help...looks so crummy

[klhbenson]

My friend asked me to make birthday invitations for her mom. She bought cardstock, lighter weight than SU....and wants it to be a 5x5 square in the center, with a 5x5 piece attached to each side of the center. So all the side pieces fold onto the center. Does that make sense to you?

So when you pull it out of the envelop, it's a 5x5 square, and you open one flap up at a time...so when it's totally opened, it's a + shape.

My problem is I cut the 4 outside square 5x5.5 and scored at the .5. I ran a strip of adhesive, and adhered each flap to the back of the center square. I positioned the piece on the center square, tapped it on the table, then pushed down the adhesive while holding it tightly in place. When it's all finished, it looks very sloppy. You can see a sliver of some of the underneath flaps.

so do I need to cut the flaps a tad longer to make up for the space lost in the fold? Have you ever tried something like this? Any suggestions for me?

thanks,
kathy

[RiverIsis]

Oh I did a + card last year but I only did a small one out of 12x12. I remember at the time, that first flap is pretty much a flat fold. However, if I were making it like you are, I think it would score equally on all four sides and then add a second score to the other three sides - maybe 1/16 to the second, 1/8 to the third, and 3/16 to the forth to accomodate the bulkiness of the layers AND make them neater.

ETA - I really should read better!

OK you have 5x5 square base - I would add 1/2 inch overlap to adhere to the back (cutting the corners on the back to lie flat) and then as above to make a "gusset" for lack of a better term - I would then put another piece of 5x5 on the back to cover the join of all the attached flaps.

I hope that's clear.

[Novell]

I would not make a second score. I would score each corner equally so it all folds into the center...you should have nice seams this way. The square piece inside you could cut to 4.75 x 4.75 to make room for the bulkiness, if there actually is any.

[klhbenson]

ok...I'm off to try both of these ideas! thank you so much for helping me. I've just been pulling my hair out over this project. I went an bought a ScorePal (and a Tim Holtz ruller!!! ) last night. Hoping the ScorePal helps me also. I was cutting with a Tonic and scoring with an old Fiskar cutter.

Kathy

[RiverIsis]

Another thought - Is she set on the idea of the 5x5 with the flaps being 5x5?

If not you could do some offset work on 12x12. I got to thinking about this again when looking at Ellen Hutson's blog earlier and the entry from 28th June where she used Nestabilities scalloped circles to make a similar card.

http://www.ellenhutson.typepad.com/