Turn Your MiniMENTALS Pages into Gatefold Greeting Cards

How to Make a Gatefold Greeting Card from MiniMENTALS Coloring Pages

Gatefold Card from MiniMENTALs Design “Rotunda”

By Dana Hinders

If you’re looking for a fun way to share your finished adult coloring pages, why not try turning them into cute handmade greeting cards? Your friends and family will love getting a one-of-a-kind card and you’ll be able to use up items in your craft stash in the process. It’s a win-win situation all around!

There are millions of different ways to make cards, but I love making gatefold cards because the design is a little different than your typical purchased greeting card. Instead of having just one fold on the left side or folding from the top, a gatefold card opens from both the left and right sides.

How to Make a Gatefold Greeting Card

I use purchased gatefold cards for my projects, but you can make your own from 12″ x 12″ scrapbook paper if you want. Here’s how:

Cut a sheet of cardstock to measure 6″ x 12″.
Make your first fold 3″ from the left side of the paper. (Use a bone folder for sharp creases!)
Make your second fold 9″ inches from the left side of the paper.
Fold both creases into the center to create a 6″ square gatefold card.

MiniMENTALS are an excellent choice for gatefold card making projects because of their smaller size and perfect symmetry. This means you can showcase your colored artwork on the front, then let the recipient open it to reveal your message inside.

DIY Greeting Card Tips

I’m a big fan of quick and easy projects, so my cards aren’t super fussy. Here’s my formula for a DIY card:

Pick a design and color as desired.
Cut out the design.
Fold the design in half. Unfold, then cut carefully down the middle.
Glue the left half of the design to the left half of the gatefold card. Glue the right half of the design to the right half of the card, double checking to make sure both sides of your design line up exactly.
Add desired embellishments.
Add any sentiment or handwritten message.

MiniMENTALs Gatefold Card Examples

My first example uses OrnaMENTALs Design #0013m (Twenty-Five Revolutions) colored with a basic set of Prismacolor colored pencils. I added self-adhesive clear rhinestones to the four corners for a bit of sparkle. On the inside, I used a 3×4 journaling card from my scrapbooking supply stash and left a little room for a short handwritten message to the recipient.

Gatefold Card from MiniMENTALs Design “Twenty-Five Revolutions”

My second example uses OrnaMENTALs Design #0052m (Rotunda) colored with Bic Mark-It markers and accented with Sakura Dark Metallic Gelly Roll gel pens. I added eyelets to each of the four corners, then tied a bit of natural jute twine through the left and right sides. To finish my design, I attached a chipboard sentiment from my supply stash to the left side. When you do this, use a small amount of adhesive on the left side of the chipboard and keep the right side empty. This lets you easily open and close the card. I left the inside of this card blank so I could write my message with my gold gel pen, but you could certainly add a pre-printed sentiment on the inside if you wanted.