Thursday, December 24

Tutorial - Stair Step Fold


Stair step cards open to reveal a set of pop-out "stairs" that are perfect for holding little embellishments, letters, pretty papers or whatever decoration you prefer.  The instructions that I've written will create a card with five steps, but you can adjust the measurements to get as many as you require for your project.



TEMPLATE (WORKING ON THE WRONG SIDE)


1.  Start with two pieces of cardstock measuring 10" x 5".



2.  Lay one piece of cardstock on your score board horizontally and score at 5".  Fold in half and press the crease firmly.  This will be your card front.



3.  Decorate your card front as desired.



We will be working on the WRONG SIDE of the second piece of cardstock.  If you are using a piece of patterned cardboard, then flip it over so that the WRONG SIDE is facing up.  

4.  Place the second piece of cardstock horizontally, and face down, on your scoreboard and score at 6".



5.  Use a pencil and ruler to draw feint horizontal lines from the LHS of your card to the score line.  The first line is 1" from the top of the card, the second is 1" below the first and so on down the card.   You should end up with four horizontal lines, 1" apart as shown in the photo below.



6.  Using a pencil and ruler, draw in some vertical lines starting 2" from the LHS of the card.   Draw the first line at 2", then 21/2", 3", 31/2", 4", 41/2" and 5".  You should have a total of seven vertical lines, each 1/2" apart.



7.  To make sure I cut in the right place, I mark little crosses at the beginning and end of each cut I need to make.  Referring to the template at the top of this post and to the photo below, use a craft knife to cut along the horizontal lines.
LINE ONE: start cut at 31/2" - end cut at 5"
LINE TWO: start cut at 3" - end cut at 41/2"
LINE THREE: start cut at 21/2" - end cut at 4"
LINE FOUR: start cut at 2" - end cut at 31/2"



8.  Place the piece of cardstock back on the score board and score on the vertical lines as indicated on the template.  Each vertical score line is only 1" long.
SECTION ONE: score at 4" and at 5"
SECTION TWO: score at 31/2" and 41/2"
SECTION THREE: score at 3" and 4"
SECTION FOUR: score at 21/2" and 31/2"
SECTION FIVE: score at 2" and 3"



9.  Now turn the cardstock over.  Your card should resemble the photo below.



10.  To fold, I found it easiest to anchor the RHS of the card with my right hand and then push on the LHS with my left hand.  The card should bend along the score lines you created.



11.  To decorate the stair side of the card, start with a piece of patterned paper measuring 6" wide and 5" high.



12.  Turn it over so that the WRONG SIDE is facing up.  Now mark the grid in the same way as you did in steps 5 and 6.



13.  Use scissors or a craft knife to cut "steps" in your paper.  Starting at the top, make the first vertical cut at 4" from the LHS.  Cut down 1", then cut 1/2" toward the LHS.  Repeat this process until you have two pieces of patterned paper separated by the "steps".  These should fit perfectly along the two sides of the stairs.



14.  You can now add additional patterned paper to the LHS of the card and to the face of each little step.  The small squares measure 1" and the large area on the LHS measures 4" x 5".
As you can see from the photo below, I trimmed all my patterned paper a little smaller so that I was left with a border around each piece.  I also inked the folds and edges of the card and patterned paper.



15.  You can decorate the steps with letters or other embellishments if you wish.



16.  When you're happy with the decoration, flip the card over again and apply adhesive to the areas as shown in the photo below.  Don't add any adhesive over the folds or the steps as you want them to pop up when the card is open.



17.  Adhere the "stairs" to the inside of the card front that you created earlier, and you're done!

Tuesday, December 22

New Release: New Friends Set

I've only ever built a couple of snowmen in my life and none of them have ever turned out like I expect.  They've all had funny lumps and bumps where they should be smooth (that's the story of my life too!), and sometimes they have sticks and grass poking out in strange places, and I won't even begin to talk about the lack of available carrot noses!  Thankfully it's a whole lot easier to draw the kinds of snowmen that I always imagine building.

New Friends Set

My talented designers have some wonderful cards to share with you today using the New Friends set of digital stamps.  I hope you enjoy looking through their fabulous projects!

Carla's Card

Christine's Card

Judy's Card

Karin's Card

Petra's Card

AJ's Card

Anesha's Card

Friday, December 18

Scrap Card #41

Oh my gosh, I did it!  This is the last scrap background!  Woohoo!!!  This year long project has finally come to an end and I don't have to look at another scrappy background ever again!
Actually, I quite enjoyed the challenge and am very happy that I have been able to make use of so many of the scraps that were languishing in my drawers.  I have tried very hard over the past year not to make even more scraps, but, well, you can probably guess how that turned out.  Don't worry though... I'm giving all those new scraps to my mum!
 
Stamp by Michael Powell

Tuesday, December 15

New Release: Splish Splash Set

This set is particularly useful for those people who love to create backgrounds or who love to compliment beautiful patterned paper.  Have a look below at what my fabulous designers have created using this set.  You'll find projects with inky backgrounds, watercolours, patterned papers and mediums.  There's lots of inspiration for all sorts of different projects.

Splish Splash Set


Two cards from Anesha

Carla's Card

Christine's Card

Judy's Card

Two cards from Karin

AJ's Notecards

Petra's Card

Thursday, December 10

Scrap Card #40

I tried to get a bit artsy with my holly today but only ended up making a huge, kaleidoscopic mess that had to be "filed" in the recycling.  Thankfully I hadn't damaged my scrappy background and was able to stamp and colour another image... with a little less abandon than the previous effort.
 
Stamp by Penny Black
 

Wednesday, December 9

To Be Discontinued...

The end of the year means clean up time in my online store!  To make way for next years new crop of images I've marked a few sets down and moved them out into the SALE BIN.  They will be discontinued early next year so be sure to grab them while they're available.


Tuesday, December 8

New Release: Milton Catching Snowflakes

I don't know if there are many giraffes who have danced in snow... nor many who own more than one scarf... but Milton is a unique soul who enjoys nothing more than spending his winter days catching flakes and performing ballet moves.

Milton Catching Snowflakes

Here are the fabulous cards and projects that my talented designers have put together using the new Milton set.  Don't forget to stop by their blogs to see what else they've been up to... you can find links in the column on the right.

AJ's Card

Two projects from Anesha

Carla's Card

Two cards from Christine

Judy's Card

Karin's Card

Petra's Card