Tutorial - Book Fold Cards

Today's fabulous card fold was created by the very talented Hilary Wilson who kindly allowed me to recreate her fold and share a step-by-step tutorial with you. Some clever cutting gives the illusion of a thick, hard-cover book, but what you're actually looking at is a single fold card that will fit into a flat envelope!

Hilary has a video for creating this fold here: Craft Oasis Book Fold Video

as well as several other video tutorials you can view: The Craft Oasis on YouTube

Or you can visit the Craft Oasis page for more fun card folds.

1. Start with a piece of card stock measuring 91/2" x 61/2". For the best results, use card stock that is coloured on one side and white or cream on the other. Both Hillary and myself have chosen to use single-sided gold card, but you can use a solid colour or pattern if you prefer.

2. Place the card stock horizontally on your score board and score at 43/4" and 51/2".

(IMPORTANT NOTE: the score line at 51/2" is decorative only. Do not fold.)

3. Fold along the 43/4" score line, which will give you an evenly folded card blank. Remember that the second score line is decorative only.

4. Open the card out flat. Cut a horizontal line from the right-hand side of the card to the 51/2" score line. The cut should start 3/4" down from the top right corner. Refer to the template above for correct placement.

5. Use a pair of small, sharp scissors to cut a scooped line from the end of the cut you made in step 4, to the top of the first score line. I've marked the line with pen so you can see the location of the cut. The section that we cut away will become the template for the remainder of our cuts.

6. Fold the card base in half. Place the template over the end of the visible white section, which is the inside of the card, lining up the score line on the template with the edge of the card stock. Use a pencil to mark the curve.

7. Use the template again at the bottom, left corner of the folded card, keeping the template flush with the bottom edge of the card. Mark the curve with a pencil.

8. Use scissors or a craft knife to cut along the pencil lines you made in steps 6 and 7. As you can see, our card is now starting to look like a large book. By echoing the same curve shape, we're tricking the eye into seeing a three dimensional object.

9. Now to decorate. I added some brown chalk ink to the inside edges of my card to reduce the contrast between the white and gold surfaces.

10. Add a large picture and embellishments to the card front, keeping to the area between the right hand edge and the decorative score line.

11. If you wish to add something to the "spine of the book", simply use the template to shape the top and bottom to complete the illusion of three dimensions.

12. The last step is to add some "pages". I used a very light pencil (PC1069) to draw quick, rough lines from the spine toward the outer edge. Don't worry if the lines don't make it all the way to the other side of the card, and it doesn't matter if they are not entirely straight. They are supposed to represent the pages, which don't always sit flat and uniform if a book is slightly ajar.

Stamps:

Sincere thanks go to Hilary Wilson for allowing me to reproduce her beautiful card and share the instructions on my blog for everyone to use. If you enjoyed this tutorial, please visit Hilary's pages to let her know.

Sponsorship Calendar

Our 2021 Sponsorship Calendar is now open!

If you're looking for sponsors for your challenges and blog hops for 2021

please send an expression of interest to beccy@beccysplace.com.

Conditions Apply

Spaces are Limited

Hot Tip Tuesday

Acetate is often used to make "windows" on shaker cards, fun folds and other papercraft projects. One of the issues you can have when working with acetate, is that its non-porous nature means that certain glues and tapes won't hold. In order to make the joins extra secure, try sanding the edges of the acetate and punching small holes that act as "wells" for the adhesive. Just make sure the sanded edges and holes are in positions that will be covered by card stock or paper before you begin.

Kathy's Cakes

Today we're headed over to the lovely Kathy Asper's place to see her latest creations using the Make A Wish digital stamp set. She has two card projects to share today and has even included a colour chart for those interested in her design.

The candle "flames" have been created with transparent materials - vellum or plastic - to create a wonderful, glowing effect. Kathy regularly uses inexpensive plastic folders that can be purchased from local newsagents and stationery shops for transparent films. They are easy to work with and give wonderful results, as you can see!

The colour chart:

Click the link below to head over to Kathy's blog:

Kathy's Blog

Pretty in Purple

Most of the colouring I've been doing lately has been with the no-line technique, where the picture is stamped or printed in a very light shade of grey so the lines practically disappear once the image is fully coloured. In this case, I printed on some smooth card stock and coloured the flowers with pencil. The background was stippled with several shades of cool grey alcohol marker, which helps to ground the image while still giving plenty of movement.

Stamps:

Tutorial - Antique China

There are many ways to achieve a distressed or aged-look in paper crafting, from smoking the surface of the paper to tearing along the edges. The technique I'm demonstrating in this tutorial uses multiple layers of UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel) to give a cracked and crazed surface much like you'd find on an old china plate or platter.

I started by printing and colouring an image from the Precious Memories digital stamp set. I've used a no-line colouring technique to make it look more like a hand-painted design. If you'd prefer, you can use markers or even a pre-coloured image.

Apply versa mark directly onto the image by patting the ink pad all over the paper. Make sure the ink pad is clean before you start so you don't end up with marks everywhere.

Dip the image into the UTEE powder, then heat set with an embossing tool.

Don't worry if you end up with a splotchy result from the UTEE melting unevenly across the image, we'll be applying more layers of UTEE until the surface is smooth and glassy.

Add more versa mark to the surface of your image, apply more UTEE and heat until melted. From this point, you can actually dip the hot image into the UTEE powder to add more between melts. Be very careful not to touch the heated UTEE or you may sustain burns.

Repeat until the surface of your image is smooth and glassy and you have a thick layer of embossing medium.

Once the image is completely cool, we're going to carefully crack the embossing using a snapping motion with your fingers. Don't be too rough and don't over work any one place or you may find the embossing comes away from the paper. If you find the card stock is too flexible to crack, it may help to place it in the freezer for a few minutes 

I rubbed some brown ink over the surface of my image to accentuate the cracks and give an aged look to the finished piece. Be aware that the ink can stain the surface of the embossing so take care with how much you use.

Stamps:

August Winners

Congratulations to the August Challenge Winners!

Cass, GranMargaret and Suzana

You are the randomly chosen winners of last month's challenge.

If you already have a Beccy's Place store account, I'll be adding a $20.00AU credit very soon.

If not, please email me at beccy@beccysplace.com to claim your prize.

September Challenge

Create a card or paper-craft project using any Beccy's Place image, upload a photo of it to your blog or other hosted site, and submit a direct link below. The challenge runs from now until midnight on the 30th of September 2020 (AEST).

To keep things interesting, I'll be adding an additional optional element to the monthly challenges. This month it's a CASE (Copy And Selectively Edit) yourself challenge. Find a card that you really enjoyed making, or perhaps one that didn't turn out quite as you would have liked, and recreate it with a few tweaks. As always, keep in mind that the additional challenge is just an optional extra.

PLEASE READ THE CONDITIONS CAREFULLY

BEFORE ENTERING THE CHALLENGE

• Entries that don't meet the conditions will be deleted from the challenge.
• Your project must be created during the month of September 2020 and entered into the challenge during the active challenge period. Due to an automated system, late entries cannot be accepted.
• Each month I will include a re-mastered digital image from my library of freebies as well as a bonus challenge, such as a card sketch, bingo grid, etc. You DO NOT have to use the image or bonus challenge on your project, but you MUST use a Beccy's Place image, either free or purchased, to be eligible for entry.
• You can enter as many times as you like and you can submit your card to any other challenge you wish. At the end of the month three winners will be chosen to receive a $20.00AU store credit for any digital stamps at Beccy's Place. To redeem the store credit, winners must have a Beccy's Place customer account. (Please note, you do not need an account to enter the challenge. It is acceptable to create an account in the event that you win. Accounts can be closed at any time.)
• Store credit won during any Beccy's Place challenge is only redeemable for digital stamps.
• Entries can be uploaded to the challenge from any hosted site including blogs, online galleries, Google photos, etc. If you do not have access to a hosted site, please feel free to email your photos to me and I will add them from the Beccy's Place Guest blog.
• Beccy's Place designers may enter the monthly challenge but are not eligible to win prizes.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER