A Fun Card Shape

After making the square specialty cards from the Hunkydory kit ("Floral Shimmer" - see them here), I heard back from a recipient about how amazing the card was and how she couldn't figure out how it was made.  So of course, I had to make one of my own - complete with instructions.  Since I prefer rectangular cards (so they go through the mail without extra postage), that's the way I made mine.

For this card, I used:

• Glitter & plain card stock from a DCWV stack called "Linen Closet"
• Patterned card stock & die cuts from a Hunkydory card kit called "Floral Shimmer". 
• Die from Spellbinders "A2 Matting Basics B"
• ATG with double-sided adhesive

I didn't get pictures of each step, so I hope the description below makes sense!!!  For the basic shape of this card I needed 2 pieces of card stock:

• OUTER CARD - 1 piece of glitter card-stock - 4 3/4" x 12", folded in half (mountain fold) to make a card size 4 3/4" by 6".  This forms the card front & the card back.
• INNER CARD - 1 piece of card-stock - 4 3/4" x 12".  With piece face up and horizontal in front of you, draw a light pencil line vertically at 3" and score at 6" and 9".  6" for a mountain fold and 9" for a valley fold.

Now, to finish the construction of the card we need to cut an opening in the card front and partial opening in the inner card piece. To do that:

1. OUTER CARD PREP: Open out the first piece of card stock (outer card) and lay it face-up horizontally in front of you with the right side up.
2. Cut an opening centered in the RIGHT hand side of this piece (card front) using a die or a craft knife.  Make sure the cut edges of your die are fairly straight.  Fancy edges might look pretty, but will make it much harder for the card to operate correctly.  I used a Matting Basics die from Spellbinders that left me with an 11/16" frame around the edges.
3. INNER CARD PREP: Now lay the inner card piece horizontally face up in front of you with the 3" pencil line to your left.  Center the same die used with the outer card (or use the cut piece for a pattern if using a craft knife) in the LEFT hand half of this inner card (center over the 3" mark).  You only want to cut the far left half of the die (or pattern) this time.  To do this with the cutting die, tape it in place, then carefully line the pencil line up with the edge of your cutting platform with the longest part sticking out past the edge of the cutting platform.  (Only the left-most quarter of this strip of card stock is inside your cutting sandwich.)  Run through your cutting machine this way so only 1/2 of the die is cut out of the card stock.
4. Now, erase the pencil marks, and score along the 3" portion above & below the cut line as a valley fold.
5. ASSEMBLY: Now, place the OUTER CARD face down on the table in front of you with the cut side to your left.  Align the inner card with the outer card, wrong sides together - cut side to your left.  
6. You will only be applying adhesive to the outside panels of the inner card.  Make sure to leave the inside cut portion of the inner card free of adhesive, sticking through the frame (this will form part of the card front).  Adhere the far left 1/2 of the frames together, and the far right panel to the card back, lining up the edges carefully.  Here's a picture showing what it looks like from above:
   
   
   


7. Decorate your card! :)  
8. Here are a couple more pictures: