Gatefold card

We all need a bit of inspiration from time to time and need to hop on to Youtube to find something that  inspires us and kick starts the mojo. Which is exactly what I did before creating this card.

I came across a video by Jo Rice on making this gatefold card. I thought it was very pretty, and  a bit out of my comfort zone, but  I wanted to have a go  at making this card anyway. Especially as I had received the fir tree stamps for Christmas and hadn't yet used them. It was the perfect excuse to get them out and start stamping.   

Once I had made the card, I remembered why I am not a great fan of gatefold cards. I think we waste our time decorating the front panels of this type of card.  The only time you see the front panels are when it's closed, but it won't stand when it's closed, so the side panels are folded out, hiding the artwork, and revealing a fairly plain, uninteresting central panel that's often totally unrelated to the outside artwork. which has also been written on by the sender. Not something I personally would want to put on display. I want to see the beautiful artwork.

I think that's why I was drawn to this card, I loved that Jo decorated the central panel to match her front panels. The sender wouldn't want to write on a beautifully decorated panel and would automatically write their greeting on the back or one of the inner side panels.

As I sit here writing this  I am wondering what it would be like if  I made the two front panels again (excluding the moon) and stick them to the inside panels to create a panoramic scene and maybe just put one scene and a sentiment on the outside...  I think I may try that.