Never-Ending Greenhouse Gala Card

After creating a Never-Ending card for the first time last month, I just knew that this project was destined to be featured at my Stamp Club!  My husband marveled at his never-ending birthday card for days.  He thought it was Too Cool!  And, it IS!  I decided to make it a project for this month's Club.

As you may recall, the Never-Ending card opens…and opens…and opens…and opens, etc., and so on.  There are four "openings" to decorate.  

Here's the card we will be making:

Card Front:

Opened once:

Opened twice:

Opened three times:

Card Construction & Measurements

You can see a fantastic Never-Ending
Card tutorial by Dawn Griffith to see exactly how easy it is to put
together.  The most difficult part is figuring out how to decorate it!  Here are the basic instructions, but refer to the video for the visual.

• Cut (4) 3×6" pieces of card stock
• Score each piece lengthwise at the 1-1/2" mark
• Score each piece on the short ends, 1-1/2" in from each end
• Use your Bone Folder to fold on all score lines
• Lay two piece side-by-side to make a 6" square
• Add SNAIL adhesive to the ONLY the square sections in the four corners of this 6" square
• Lay the remaining two pieces across the first two— one pair goes one direction, the pair on top goes the other direction (see the video)
• Go through all the "openings," using your Bone Folder to crease the folds better (the video…)

Card Decorating Details

Aside from the super awesome (yet simple) engineering of this card, my favorite part is the beautiful Greenhouse Gala Designer Series Paper.  I adore the color combinations and all of the floral, and funky, patterns!

Because there are so many little sections to decorate, it makes sense to use coordinating papers—no decisions necessary!  You'll need Designer Series Paper or card stock to cover the following sections:

• (8) 1-1/4" square pieces
• (8) 2-3/4" square pieces
• (8) 1-1/4" x 2-3/4" pieces

I kept three of the 2-3/4" square pieces white, so I could add color sentiments and have room for writing.  You could also make this card a mini-scrapbook, adding small pictures instead of decorative paper.

TIP: You can see that the two Marina Mist sections on my example can be seen on both the second and third openings.  Be sure to keep this in mind when you are deciding how to design each panel.

Images from the Friends Never Fade stamp set coordinate perfectly with Greenhouse Gala, so again, it's a no-brainer…the project is practically making itself!

You really can't add much in the way of layers on this style of card, but I did pop the cut-out flower on the front with Dimensionals. 

I stuck with basic stamping techniques for simplicity; many of the images are colored with matching markers.  Ink colors used: Chocolate Chip, Marina Mist, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight, and Pumpkin Pie.

The sentiments I used came from the new Word Play and Fabulous Phrases stamp sets.  I know I'll be using these all the time—you really can't beat a good "word" set!  Just the right words can make all the difference to your project!  Word Play is fun and different with lots of font styles and sizes and very unique greetings.  Fabulous Phrases is a set of one-word stamps that you use together to create short and sweet little phrases.  Here are the images from both sets (click to see a larger image):

Why Haven't You Joined The Stamp Club?

I know my Stamp Club ladies will have a blast making this fun, interactive card!  This is just one example of some of the Too Cool projects we create at Club.  You should join us at the next event coming up on August 20th.  I'm sure I'll have lots of great ideas from Convention to share at that event, so you won't want to miss it.  Guests are welcome to join us to try out the Club before they join—contact me for more details!

I'll see you there!

Angie