I love to give “stuffed cards” as gifts. I like to “wow” my friends with my creations, and they know the card is a gift from the heart! This particular card is also an entry for the G45 brand ambassador application. #G45BACall2022

You will need:
Two solid pieces of paper 8-1/2 x 11”
Two or three 12 x 12” designer sheets to decorate the inside and outsides of your card
One G45 square tag
One G45 long tag
Ribbon for tags
Organza ribbon for card front
A variety of flowers to embellish
G45 Ephemera cards or cutouts to embellish your tags, also some of the stickers and/or chipboard pieces from your selected G45 paper collection
A small hanger found in Hobby shops if desired
Art Glitter Dries clear glue
Glue gun

Select your card base paper 7-1/2” x 10”, and score in half to make a card base measuring 7-1/2” x 5”, this will open from the side. Reserve the paper you cut off, to use later. On the inside panels of the card, you may want to attach two thin magnets – do this now, before you forget! If you do use magnets, sometimes it is easiest to attach the inside decorative papers right away on top of them, so you will not have any difficulty opening up the card later.

Cut several layers of alternating solid, white and patterned paper in diminishing sizes for the front (reduce each paper mat by about 1/8-1/4” depending on which paper you might want to draw attention to). For the center focal piece, select a cut out or ephemera card. We will embellish with flowers at the end.

Open the card, and choose different designer papers for each side, 7-1/4” x 4-3/4” (sometimes it is nice to have a single paper, about 7-1/4 x 10”, cut it in half and mount them on opposite sides, but I chose different papers). Cut a piece of solid card stock which matches your card base, to 2-1/2” x 5”, cut another piece just slightly smaller, (2-1/4” x 4-3/4”) which will complement the paper for your background on the left side. Attach the decorative 2-1/4” x 4-3/4” to the solid piece, then take this, and apply glue to the two short sides, and one long side, and attach at the base of the left hand side, on top of the other decorative paper, to create a pocket. Select a cut out or sticker to additionally embellish this side of the card as well, if desired.

On the inner right hand side of your card, select a decorative strip from the cut apart page, mount on matching card stock again, and apply first the 7-1/4” x 4-3/4” paper, and then the decorative element at the top. The rest is left for a note, a photo or whatever you like.

For the back of the card, cut the back decorative paper to 7-1/4” x 4-3/4”. We will attach a gusseted pocket before attaching it to the card back.

To create the gusseted pocked, cut a piece of reserved card stock used for the base, measuring 8-1/2” x 4”. Put your decorative paper on this “pocket” piece in a perpendicular pattern, or like a “T”, and center it. Score on the solid paper, along the sides of the decorative 7-1/4” x 4-3/4” paper. Then score outside both of those score lines about 1/8-3/16” away. Remove the decorative paper, now turn the solid paper and score along the 8-1/2” long side, about 3/8” from the edge, and again 1/8-3/16” away from that first score line. Fold on all the score lines, all in the same direction. The outer”wings” of this will need trimmed. First place the decorative paper (the “right side” is facing down) onto the solid and push it right up to the outer score line – fold the little strip of paper over your card panel and glue down (the scored part, which creates the gusset will be on the “right” side of your paper. Now cut along the inner side score lines to the inner long score line of each wing and trim away a thin piece of excess paper at the base of each wing. Fold the wings to the back of the decorative paper, and use a couple of pieces of thick card stock to keep the gusset in place, as you glue the wings to the back of the decorative paper.

Whew! Almost done! Now cut some pretty paper to put on the outside of this pocket, measuring about 3-1/2” x 4-3/4” depending on how much of a border you want, and gently attach to the front of your pocket.

Take the reserved card stock from when you first cut the card base – fold and glue to make a double thick strip of paper measuring about 3/8” wide, and cut two 1-1/2” pieces to anchor the hanger in place at the top of the card. Loop these strips over he bottom of the hanger, glue them together, and anchor with a clip for a bit. Created a decorate strip to cover those hanger anchors, from your paper, and mount it on matching card stock, measuring about 1” x 4-3/4”, depending on what you choose for your decoration. Once the hanger anchors are dry, mount at the top of the card, and then glue the 1” x 4-3/4” strip on top of this.

Now to stuff! Create a couple of tags, both long and wide, and decorate! I used some card stock and ephemera cards, as well as stickers here. I also created little “books” of small cut apart in the paper pack. I also like to stick thin chocolate bars in this pocket, and sometimes, I have put in fancy Tea bags with a honey stick, and sometimes even fancy Hot Chocolate packets from Land-o-Lakes or Swiss Miss.

Lastly, we need to embellish the front of the card! I love to create my own flowers, but you can select pre-made flowers from various companies, or even use small silk flowers found at Hobby Shops. I glue down the leaves first, after fiddling around with where they need to go. Then I tuck in extra leaves as needed, small filler flowers, and finally an organza ribbon. At last I select a sentiment from the paper “cut-a-parts” page, put some puffy tape on the back for additional dimension, and attach to the right hand corner. Now step back, and admire your stuffed card!