Saturday, July 5, 2008

Butterfly Trifold Card

I've been experimenting with different card shapes and folding techniques. This was my first attempt with a tri-fold panel card. I think I'm really going to like this shape.



I used Bazzill textured cardstock as the base of the card cut at 11" x 5". I used the Scor-Pal for my scoring (and I highly recommend you look into acquiring a Scor-Pal if you don't already own one). Score your cardstock at the following intervals:

* The first score is at 2"
* The second score is at 4 1/2"
* The third score is at 7"

At this point, you need to decide how many of the card panels you wish to cover with decorative paper. I chose to to cover panels two and four on this particular card. You want your decorative paper to be slightly smaller than the panel dimensions to allow the base cardstock to frame your decorative paper. I chose to use paper from Die Cuts With A View (DCWV) Luxury Paper Stack and trimmed them down with my Cricut paper trimmer. I used my ATG714 adhesive gun to adhere the papers to the cardstock. After you've glued down your decorative papers, you can fold your card with a basic accordian fold and secure your folds with a bone folder.

The next major feature of this card is the tabbed opening. I decided to use a butterfly clear acryic stamp from Inkadinakdo. I stamped the image on Bazzill white textured cardstock using Tsukineko Dew Drop ink in Pearlescent Sky Blue. You want to stamp the image twice and them trim around your images. You next want a piece of cardstock in the same color as your base card. Glue one of your images to the cardstock and then trim around the stamped image leaving a border of approximately 1/4" around the image. Apply adhesive to one half of your image and adhere it to the front of your first card flap. (TIP: if you position your image where you want it on the card front, turn it over and draw a faint pencil line which will guide you when putting your adhesive on.)

Once the tab front image is adhered to your card opening, open the panel and take your second stamped image to position. (TIP: You want to select a stamped image that will look well mirrored on itself; If it is not a balanced image, it will not mirror well and your tab opening will look funny.) Adhere your image to the back of the cardstock of the first image. The inner half of your image will be adhered to the inside flap

Your card is now ready for final embellishments. I chose to use a Prima flower with a Making Memories Epoxy brad on the card cover. The word "SOAR" is a white rub-on transfer. On the inside I used another Inkadinkdoo stamp (flower blossom) stamped in black ink. A journaling circle of blue paper creates a nice area for your card sentiment. The other butterfly is a Heidi Swapp clear acrylic cut-out.



Real Men Carry An ATG Gun

So, here it is.

A place where I will share my crafting projects. I'm mainly a paper crafter and cardmaker. I do some scrapbooking, altering, decoupage, knitting, needlepoint and other odds and ends. I hope to share my insights and tips, tools and product reviews. I'm also a big fan of Provocraft's Cricut Expression. You'll find some of my cut files posted from time to time.

I'd like to thank Ted (Sir Craftalot) for encouraging me to start this project. This weblog is dedicated to all of my friends and contemporaries who frequent our home-away-from-home, the Cricut Message Boards.

Happy Crafting!