Sunday, April 22, 2018

Tri-Fold Shutter Card: Happy Mother's Day



Today, I'll be adding one of my favorite cards to the Tutorial Section of my blog (see sidebar, links). 

It's this simple but stand-out card called a Tri-Fold Shutter card.  The base for the card is cut from a little less than half of a sheet of 12" x 12" cardstock, and then decorated as you wish.  

Here, I've made a Mother's Day card for my beautiful mother, using "Gimme Some Sugar" and the softness of Pixie and Blush pink papers. 

My Mom ... If ever there was a woman for whom Mother's Day was meant, it's my Mom. She is the kindest, most patient, gracious, loving and caring person who was ever. Truly. She is creative, talented and so smart, made even more so because she makes everyone else around her feel smarter just for being in her company. 

Mom met Dad while she was in nursing school and Dad was a fraternity boy at University. They met on a blind date, and the rest, is history. They were married 65-1/2 years when Dad left for Heaven. Mom's love and dedication to my Dad, even when Alzheimer's robbed my Dad of his gentle spirit, was so very tender. 

She loved Dad endlessly, though toward his end, the disease made Dad more difficult to love. His passing in this horrid way robbed Mom of her "happily ever after," and honestly, it hurt in ways none of us could fathom. Rest in peace, Dad; we'll take good care of Mom for all the rest of her days, which we pray will be many. 

This is my favorite picture of Mom, taken at the wedding reception when my daughter, Emily was married in 2008.  Isn't she simply gorgeous??!  The jewelry she wore, she made, and she likely had a hand in modifying the gown she wore, too. That's my Dad photobombing in the background, such a handsome guy. 

I love making cards for my Mom ... she is definitely "cardworthy", as she appreciates each of my creations, much as she always aided and abetted my creativity throughout my life.  

Thank you, Mom, for your love and role modeling.

Here are directions on how to make your own Tri-Fold Shutter Cards:


Cut your background paper to suit your desire, or to match whatever paper you're using to decorate your card. In my sample, above, I have used Daisy White cardstock from Close To My Heart.

The base of the card is 5.5" high x 12" wide, with folds as shown on the red dashed lines. Cut in between the folds. Note which folds are "mountain" versus "valley" folds -- self-explanatory, I hope. 

Then, cut your decorative papers to these dimensions:


Decorate your card as you wish. For the right hand panel, I "fussy-cut" a Be-YOU-tiful Picture My Life (PML) Card from CTMH, which matches the Gimme Some Sugar paper line.  For this card, I stamped a plain white panel in the center, and stamped the sentiment and flowers, to match.

On the front panel, I elongated a Floral Wreath design from the Cricut Design Space, making it go from round to flat oval. I cut it twice, once in Pixie and once in Tangerine, and just trimmed off the extra Tangerine flowers that I wanted to use to highlight the wreath. I backed it with an oval I also cut in Design Space, as the custom size is larger than the Thin Cuts I have for ovals, from CTMH.

For those who use Cricut Design Space, here is a file to make the front floral wreath:  https://design.cricut.com/#/design/91249168

If you'd like to replicate my card, you'll need to HURRY and buy yourself some "Gimme Some Sugar" paper from my Close To My Heart shopping site.  The paper retires on April 30!








5 comments:

Jann Schott said...

What a beautiful card you created for your mama.

It has been awhile since I've made this card style. Thank you for reintroducing it to me.

Faith A at Daffodil Cards said...

AW! how beautifully you write about your Mum & Dad, love your card and I'm sure she will too.
Faith
x

Unknown said...
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Tina said...

Lovely card and words about your wonderful parents. Love the paper and colors you used. Thank you for the tutorial, Ellen.

Tina

April.Driggers.CTMH said...

what a beautiful tribute to your mother! <3 i love this post.