My Way of Making an A4 Magnetic Folder :)
Tools Required
1 Magnetic clasp (can be found online in various places by Googling)
2 X A4 Patterned Card of your choice for the cover (needs to be relatively thick)
6 X A4 card (not too thick this time lol) colour matching or contrasting patterned card
1 X A4 card in a darker colour (from same card stock preferably)
2 X A4 Chipboard (2mm – 3mm thick)
A roll of clear sticky back film
Selotape
Can of Crafters Companion Stick & Stay Spray (optional)
Craft Knife
Scissors
Pliers
Craft Ruler (preferably a metal one lol)
Scoring tool
Scoring board
Bone Folding tool
Guillotine or Paper trimmer (whichever you have lol)
Pen/Pencil
Okies…. lets get started :)
Make sure you have all the required tools or tools of your choice which will do the same things LOL
Turning the card the easiest way for you to work…. add another A4 sheet of matching card & make sure the seams go together perfectly.
Making sure the selotaped side is now facing down…. get a sheet of A4 ChipboarD (I used the Stick & Stay Spray for quickness but you can use DST or tacky glue etc….
Now lay the glued side down on the taped card making sure its as central as possible
Now cut away the excess on the corners
Repeat this for both of the Chipboards…. we now need to fill in the area that’s open so its all kinda one flat level… you can either use the same card or any spare card (as long as its from the same card stock so thickness doesn’t vary) simply measure the area that needs covering…. cut out using scissors/craft knife etc whichever you prefer then simply glue into place… I used tacky glue again :)
Again repeat that for both Chipboards…. now to make the binding seam… take the A4 sheet of the darker contrasting colour…. its needs to be measured at 15cm & cut the full length then mark at 7.5cm top & bottom & score a line
Now fold & glue together (again I used the Stick & Stay spray for quickness lol) now we need to mark in 3cm – 3.5cm – 4cm & then 4.5cm at the top & bottom once that’s done score down the lines with your scoring tool
I then used my scoring board to score the outer lines to help with the folding
Now before we carry on we need to decide where the magetic clasp will go… chose one side & use the little circle plate that comes with the magnet to use as a template mark the card ready for the thick part of the clasp
Using a pen or pencil mark in the little side slots… remove the circle plate & you should now be left with 2 marks
Now we know where the clasp will be we need to cut out those two little area’s… I used my craft knife for this… entirely up to you how you want to do it lol… it’s a little tricky but ya get there in the end lol
Now we need to bind the 2 covered Chipboard shhets together so taking your binding strip that you did earlier…. add DST to both sides…. try not to go right up to the fold as this can hinder the folding a little
Now attatch this carefully down one side of one of the chipboard sheets
Now making sure that the magnet scored edge is on the outer edge… attatch the other side
Now to cover the outside of the folder with your patterned card… I decided to use the Stick & Stay spray… again purely for quickness… once that’s covered… attatch to once side of your folder
And then repeat again for the other side… as we have just covered the holes on the outside… we need to carefully cut them oout again… its easier this time coz ya not going thru the chipboard again lol
Once all that is done we now have the fun part of adding the clear sticky back film… simply lay the open folder on the paper side of the roll & leave a good 1” – 1.5” edge for folding over then mark out that area
Move the folder to one side for the moment & get the clear sticky back film ready…. carefully tease off a corner & peel back a short amount of the backing paper & fold it back
Now place the folder onto the clear sticky back film & make sure you places it centrally so all sides are equal to be cut
I turned mine sideways at this point coz it woz easier to peel off the backing paper… make sure you do it slowly making sure to press the file onto the film as you go along
Once all the backing paper is off start cutting off the excess on the corners
We need to fold over all the edges now but to make it fold properly I cut little slits at the edges where the biding part of the folder is
Now using scissors or ya craft knife…. just poke the holes thru the film & attatch the thick part of the clasp using the circle plate to hold it onto
Now we need to attatch the magnetic sheets… add DST to the reverse of the magnetic sheets…. if yours already has a sticky backed then ner ner LOL
As you can see I covered mine well… I didn’t want lots of grooves in the sheet coz my dies might not stay stuck properly LOLOL…. now attatch the sheets to both the inside area’s
Okies.. all that’s left to do is the fastening strap… simply take another piece of the darker contrasting card… measure it to 14cm X 6cm… now score at 3cm
Fold in half & glue together… now we need to place the other part of the clasp… place a mark in the centre about 2 cm’s up
Again using the circle plate…. mark in the little side slots…. again cut them out with a craft knife or whatever you used lol… again measure the clear sticky back film & cut to size
Again carefully cut away the excess corners & fold the edges over… pierce the film over the holes with scissors or knife etc… I decided to use my corner punch to round the edges but you can just leave it as is if you prefer & now add the thin part of the magnetic & again make sure you use the circle plate to hold it in place
We now need to cover the plate on the strap so we repeat the same process again with a slightly smaller piece & NO holes lol then simply add DST & stick over the top
I found the easiest way to attatch the strap is to place the 2 magnets together then gently fold the remaining strap over the back of the folder but don’t do it tight or it wont stay fastened & ya wont have room to add anything inside LOLOL… simply use some more DST to fix onto the back & then I used another piece of clear sticky back film to cover the edge to help keep it secure…………. THAT’S IT!!! your folder is now ready to use :)
Am sorry this Tutorial seems a bit long winded but I wanted to make sure I explained everything easily & simply enough with plenty of pictures & my text… I know its hard to take things in at times & I for one have pulled many a hair out trying to follow some tutorials lolol feel free to give m any feed back or to email me with finished products… I’d love to see your creations too :) If you have ANY problems then pleez email me using the button below :) I hope you enjoy my Turoial & enjoy using your folder :) Take care xXx
Thanks for the tut Angie!!
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