Loaded Envelope Base A4 Cardstock Tutorial

As Promised I am going to show you step by step how to achieve making a base for a loaded envelope using A4 cardstock to make the envelope much more durable and substantially more hardy to wear and tear.

Firstly we need 3 sheets of A4 cardstock I use 280GSM but anything over 200GSM will work well.

Also need 2 strips of A4 Card to make thin banners to support our side panels.

Firstly cut all 3 sheets of cardstock down to 8" by 11.5"

2 of these are identically cut and scored to make our front and back section of our envelope

the last one will be come our two pockets.

So with the 8" along the top of your score board I need you to score at 0.5" - 1" - 7" - 7.5"

Then turn your cardstock 90 degrees so the 11.5" is along the top of the score board

We are then scoring at 10.5" - 11"

Then do exactly the same on your second sheet of card stock and place them to the side.

for our 3rd sheet we are scoring the pockets 

Again with the 8"along the top of our score board we are scoring at

0.5" - 1" - 7" - 7.5"

Then turn your cardstock 90 degrees so the 11.5" is along the top of the score board

We are now scoring at

4" - 4.5" - 5" (this is actually going to be a cut line further on) - 5.5" - 6"

All scoring now done we can move the score board out the way.

Cutting is minimal

We are cutting the 4 small scored squares at the bottom of our front and back panels on both sides

on our pockets sheet we are cutting along the 5" score line ( this will then give us 2 pockets )

I then chose to miter all my outer score lines so they all folded in neatly

Lastly we need our two thin banners that will help support our sides

These are 3/4" x 11.5" and we score them both at 3/8"

and one thin banner measuring 3/4" x 6" and score at 3/8"

Then fold and burnish all your score lines 

Fold the 2nd line into the center

Then fold the first line back on top of it

and you should have a fold like this

do that to all score lines including our pockets

the side banners we are simply scoring down the middle

then we start to stick them all together

Get your thin banners and add your adhesive I prefer wet glue for this I use my Anita's Tacky Glue as it gives me time to make sure all my sides are properly stuck down where I want them otherwise double sided tape although faster can be a disaster and cost you more time by having to start all over again.

So add glue to your banner on the sides that will fold around your envelope

like above and do that on all 3 sides (the smallest one obviously the bottom dont worry about the sides not being folded in right now once it is all stuck together as long as the score lines have been burnished it will fold back in easily)

I then covered the base envelope with my chosen paper line (it is easiest to do than now so the inside of the pockets will also be seen and if it is covered prior to the pockets stuck down it will just look prettier)

You paper need to be cut at 10.5" x 6" and you need 2 of those (one for the back and one for the front) dont throw away the extra bits (I used them as decoration)

For the pockets one pocket is 4" x 6"

and the other I placed the 5 and 3/4" (this is a slither to big but you can trim that x 6")

What I did was took a 12" x 6" chopped it down to 4" x 6" for one pocket then the remainer I stuck on the larger pocket and just trimmed it down was easier than measuring.

Once you have covered the envelope you can stick on your pockets just add adhesive to the gusset and stick it on to your envelope I used both my pockets at the bottom of my envelope so they are easier to line up but this is completely optional where to lay them.

now is time to decorate to your heart is content in whatever style or theme you wish.

This was mine front and back

I have done 2 videos one showing the base idea and the 2nd showing how I decorated.

I hope these are helpful and give you easy step by step instructions on how to achieve this gorgeous project. if you do follow this tutorial please let me know either tag me on facebook or email me at karenmcclure@gmail.com and let me see your gorgeous work.

Love and crafty hugs Always Karen xxx