Junk Mail Inspiration – Fancy Fold Cactus Birthday Card

Inspiration can be found everywhere you look...even in junk mail! I placed an order recently from Occitane and they sent me an invoice in a three fold thank you card. I was so impressed with the card and its possibilities, I decided to copy it and make a similar one of my own.

 Front, completely unfolded and back

It really wasn't hard. I took the measurements and simply followed suit. I did undo the middle pocket panel to trace the same 'V' cut in my own card, but you could easily use a circular die or even large punch to have a workable cutout.

The cactus on the front conceal the Birthday Greetings sentiment underneath, lift that flap and then you see the card completely unfolded. The first blank panel will be for a written sentiment (in fact I didn't glue this down as I'll want to personalize it later), the second pocket could hold a gift card or cash, the bottom pocket could hold a letter or photograph. Lots of possibilities for this design, it could even be a sort of mini-album if you like.

Front, front cover lifted, completely unfolded

If there's one difficulty, it's the length of the basic cardstock (in green) which is 38cm long. If you have some A3 cardstock (29.7 x 42cm) hanging around the house that's not a problem (I do), but I don't think Americans use A3. For American readers USA ledger size would work, or you could always size down, or strategically tape to make 38cm. The finished outside measurement of the card is 11.5cm x 17cm x 4mm thick. 

Card Fold Measurements

1. Cut one piece of cardstock 17cm wide x 38cm long.

2. Measure and use a bone folder or the scoring blade on your paper cutter to score at 10.3cm and 10.7cm and again at 22cm and 22.5cm. Scoring helps you easily fold the paper. I use a paper cutter with a scoring blade (easier to keep the line straight). Make the four folds, folding towards the inside center of the card. 

3. How you choose to decorate the card is up to you so I'll let you decide your measurements for the front of the card, but the inside pockets measure 11 x 17cm for the center one and 8 x 17cm for the bottom one.

I've used Prettygrafik's Cactus Love stamp set for the front of the card. I used 4 of the PNG images to create this design. Prettygrafik gives you both a JPG and PNG file of the images. Use the PNG images to create scenes (as I've done with this You're Soy Amazing Sushi card). There are several stamps in this set as well as three sentiments (and for only $0.99 a very good buy indeed). The paper is from Max Bringmann's Urban Jungle pad, one of my Aldi finds. I used some tiny ribbon, foam flower stickers and buttons for embellishment. The sentiment was created with High Scool font (yes, I spelled that right – Scool).

Supply List

Paper – cardstock, Max Bringmann Urban Jungle

Digital stamps – Prettygrafik Cactus Love stamp set 

Color – Caran d'Ache Luminance 6901 pencils

Dies – Die-namics rectangle stax

Embellishments – ribbon, foam flower stickers, buttons

Font – High Scool

I'm linking up with: Creative Knockouts #363 – Finish the Inside, A Gem of a Challenge Week 17 – ATG, Allsorts Challenge 585/6 – Summer Fun, Colour Crazy Challenge Week 32 – ATG with Colouring, Daring Cardmakers 14/08/20 – Peek-a-boo!, Polka Doodles Week 33 – ATG, and Cute Card Thursday #647 – Bright Colors.