inside yet. We used a patterned paper and made a white banner with a stamp sentiment.
Now to attach the "inside mechanism" to the card base!
You will want to glue (or double-sided tape) around the edges of the mechanism like shown below.
Place the mechanism inside your card base, (as shown above, centered left to right) with the tip not quite to the folded center. This should leave a little boarder all the way around the "inside mechanism". Fold the front of the card down over the "inside mechanism" and press.
Flip the card over, over the back and repeat by gluing (or using double-sided tape) along the edges of the mechanism and folding the back of the card down over the "inside mechanism" and press.
Now for the "pop-out strip"! If you already decorated or wrote a message, your card is ready for your note, if you are adding the message squares we will start that now. We will cut our message squares from the 2"x4" rectangles we cut out at the beginning. We need four 2"x2" squares. If you want to add a background color, cut out 2.25"x2.25" squares (we used a light purple).
Decorate or write on the 2"x2" squares and the 2.25"x2.25" squares as desired. We used an ink pad to brush up color on the edges and a marker to write on the 2"x2" squares.
Glue (or double-sided tape) the 2"x2" squares to the 2.25"x2.25" squares. You can choose to attach them in the center like we did, or tilt them a bit to give a bit more movement.
Glue (or double-sided tape) the 2.25"x2.25" squares to the "pop-out strip, one on each section. You can center them, or tilt them for a bit of movement like we did.
That's it! The rest is up to you. Stamp some sentiments, draw something, write a message... possibilities are endless!!
Bridger of course LOVES to open and close these cards. It's like a jack-in-the-box toy, but without all the waiting!
We would love to see what fun cards you make. Please share them with us here, on facebook, or tag us on instagram @bridgeringthegap or with #bridgeringthegap.
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