matchboxenclosures

With Valentine’s Day coming up, I wanted to create some little cards that can be slipped into pretty, decorated matchboxes. Matchboxes make a sweet and inexpensive handmade gift – fill them with some candy and a little note and you are sure to put a smile on your loved one’s face!

I came up with three very easy card types that fit perfectly into the boxes created using either of my Matchbox Templates. On my free, downloadable Matchbox Enclosure Cards PDF (seen below) you will find a simple folded card, an accordion-style card/booklet, and a more complicated 8-page folded booklet. Follow the steps below to create the folded booklet.

matchboxenclosures

Download Matchbox Enclosure Cards PDF

1. Download the PDF using the link above. Then, print out the sheet at 100% (not “fit to paper size”). You may want to print it on scratch paper first to try out the booklet fold or to trace the enclosure card shapes onto patterned paper. Or, you can print directly on a light card stock that matches the theme of your matchboxes. The folded and accordion cards are self-explanatory; simply cut along the black lines and score and fold at the grey lines. Do the same for the booklet template. Notice the cut line through part of the center of the booklet.

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2. Fold booklet in half lengthwise, as seen in the first image below.

3. This gets tricky: Pull out the two center pages (on each side of the cut center area) at their folds to create two pages. The “spines”of page 6/5 and cover/2 will end up touching. See image below for clarification.

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4. Fold the cover and back page around the other pages to create the booklet.

5. Press the folds using a bone folder or other tool.

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6. Decorate your pages or write a little zine. Then, place your booklet inside your matchbox and give it to someone you love!

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