Beware trick or treaters! Don’t go into the Haunted Graveyard! Ghouls and goblins are out to get you…..to open this awesome Haunted Graveyard Box Card.
I had so much fun working on this card. It was so different from other projects I’ve worked on, as it didn’t entail stamping for the majority of it, or even die cutting. This card was created entirely from digital paper packs from Carta Bella that match the physical products they produce. Most of the card came from Carta Bella’s Happy Halloween collection released this year (there are others with the same name if you search their site).
I created this card to fit within an A2-sized envelope. That meant that my back panel + one side had to equal 5.5″. I wanted to maximize the horizontal width so that left me with just 1.25″ for the sides, and the back panel became 4.25″ square when the card is opened, and 5.5″ wide when flattened. I also wanted to maximize the height of the scene so that left me with only 1.25″ for the base of the card. And that’s why I prefer to cut my own box card bodies rather than using a die to do it. I have full control of the dimensions of the real estate where my design goes. The black lines in the diagram below are the cut lines while the orange lines are score lines.
Best Part About My Silhouette Machine
I love Silhouette’s Design Studio software. I’ve used many graphic design software tools over the years and this one is the most user friendly while still being full-featured. In fact, I love it so much that I’ve gladly paid for a couple of their upgrades. And even better, you can export your designs as an SVG file for use on any cutting machine.
This box card had four cross-pieces that comprise the full scene. I used a quarter inch score to adhere each cross-piece to the sides of the box. I designed each cross piece in Silhouette Design Studio. First, I created the rectangle for the cross pieces. I used some point editing to nip the corners off the edges of each side so they didn’t stick above the box card base. Next, I pulled in a bunch of design elements (tree, ToTers, tombstones) and started laying them out on each cross-piece.
When I had a starting design, I grouped together all of the pieces for a cross-piece to make them one unit. I then stacked those units on top of each other, so that I could see if their horizontal position relative to each layer lined up. I discovered that some elements would block the elements behind them, and either re-positioned them or deleted them completely (goodbye tombstone!) Next, I un-stacked everything and was happy with how it looked, I positioned them on the letter size page so that I could get all 4 cross-pieces on one sheet of paper. I also created rectangles on another project and filled them with the ghostly background paper. A quick run through my printer on some Neenah Solar White cardstock and I had pieces ready to cut.
The video below does a far better job of explaining how I laid out all the elements on each cross-piece.
Best Part About My Scan n Cut
Now, here’s where things get awesome. I did the design using Silhouette’s software. But I used my Scan n Cut to do the actual cutting. It’s so much more accurate than the Silhouette and it doesn’t leave little shredded edges. It’s also so fast and easy to scan a page and make the cuts. I also don’t have to worry about lining everything up perfectly, Instead, I just scanned each page and cut them independently. Because it’s so easy to scan, it took less time to do that than to try to use the Silhouette Print & Cut function.
I did end up using the Lawn Fawn Spooky Fence die for the graveyard fence. I didn’t have a digital file and it was pretty quick to cut each piece as there was little lining up to do.
Assembly
Once all the pieces were printed, scanned, and cut, I assembled them just like any other box card. I always adhere all of my design pieces for the outside and inside flaps before I start attaching cross-pieces. There was very little to glue together because all of the elements were cut apart as an entire cross-piece. I used a scrap piece of my laminator sheet to cut quarter inch strips that hold the ghosties. And I glued the fence to the edges first. But that was pretty much it. You can see in this picture what it looks like from the inside before I attach the cross-pieces to the second side.
If this were a regular box card, I would glue all the elements on to the cross-pieces before adhering them to the first side. These cross-pieces didn’t need adhering. So after that, I simply glued up each edge on the left. Then, I flipped the front panel over and adhered all of the cross-pieces to the left side panel.
You may also notice that there’s a half-inch tab attached to the far right edge of the base. Because I was maximizing paper, I used tabs so that I could make 2 cards per sheet of letter paper. I have lots of scraps of black cardstock sitting around, this puts them to good use.
Finishing Touches
I did decorate a piece of plain white paper to attach to the back of the card. First, I stamped this spooky spider web in Simon Says Stamp Fog ink.
Then, I used a greeting, from a Paper Artsy Halloween stamp set, that just tickled me:
Brush up your brooms,
polish your bats,
clean your fangs
and sparkle your cats.
Hahahaha. I can just picture irritated sparkly cats.
After I attached the tab that made the card into a box, I adhered the sentiment panel on the back of the card base.
Lastly, I added a belly band of Halloween ribbon around the outside to keep the flaps from flopping open.
Haunted Graveyard Box Card Tips and Tricks
I hope you love this unique card! Here’s a link to our video where I walk you through design points in how I made this card.
Love this cute Halloween card? Want more Halloween cards? Check out our prior Halloween series here.
This page contains all the posts for the cards I made for Cards for Hospitalized Kids.
Learn more about Cards for Hospitalized Kids here.
