The Life in your Years Birthday Card

Do you know the quote "In the end it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years"? I was familiar with it but hadn't realised it was attributed to Abraham Lincoln! I had a sheet of die cuts from a card making kit that had various sentiments and quotes on them, including this one.

The die cut was quite large so I decided to make it the centrepiece of the card on its own - but as it needed something else to create interest, a gatefold card was ideal. This is a card that is split in the middle of the front of the card and each side opens outwards.

I covered both parts of the front with blue spotted paper and covered the inside with a different piece of blue paper from the same pack - since when the card is standing the inside will be partly visible. I glued the die cut onto one side of the front so it would sit across both parts but allow the card to open, and added a 'happy birthday' outline sticker inside.

Shoe birthday card

I made this birthday card for my sister using a gatefold card - a card that opens outwards from the middle. It gives some interesting opportunities for design as it means you have two symmetrical rectangles on the front, which you can either treat as mirror images of each other, or put different things on each side, or put something across the join to connect the two sides.

That's what I've done here - I had bought a few sheets of shoe-related die-cuts and related backing papers a while ago. I covered both sides of the front of the card with the backing paper and used a large shoe die cut which I glued to one side of the opening. I used two matching square die-cuts on the front to give a symmetrical design.

 

I also decided that the inside of the card needed something so I covered it with a piece of printed paper that was like tracing paper, so I could still write on it without having to worry that the words wouldn't show up without the background.

So when the card stands up, you can see part of the inside as well as the front. Simple but I quite like this one.