"Open Your Heart" Gatefold* Tutorial

I am so excited to share this original design with you today. Please stick with me through the many pictures, there is a bit of a "wow factor" at the end! It is not that hard or time-consuming to put together (once I figured out exactly how I wanted it!) You'll need the heart Nestabilities, Scor-Pal, embossing folder of your choice and some oval punches (SU!) for this project. (I was also inspired by a couple of my favorite new papers from Paper Temptress to create this special card. ) You'll need two large die cut hearts the same size and slightly larger scalloped mats to layer each. Here I used Poison Ivory Iridescent and Wild Cherry Pop Tone CS.

Then you need to score both hearts and mats down the middle, lining up the "v" at the top going down through the point at the heart bottom.

Create a gate fold card with the Poison Ivory base with 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece, scored at 2 1/8" and 6 3/8". When folded, the sides meet in the middle. Next I embossed each side with the Leafy Branch Cuttle bug folder. You have to do each flap separately, so emboss your left flap with the left side of the folder(shown below), then repeat with the right, so when they are folded together you will have a continuous pattern across the two flaps.

Now emboss both of the ivory hearts with the same pattern. Place in the spot in the folder where you'll be adhering them on the card (middle, and slightly closer to the top than the bottom), this way the pattern will be continuous when mounted. Adhere each heart to your red scalloped mats.

Put adhesive on only one half of the back of each scalloped heart, one with adhesive on the left side, one on the right. (I used Dot nRoller, but Scor-Tape or Mono Multi will work too)

Fold your scores and adhere your hearts so they wrap around the folds with the adhesive half on the inside. (so you place the heart with adhesive on right back half onto the left panel, and the one with it on the left back half to the right side) When the card is closed, it looks like one heart.

I stamped my greeting "forever" from "Say it with Flowers" and framed it up in 2 SU! large and small oval punch outs (did the same with "friends" from this set for the inside, you'll see in a minute). Then I placed a dimensional on the edge of the left flap in the middle to attach the left half of my oval punched greeting so it will overlap the opening. I did the same thing on the right heart INSIDE, so as it pulls apart, the two ovals kind of "mirror" each other shown below.

If you've ever made a gatefold card, you know it doesn't want to stay closed(and can be really hard to photograph!) To keep it together, I attached a Basic Gay magnet to the right half of the front oval punch, and the other magnet behind the heart on my right flap so that's hidden between the heart and front of the card. The nice things about magnets, you don't have to see exactly where to attach it on the back of the heart, just peel off the adhesive and hold it behind the heart without touching the paper, then move the magnet on the oval towards it, it will jump right into place and snap shut!

I wanted to repeat the red in a few other places and add some embellishments so I punched out a few fancy corners for each flap at the bottom and adorned then with vanilla sateen flowers and a halfback pearl (all attached with glue dots). Don't the flower and the punch look made for each other? I love this flower with the embossing!! And hopefully you can see from this pic why I adore the Poison Ivory so much, it is the exact sheen and shade as these flowers, the sateen flowers add such elegance to a project and the Poison Ivory is like having whole sheet of it!

I added my pearls to each of the framed sentiments as well. Below you can see how the card is holding together with that magnet, ready to spring open at your touch!

And here is how the hearts unfold from each other, revealing the lined inside, this is the Red Pepper Classic Columns CS from Paper Temptress. Beautiful embossed stripes (without having to emboss!), in 8 1/2 x 11 size! This piece is trimmed down to 4" by 5 1/4". (All papers in today's card are in the Paper Temptress Valentines Day Package but can also be purchased separately.) I just love how you still get to see that gorgeous leafy embossing from the front of the card on both the hearts and the flaps on this inside with this design!

I intend to put a picture of my husband and I inside with another framed caption, but still deciding on just the right pic, back with that later! Not just for Valentine's Day, wouldn't this design make the perfect wedding invitation, announcement or anniversary card? And as for symbolism, I'm just over the moon about the whole "two hearts coming together to make one" theme this has going on, you know?? (as well as how they still can be separate, and how in a relationship you need to have open hearts, blah blah blah!! **LOL!) It is such a thrill to come up with a design that not only pleases me aesthetically but also echoes the occasion I am trying to capture, for me it is one of the very best part of the card- making experience!

I hope you'll give this design a try, if so please let me know, and link your creation here! Have a beautiful day!

*which title is better for this? that or "Sweethearts Gatefold"? hmmmm...

** "opposites attract"?? hee hee!!!