Toy Dogs SVG - An Extending Card (Double Gate Fold)

You might have noticed that I have a weakness for dogs. Last week Sanqunetti Design released this delightful Toy Dogs SVG and I just had to make up the cute Dachshund. 

I was on vacation, and carried this idea around in my head for the whole week. I SO wished that I'd downloaded the Silhouette Studio software to take with me, I'd have got it out my system sooner that way!

To make the dog in one piece you need to use brown A4 or 12 x 12 paper, of which I don't hold much in my stash. I had to dig around somewhat and eventually found the spotted brown paper in Lawn Fawn's Snow Day paper pack. It's not the shade I would ideally have chosen, but I think it tones quite nicely with the red.

The card base is a simple rectangle with four fold lines, making it a double gate-fold construction. In order to make it as large as possible, but have no joins, the folded card is a touch under 4" wide by 2.5" high, making the unfolded card between 11.5" & 12" wide. 

I callously sliced the doggie in half vertically with the knife tool and inserted and welded a rectangle of a similar size between the two parts to make his long belly. 

I printed the card base with two sentiments, the paw prints (from the 'I Love My Dog' quote) and very faint cut and fold lines. I cut the dog and then adhered him before cutting the card and making the fold lines on my manual cutter. 

The 'So Long' sentiment and scarf were cut from red vinyl, and the facial elements from black and white vinyl. Vinyl is so quick and tiny pieces stick so cleanly that its worth trying out this medium if you haven't already done so.

I hope you like him. I'm thinking that this technique could be applied to other animals. Do share in the comments if you've already made something along these lines, or if you have ideas on how it could be used. 

The Toy Dogs cutting file is available to purchase now from Sanqunetti Design website and at Judy's Etsy store