Making a Shutter Card

There have been quite a few posts of what I call a shutter card (reminds me of a window shutter) but I have no idea who the originator of the card actually might have been.  Once I saw it, I had to try to figure it out.  I love puzzles and especially 3-D puzzles and knew I would be able to figure out the cut lines and fold lines.

The first one I tried was with 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock and although I made it work, I wasn't happy with the way my fold lines did not line up over each other.  It didn't actually make the card look bad, but I knew there had to be a better way.  That better way was using 12 x 12 cardstock.  Cutting a piece to measure 5 1/2 x 12 made all the difference.  After all, it is easy to divide 12 by three and that is very necessary for the making and folding of this card.

To begin then, start with a piece of 5 1/2" x 12" cardstock (I used textured but plain works equally well).  Then cut two lines as shown in the following picture:

Once these lines are cut, use your Simply Scored to score lines  as shown in the following picture:

It is important that the scoring lines are followed exactly.

Once the lines have been scored on the paper, they are folded as shown in the following picture.

Make sure the lines are well creased with your bone folder to ensure that the card opens and closes easily.  The folded cardstock should look like this:

I've posted it at this angle to show the alternating "hills" and "valleys".

There are an infinite number of ways the card can be decorated.  Once you have tried one, you'll probably wish to experiment and make it your own.  The following is the way I chose to decorate the card with Designer Series Paper.

I've specified the size and numbers of pieces you will require if you wish to copy my design.  The center piece of cardstock (shown in Soft Suede) is the piece I stamped with my Sentiment.  This should be done before pasting the piece onto the card, of course.  Other embellishments such as butterflies, hearts, pearls, etc. can be added as desired.

This is the way my finished card turned out:

For this card I used complimenting pieces of Sale-a-bration Designer Series Paper.  The blue cardstock in the center really brings out the matching blue in the DSP.  I chose to put butterflies on my card using a combination of cardstock and DSP and the wonderful Embosslit Die "Beautiful Wings" as well as my other favourite die "Beautiful Butterflies".

I hope you'll have as much fun making this card as I did.  The terrific thing is that even though it looks so large, it folds easily to fit into a normal medium sized envelope.