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This article is written by Anjuli Johnson

My youngest sister begins high school next year.  Part of her curriculum as a member of our church will be what’s called early morning seminary.  It’s a religious class where high schoolers study the scriptures for about an hour before school.  Intense, I know, but it’s actually pretty fun, too.  One thing they’ll be doing is memorizing 25 specially chosen scriptures throughout the year.  It’s called scripture mastery, and all the students are encouraged to reach this goal.  As I was thinking about my last sister joining the ranks of early morning seminary students, I thought I’d mark this milestone by making her something extra special to help her with her scripture mastery.  An ATC card holder, with 25 separate slots for 25 scripture cards seemed the perfect idea.

I have been working on the cards gradually and have a few completed, but I knew the holder would be the most important part.  If I’m successful and she ends up really liking it, she might carry it with her to seminary on a daily basis, so I knew it couldn’t be too fancy.  It had to be sturdy and easy to work with, and hold the cards well so nothing would fall out or get lost.  I found this tutorial on pinterest, and after tweaking the size and measurements, I made the perfect size holder for 25 cards.

I began by making the individual envelopes.  I knew I’d be using thick paper (prima’s archivist line of patterned paper- love it!!) and that I’d have more envelopes than the tutorial called for, so I wanted to see how thick the envelopes together would be so I would make the cover the right depth to fit them all.  Using my paper trimmer, I cut strips of paper 9” by 4 ½”  and scored them at 3” and 6”. Folded and glued each envelope was 3” by 4 ½”.  I did this 25 times.  I also used a circle punch to put a half circle cut into the top of each envelope.

My cover is also a bit different than the original tutorial.  She says you can use cereal box cardboard- I knew that wasn’t going to be thick enough if I wanted my sister to be able to use this every day, so I decided to use thick box cardboard.  I needed my cover to be able to hold more than the original, too- after seeing all my envelopes together, I knew I needed the cover to be 2 inches thick to comfortably fit them all.  My modified cover measurements ended up being 14” long and 3 ¼” wide, with scored lines at 2”, 4” 8 ¾”, 10 ¾”.  This is the point to decorate the cover, before anything goes into it.  I painted the cardboard black and added some paper and tissue tape for a cool but clean and simple look.

Next, add in the envelopes.  I glued them in one at a time, starting at the back of the cover and then one on top of the other.  When you open the holder the envelopes fan out like an accordion, so I only glued the bottom half of each envelope, to make sure there was some slack when the holder is open.

The latch for the cover was the trickiest part- I didn’t want the long string wrapped around a button like in the original tutorial, so I used some metal findings to create a knob for a loop of elastic to fit around.  A bit of metal glue later, and it’s a great closure that will keep all my cards snug and secure.

So there you have it!  A perfect little hide away for any special ATC’s you have or want to make- flashcards, memory cards, picture cards, tags- the possibilities are endless.  And I would love to hear all your ideas!!  Please share in the comments what kind of cards you would stock your ATC holder with.

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Author bio: Anjuli Johnson is a Mixed Media Artist from Raleigh, NC.  She began her art career as a scrapbooker, and it’s been an evolutionary process ever since.  She loves all things mixed media- paper, paint, pens, wire, gears, clay… the list goes on and on.  She is constantly trying to push through her fears to discover and develop her talents, meet new people, and learn from those around her.  To see more of Anjuli’s art and techniques, check out her website at www.thefarpavilion.com  and like her Facebook page TheFarPavilion   Follow her on Instagram and Twitter as well.

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