A Sketch & A Card

Today, I thought I'd try something a little bit different. We begin with a sketch that (hopefully) shows the folding card project I experimented with. I should warn you that is hand-drawn and not necessarily to scale, but I think it gives you the general idea as well as the key measurements. Of late, cards that include this type of stair-step folding seem to be all the rage. I think this one lends itself to a holiday card very nicely.



Your base cardstock should measure 5 1/2" x 8 1/2". I chose to use a piece of Bazzill textured cardstock. The "trickiest" part of this card is a vertical cut that you must make from the 1" mark to the 6 3/8" mark. Where you decide to make the cut is entirely your option. Where you put the cut will determine the length of your stairstep folds. I made mine at 2" in from the left side of the cardstock. You can either use a craft knife and a straight edge or your paper trimmer to make the cut. Once you have made the cut, the rest of the card basically becomes an exercise in paper folding.

You want to use a scoring tool (in my case the Scor-Pal) and score from the right side of your cardstock up to the cut line you made. You should score your paper at 1", 2", 3 1/8", and 6 3/8". Notice here, that your first and last score (1" & 6 3/8") should meet the beginning and end of your cut mark. There is one final score to make, but it is slightly different in execution than the others. This score mark will go all the way across the entire width of your cardstock at 4 1/4". This is also the midline of your cardstock (and your folded card). Once you play with you scored paper a bit, you'll see the natural way it fan folds to create the stairstepped effect. After you've folded and creased your paper, the fun begins as your canvas is now ready for your imagination.

For my project, I used a piece of DCWV decorative paper measured to fit the front of my folded card in a complimentary shade of blue. For my cut-out decorative piece, I used my Cricut Expression and the new Limited Edition cartridge "When It's Cold Outsided 2009-2010". The large snowflake and the shadow were cut at 4". The snowmen came from the snowman snowflake. I merely trimmed them out of the snowflake with scissors and used adhesive to put them in the row in front of the giant snowflake. I liked the idea of the snowmen doing a secret unseen dance out in the snow in front of a giant snowflake (like their altar if you will). I added a Stampin' Up! rub on and sentiment to finish the card.

This card type is lovely in that it creates its own stand and would look lovely displayed on a mantle or other decorative holiday display.

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.