card chaos

These are the holiday cards I'm in the process of putting together. I really like the concept of the "all-in-one" cards over at Kodak Gallery, so I bought some pretty paper, printed up some inserts and started folding. I am about half way through, though I promised myself I'd mail last week. Always behind schedule! And with this week dedicated to preparing for BazBiz, I suspect the rest won't get finished till next week. Anyhow ...for those insane enough like me to hand-make 40+ holiday cards, here's my tutorial:

~1~
Wouldn't you love to get one of these flashy envelopes in the mail?

~2~
I bought a "Christmas Stack" in the scrapbook section filled with different holiday-themed prints.

~3~
Find the center of your piece of paper and line it up with the center of your insert. Next mark the corners of your insert onto the piece of paper (use a scrap piece, or one of the more undesirable patterns because this is going to be your template).

~4~
Draw perpendicular lines from your marks to the edges of the paper. You'll end up with four squares at each of the four corners. Cut these squares out.

~5~
Use this template to cut the corners off all your sheets of paper. You don't even need to trace the lines - simply hold the template onto your sheet of paper and cut. It's okay if it's not perfect because you'll be folding these in and you won't even see curvy cuts.

~6~
Glue your insert into the center of your cut sheet of paper. Next, begin to fold the corners in as shown. Use a bone folder to make your folds crisp.

~7~
I glued my folds, but I suppose it's not really necessary. You do what feels right to you.

~8~
Fold the edges around your insert and use a sticker to close the back. Then print up some mailing labels and affix that to the front.