Sunday, July 20, 2008

Waterfall Card Tutorial

I've been wanting to try and make a waterfall card for a while now. However, I was honestly intimidated to try. Something about the engineering involved sort of frightened me. Now that I've done it, I have to say that it is much easier than it might look at first glance. If you haven't tried one, I hope this tutorial will help you to give it a go.

Supplies you will need for this project:

--cardstock (two complimentary colors)
--decorative paper
--eyelets
--adhesive
--eyelet setter
--paper trimmer
--stamps
--ink pad
--scoring tool
--colored pencils

First, you will need a base cardstock that your card will be built upon. I chose to use Bazzill corduroy textured cardstock in Raven. The base card should be trimmed to 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". You then need to cut a mat for your base out of a decorative paper. I chose to use DCWV Once Upon A Time Mat Stack for my decorative paper and trimmed it to 4" x 5 1/4".



The next few cuts will form the backbone of the waterfall mechanism for your card. You will need to choose a solid cardstock that coordinates with your mat and base colors. I chose Bazzill criss-cross textured cardstock in a Burnt Orange. The following pieces need to be cut from this cardstock:

--waterfall slider bar at 2" x 9"
--mat squares for your stamped image: you will need four (4) of them at 2" square



The final set of cuts are for your stamped images and for the keeper bar that will be attached to the front of your card. You will want to use white cardstock for your stamped images (I chose Bazzill again in the color Snow). The keeper bar should be cut from the same cardstock as your base color (in my case the raven).

--stamped image squares: you will need four (4) of them at 1 7/8" square
--keeper bar at 3/4" x 4"



We'll begin the card construction by creating the scores in our waterfall slider bar (the card's backbone). Take your strip of cardstock (2" x 9") and grab your scoring tool. I use the Scor-Pal.



You'll want to make four score lines at the following intervals: 2", 2 3/4", 3 1/2" and 4 1/4". The folding is a simple back-and-forth accordian fold.




Set your slider bar to the side and take your card base and decorative paper and adhere them to one another. I used my Xyron 510 to run the decorative paper through and smooth on to the cardstock (TIP: A couple of passes with a bone folder works wonderfully to assure that you have no trapped air pockets between your mat and decorative paper).



Next you'll want to position your holding bar on top of your card face approximately 1" from the bottom of the card. We will be using eyelets to attach this piece to your card. You will need your preferred eyelet setter. In my case, I used my Crop-A-Dile and a couple of 3/16" copper-colored eyelets.





Next, we'll take the 1 7/8" white cardstock squares and adhere them to the 2" colored cardstock squares. Again, I just ran my white cardstock through the Xyron 510.



At this point some people would advise to begin stamping your images. However, I think it works best to wait until the card is fully constructed to stamp your images. The main reason for this is to make sure your images are positioned properly on your squares and they are "covered" by the waterfall square above it. If you stamp now, there's a chance your images will not align properly.

It's time to adhere your stamping squares to the scored and folded waterfall strip. For this job, you'll need to use an adhesive runner or your favorite glue. I used my ATG 714. Each square will need to be adhered just below the score lines on your waterfall strip. Place a strip of adhesive on one side of your first square and adhere it just below the fold of the first score line on your waterfall strip.



You will continue to repeat this process, attaching one square just below the crease of your next score line until all four squares are adhered to your strip.





The rest of your colored cardstock will now fold right behind your stamping squares.



We are now ready to attach the waterfall slider bar to your base card. First, you'll want to slide the folded portion of your slider bar behind the keeper bar. Once it's behind your bar, I used three strips from my ATG gun to put on top of the keeper bar. You'll want to use the width of your slider bar as a guide for how far to spread your adhesive. You do not want to apply too much adhesive or it will show through the sides of your waterfall panels.



You will pull the strip with your stamping squares down until the edge of the bottom stamping square is aligned with the bottome of the holder bar. When aligned just press down to adhere the stamp square to the top of the keeper bar. Believe it or not, this is the only place your waterfall mechanism is adhered to your card. It sounds counter-intuitive, but it works wonderfully.



Here's a side view of what your waterfall mechanism should look like:



Now, all that's left to do is the fun part. Pick out the stamps you want to use and embellish to your heart's content. I decided to make an early Halloween holiday card. I used some of the new Studio G stamps with a Tsukineko Brilliance ink pad in Coffee Bean. After my images dried, I used my Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol to give each image a bit of shading. I stamped the "Happy Halloween!" greeting (another Studio G stamp) with Tsukineko Brilliance in Black Graphite.







Now all that's left to do is put a ribbon pull on the end of your waterfall strip if you'd like. I chose not to on this particular card. You can also cut a half circle (or other notch) out of the card base for ease of pulling the strip. But, I think it works just fine without it. Again, the design possibilities are endless.

I'll bet you'll spend hours minutes watching the card flip back and forth.

Have fun exploring the waterfall card!

6 comments:

Inking A Colorful Journey said...

Great tutorial my friend!! You're so ahead of the game making Halloween cards already. I still have to try one of these waterfall cards - I've never done one. I'll come back for the tutorial when I make the card.

Amber H. said...

Wow, You made it seem so simple! A question though, do you HAVE to have brads? Does this method not work with glue?

Muttshouse said...

Love the tutorial. Thanks for doing this step by step AND for using different stamps on the waterfall part.

One question - Did you add a 4th piece of white cardstock for the "Happy Halloween?" Or maybe I miscounted? (functioning on NO sleep! lol.)

-craftykaren

Brens Designs said...

Love your tutorial!! Great card! You are already doing Halloween cards! Good for you! I'll start mine around October 29th or so... LOL!

Brens_designs

Albert R. Gomez said...

Dear MRS.HAYFORD~~You can use brads, eyelets or glue for making this card.

Dear MUTTSHOUSE~~You sharp eagle-eye! I did indeed add a fourth piece of whitle cardstock (as an afterthought and didn't account for it in my instructions! You can just stamp directly onto the strip, but for some reason I couldn't resist the urge. I will say you have to be careful though because an additional piece of cardstock can make it difficult to pass under the keeper bar! :-)

Sir Craftalot said...

Hey A! Awesome tutorial as always... I never grow tired of reading your blog. :) Thank you for sharing...and as with J... I need to try one of these when I'm brave (or when my Scor-Pal finally gets here!)