Would you like to see a "hidden door"? How about a Hidden Door card?

I love playing with different types of cards.  One card that I found a while back was called the "hidden door" card and I knew I had to try making one.  Well, I did and it was actually easy, but I didn't like the way the card looked when you opened it.  So, of course, I had to fix that.

This is the original card I made after seeing a hidden door card.

Number 1 is the front of the card with a girdle around it.  The card opens in the centre, like a gate, and because it is folded inside, it actually works best with a girdle around it.  Number 2 is the inside of the card as you just open the front cover.  I've also stamped on the inside of the front cover to give it more interest.  Number 3 shows what happens when you open the card along the centre line of the inside.  You see through the "hidden door".  I thought this was so terrific, but wanted something less checkerboardy for the inside of my card.

This is the card that I created next:

I wanted to make this card more striking and so I used colour for it.  Yes, the two blooms are different colours.  I used the Raspberry Ripple ink for one and the Primrose Petals ink for the second.  The leaves are stamped in Gumball Green for both.  I used the full flowers from my Fabulous Florets stamp set (love that set and am so glad it is not being retired) and cut them out before adhering them with dimensionals.

The girdle is simply made using a piece of Basic Black cardstock.  A hand-coloured butterfly from the Papillon Potpourri stamp set and cut out with the matching Elegant Butterfly punch was glued to the join in the cardstock and then I used my Itty Bitty Banners stamp set and matching framelit for the sentiment.  I was so happy with the front of the card, it didn't even have to become a "hidden door" card to be special.

But, of course, it did become a "hidden door" card.  When you take the girdle off and open the front of the card, this is what you see:

I discovered that I could fully cover the checkerboard as long as I left a cut down the centre so that the secret door could still be opened.  So for this I used the Early Edition Designer Paper as my background (I'm going to miss that paper since it's retiring with the current catalogue).  In the centre of that I stamped the chair from the Cherish Friendship stamp set (retiring, so get yours before it's gone at the end of May) on Very Vanilla cardstock.  I cut that out using my Labels Collection framelit.  Then I stamped the goose from the Cherish Friendship set on Whisper White and cut it out using my wonderful snips.  I loved the way it all looked after hand-colouring it, especially since the goose overlapped just slightly, taking attention away from the cut down the centre of the page.  I finished that page off using the Word punch to cut out the sentiment I put together using the Fabulous Phrases stamp set. 

Now, for the hidden portion that you reach by opening the page I just made.  You sort of bend it in the middle and pull the hidden door apart and, voila, you reach the hidden page:

As you can see:

I left this page in checkerboard because it allowed me to use a number of sentiments together.  It was such fun, especially finishing it off using the floral butterfly stamp from the Papillon Potpourri set.

You know, I think this is going to have to be one of the WOW cards in my next class.