By Patricia Zapata
When I think of Valentine’s Day, I think of cards and candy boxes. I decided to combine a card with a box-type element and came up with this matchbook card! As you’ll see, this special card also happens to double as wall art.

Materials

2 sheets of letter-sized white card stock
1 sheet of letter-sized red card stock
Craft knife
Cutting mat
Metal ruler
Bone folder
Glue I used very small amounts and spread it with my finger tips. Glue tape can be used if you feel the paper may warp with liquid glue.
PDF file
Heart craft punch optional

Download the PDF Template Right click to save the PDF to your desktop. Directions on downloading PDFs.

Directions

Step 1: Download the PDF above and print out pages 1 and 2 on white paper and page 3 (heart cover) on red paper.

Step 2: Using a craft knife, cutting mat, and ruler, cut out along the outer lines of the three parts of the project. Cut out the items shown as dotted lines: the hearts and the negative spaces around the trees.

Step 3: Score along the remaining solid lines of each of the three pieces. The printed side of these pieces will all face the interior of the box and will not be seen.

Step 4: Place the smallest white section (folded sides facing down) inside the left side of the larger white piece.
Step 5: Add a small amount of glue to the left and right side of the small white piece (but do NOT add glue to the top and bottom 1/4″ of each side – leave it glue free). Add glue to the outside of the left side tab of the large white piece.
Step 6: Close the box and press all sides that have glue. The left side tab of the large piece of white paper should be tucked under the larger rectangle tab from the opposite side.
Step 7: Close the top and bottom, adding glue to all the tabs. Not much is needed. Note that the tabs should slide in between the inner and outer pieces of paper.

Step 8: Cut out a small red heart by hand or using a heart punch and attach it to the tree trunk in the center of the card (personalize it with an initial!). The front of the card has the middle tree on the left side of the frame. This side is better to highlight because it has clean edges (no glued sides).

Step 9: Fold the matchbox card cover with the printed lines towards the inside. The larger rectangle tab should be on the outside and glued over the smaller tab.
Tips:
You can personalize your card further by writing a message along the sides of the white trees or inside the red matchbook cover. If you decide to write inside the cover, you can choose to close the cover using small Velcro circles.

You can also use the white box card as wall art! Just remove the glass of an 8″ x 10″ frame and glue the white box to the center of a piece of card stock.
About the Author:

Patricia Zapata is a graphic designer, crafter, and the author of Home, Paper, Scissors: Decorative Paper Accessories for the Home. She works from a home studio and lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and two children. Visit her web site at PatriciaZapata.com.