A couple of months back I chose Gate-Fold cards as my challenge for the WTUI challenge. It was the first time I'd ever tried an
interlocking gate-fold, and judging by some of the comments I read, it was also the first for some others. So I thought we'd try that for today's TLC. So - not just any type of gate-fold but
Interlocking Gate-Fold is today's challenge.
Ideally you will need two nesting dies - a basic shape is easier (as I discovered the hard way with my ornament ;-)).
If you don't have any dies, you can still play along - it's easy to cut a square, and then cut the centre of it out. When I have to do this, I usually use a pin or my piercing tool to mark the corners of the inside piece - then it's easy to know how far to cut!
I made a quick photo tutorial; first here are the basic steps.
1: Cut and score a gate-fold base in whatever size you'd like.
(My Snoopy one is 4" square finished, so that was a piece of card 4" by 8" scored at 2" and 6".
My ornament card is A2 when closed, so it was a piece of card 8 1/2" wide by 5 1/2" high, scored at 2 1/8" and 6 3/8".)
Your piece of card for the base should be whatever height you want the card to be, and twice the width. Then you score at 1/4 and 3/4 the width of your card.
2: You will need two nesting dies to cut your frame and centre. Tape them with low-tack tape or use a magnetic platform to stop them from shifting!
3: Cut your frame and the inset panel from your choice of cardstock or paper. If it's very light, you may wish to back it with thin chipboard (I did for the ornament card).
4: Decorate the front of your card.
Then you can stick the frame on one side of the front; it doesn't matter at all whether you stick the frame on the left and the inset panel on the right or vice versa. Whatever you like... Here I've stuck the frame on the left side.
Apply adhesive to half the back only, and stick it down so that it is centred over the front of the card. The other half will lie over the right side of the card but will NOT be stuck to it.
Remember that the other half of the back will show when the card is open, in case you want to cover it with DP or otherwise decorate it.
Optional - you can use foam dots, or you can stick the interlocking elements directly to the card front.
5: Close the card, and stick the inset panel onto the other side of the card front, using the frame as a guide to show you where to stick the panel.
Here I've stuck Snoopy to the right-hand side.
Again, make sure to only add adhesive to half the back of the panel.
6: Decorate the inside and you're done!
snoopyinterlockingtutorial_zps22fe93c8.jpg
When you've created your card and uploaded it to your gallery, be sure to come back here and link it to make it easy for people to find. Remember to use
TLC496 as your keyword.
:arrow: We have a special gallery set aside for gatefold cards. Simply choose
Technique Spotlight from the Main Gallery dropdown options, and
Gatefold Cards from the sub gallery options. Don't worry - your upload will still show in your member gallery, but uploading to these galleries helps create a wonderful library of inspiration which is easy to browse.
Here is a link to our gallery for
TLC496 {INTER}LOCK THE GATE.
Here's my Snoopy sample ~
TLC496 Happy Dance
Here's my Ornament sample ~
TLC496 Gate-Fold Ornament
If you're not sure how to link your card on the thread here, here's how .
1. Open 2 windows or tabs: one window for your card and one for this thread.
2. In this thread, click on reply and type anything you want to show before the link.
3. Go to your card window. Highlight the address for your card. (It says www. splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showphoto..... and so on)
4. Click EDIT. Click COPY
5. Go back to this thread. Click PASTE.