Did you spend hours in high school or Jr. High school making chains from folded gum wrappers? My friends and I did. I think you were supposed to make a chain as long as you could, and the length of the chain was supposed to equal the height of your future boyfriend/husband. I’m sure we all tired of it before we met our handsome prince . Anyhow, when I saw this template from Hot Off the Press, it reminded me of the chains we made, and how we never threw away our gum wrappers. (We were ahead of our time, recycling even then !) I didn’t use gum wrappers, but I did use scrap papers from my stash, and I made this all occasion card.



Here’s how:

Supplies needed:
White cardstock
Fold-it Links Template from Hot off the Press
Small pieces of colored paper – 2 different colors (I used purple and blue patterned paper)
Purple cardstock
Pencil
Ruler
Scissors
Craft Knife
Cutting mat
Stylus
Gelly Roll Marker from Sakura-Purple
Glue Stick or other adhesive


1. Cut the white cardstock 6” x 12” and fold in half to make a card that opens on the side.
2. Measure and cut a 5 ½” square of the purple patterned paper. Adhere this to the front of your card.
3. Trace the Nostalgia Chain pattern on the back of the patterned paper. Cut out with scissors. Use the craft knife and cutting mat to cut the inside lines. Score as shown on the template and fold with the patterned side out.
4. Repeat to make a total of 3 purple and 2 blue elements.
5. Follow directions on the template to combine your elements to make a chain.
6. Adhere the chain to a 1 ¾” by 6” piece of white cardstock.
7. Adhere this to a 2 ¼” by 6” piece of purple cardstock.
8. Adhere to the front center of your card.
9. Cut 2 pieces of white cardstock, each ½” by 5 ½”. Adhere to the front of your card as shown.
10. Use the purple Gelly Roll marker to make 3 purple dots inside each opening of the chain.
11. Write your message inside the card.

The template offers 5 different chains. Here is a card I made using one of the other chains, and different colors.

This time I used a double-sided paper to make my elements, and tiny brads in the centers of the flowers. As you can see- the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. Hummmm…….maybe I should try gum wrappers……