Holiday Countdown Series - Day 11

Hello, everyone and welcome to the Holiday Countdown 2014 sponsored by the CutCardStock shop. We hope you are enjoying all of the ideas and are getting much inspiration from the various projects we have made using the fabulous CutCardStock products.

I want to show you one of my favorite projects ever. I certainly did not invent this one but found it some 6-7 years ago and I use it for so many things when I need a little gift on hand. For the holidays, it is wonderful for packets of hot chocolate mix or hot apple cider mixes. At other times it can be used for note cards, tags, images, coupons, chocolate bars--the sky is the limit. Please note that I have made this 6 pocket folder in a size for the hot drink mixes, but after you make your first one, you are going to see how easy it is to change the size as well as the number of pockets. Keep in mind that since my sample starts as an all white base, I felt it might be easier to see in the initial photos if I used some brighter colors so you could see the folds and nuances of adhering. I also marked the score lines which you would not do.

I started with six 5" square envelopes which I sealed and trimmed a scant 1/8" from the bottom of each envelope. This makes the 6 pockets for the project.

I cut two 5" X 6" pieces of very heavy cardstock to make the front and back of the folder.

I also cut a 5" X 8" piece of lighter weight cardstock for the folded accordion bottom of the folder. This piece of CS will be scored at 1", 2", 3", 4", 5", 6" and 7".

Flip the piece of CS over and score at 1 1/2", 2 1/2", 3 1/2", 4 1/2", 5 1/2" and 6 1/2".

In order to make the accordion bottom, use a bone folder to make the folds very crisp, paying attention to the valleys and ridges. Your folded CS should look like the following.

At this point I adhere the front and back to the accordion bottom, being certain to align the edges.

This is what it will look like from the inside...

And on the outside...

And now for the pockets. Adhere the first pocket to the first fold of the accordion bottom, making sure to line up the outside edges and to sink the pocket all the way into the valley AND be certain to have the opening at the top!!!

Continue with the remaining 5 envelopes in the same manner. You will now have this...

Run a length of double sided tape down the middle of each envelope front and one finally down the back of the last envelope.

Starting with the first envelope, remove the tape backing and adhere the first envelope to the front cover. Continue with the remaining envelopes adhering one to the other...finally adhering the last envelope to the back cover. And this is what you have and ready to decorate and have fun!!!!

So now to give you a little bit of information about my projects I would like to add that you can make these folders as simple or as decorated as you wish. First, I started with  all white bases. I found the weight of  the Couger White Heavy 130 LB Cardstock was wonderful for the cover of my project and for the accordion fold bottom I used Basis White 80 LB Cardstock and  here is what I started with after following the above instructions. The only other thing I did was to round all of the corners of the cover.

To decorate the first folder in a very simple way, I used Stardream Metallic in Jupiter (red) and Stardream Metallic Emerald (green) for all double matting and Stardream Metallic Crystal (white) for the top panel.  The Whimsy Stamps Holly Vine diecuts were dotted with red Stickles for the berries and the Merry Christmas sentiment is from Impression Obsession. (Note: Remember to think of a way to keep your folder closed before you adhere anything to the base.) I used a wide satin ribbon to tie my folder closed after filling the pockets with hot chocolate mixes.

And here is a side view after the folder is filled...

For my second, more decorated folder, I used an image from Whimsy Stamps Art by Mi Ran Collection, colored with Copics and Promarkers, adding some Prisma Glitter for the snowflakes and Stardust Stickles for the snow. This time I used a green satin ribbon for tying the folder closed after placing hot spiced cider mix in each pocket.

I hope you enjoy my tutorial and will let me know if you try it. I would love to see what you create. Thanks again for coming by and we hope to see you again real soon! Until the next time, big hugs from Jacque!

CutCardStock products used in this project: