Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Fancy Fold Christmas Card


This month's challenge at a2z Scrapbooking's blog is "Autumn & Christmas." I don't do autumn cards much, so I decided to make a Christmas card for my personal stash. I wanted to something a bit more challenging than a basic card, so I looked on Pinterest. I found this tutorial, and decided it looked challenging enough, so I went for it. And I was right--it turned out to be quite a challenge!

I cut my card base to 7.5x12". The card design can actually be pretty much any height; the width is more important, since you have to be able to divide it into thirds. Next, I opened the background file from Hero Arts' "Artistic Circles" in Photoshop. I resized it and adjusted the color to be kind of a rose hue, and printed it onto my card base. Finally I scored the fold lines, & cut the diagonal sections on the sides.

I used a Fiskars border punch to create the gifts border to go along the top & inside edges. (I don't know the name of it, and it appears to be discontinued.) I also used the Fiskars "Threading Water" border punch to create the green border strips, which I adhered to the inside top of the card.


For the inside of the card, I stamped an image by Penny Black onto a piece of 90-lb. watercolor paper, using Ranger Archival Jet Black ink. I colored it with Inktense pencils, and blended the color with my water brush. (I did have to use regular colored pencils on the mouse's shirt, since it was such a detailed area.) I also stamped the cat and dog from a set by Recollections on 140-lb. watercolor paper, and colored them with Inktense pencils. I added a coat of glitter to the stars hanging from the animals, and the one on the tree, with my clear Wink of Stella brush marker. I fussy cut the cat & dog, leaving a thin white border.

Detail shot of pop-ups

I inked around the edges of the focal panel with Victorian Velvet Distress ink, just to keep it from fading into the background so much. I then glued it to the inside of the card. The pop-up elements for the cat & dog were a bit tricky to figure out. On my first attempt, the pop-ups bumped into each other when I closed the card. Thankfully, I had the foresight to use temporary adhesive until I figured things out! I ended up just making smaller pop-up boxes, and glued them in place, & then glued the cat & dog to each box.

I stamped a greeting from Hero Arts' "Very Merry Christmas" set onto a piece of green cardstock, using Versamark ink. I heat embossed it with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder, and matted it with the same cardstock I'd used for the gifts border. I glued it to one side of the front. For the patterned cardstock on the outer middle panels, I used the same Hero Arts background as for the card base, just changing the color to a dark green. After cutting the strips, I trimmed the upper edges at a diagonal, & adhered them to the appropriate sections. I also made a belly band from that same color pattern, to go around the card to keep it closed.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday "Stamping"
Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Stencils & Stamps"

4 comments:

  1. Another really beautiful card, Andrea! I love how you created your Christmas scene on the inside and your coloring is fabulous!
    Thanks so much for playing along with us again in the a2z Scrapbooking Challenge! We love seeing your creations!

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  2. love the fancy cut and all the details! glad you played along at a2z!

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  3. What an adorable scene and such a lovely surprise after you popped it open! Clever and beautiful holiday card. Thank you for joining in with us at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!

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  4. Beautiful and funny card! Love all the little details!
    Thank you for playing along with us at A2Z Scrapbooking!
    (btw, a giveaway going on on my blog... ;))

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