Here's a different approach to card making... a folded paper "book card."

{{!gwi}}

I used fairly stiff cardboard for the top and bottom (about 2¼" x 8¾"). I made the top and bottom about a quarter-inch longer in both width and heighth than the folds would be, so there would be about an eighth-inch space around the edges.

I used the glitzy paper of a bottlebag that'd I bought at a dollar store to cover the two pieces of cardboard. (A silver one is in the supplies picture - they came as a set of two and I used the red one for the card.) I used spray adhesive to stick the cardboard to the paper, then cut out around the rectangles about 3/4" outside the boards, then folded in the corners, glued them, then folded in and glued the sides and ends. You can see how the folded corners look in the last picture.

{{!gwi}}

I printed a verse ("M is for the...") on parchment-type paper, spacing the lines so they'd be centered between the folds. I had to use two pieces of 8½ x 11 paper, and glue-joined them. Each section of the card I made was 2" x the width of the paper (8½"). I folded the papers, using mountain/valley folds, being certain that the top was just above a valley fold. I left the last area blank to sign the card.

I used some gold cord as ties (you could use ribbon or other string-type stuff). I glued the cord ends at each center side of one piece (the back) using the DucoCement. After the cement had dried, I glued the folded parchment to the top and bottom, using a regular gluestick. I glued a couple glittery diecut leaves to the ends of the cord so they wouldn't fray (using the DucoCement). If I'd had some nice red beads, I would have put them on the ends of the cords instead, and just tied a knot.

{{!gwi}}

An alternative: Instead of having the ties run just around the outside of the covers, you could punch holes in the cover and the paper folds so the cords would run through it all, like a venetian blind. The cords would be knotted on the back cover and run up through all the folds and emerge through holes on the front cover. The holes would be in an inch or more, depending on the placement of your verse.

I didn't think of this nifty type of card myself... I saw something similar for sale on eBay!