Dear Santa -- UPDATED

7/22 UPDATE: A special welcome to those of you who have come from this week's OWH Tuesday Tutorial. I was so excited when Nancy said that she would like to feature Dear Santa. Thanks, Nancy!

Paper Smooches Super stamp set
computer-generated shapes & text
Distress Ink core
lots and lots of fussy cutting

Since I made Dear Santa, I applied the same technique to make a Super Hero card. One tip I learned when making this second card involves the white strip used at the bottom of both cards. If you're interested in including a similar strip of writing space, I had my best luck when the strip went from the left edge to the right edge. While I played with a number of combinations, the one that seemed to have the biggest visual impact was this full-width strip of white. 


Thanks so much for stopping and happy scrappin'.  Can't wait to see your take on fold cards! [As soon as my Blitzy stamp order comes in, I'll be making a princess card version. :)]


Hi, everyone.

The card below was born from two inspirations: a Crafting at the Spotted Canary show about making greeting cards with surprises and movement and a Studio G stamp purchased a couple of years ago.

This card's surprise is a sentiment that pops up when you open the card. The first two images show the front and inside of the card. The latter images illustrate a few of the steps used to create the popped sentiment.

Inside of Card
AC Christmas cardstock
computer-generated sentiment, inspired by Studio G stamp
Marvy and Paper Shapers circle punches, EK hole punch
Creative Memories cutting system
Stampin' Up! trimmer with scoring blade

Front of Card
AC Christmas cardstock
computer-generated sentiment (Andy), inspired by Studio G stamp
Marvy and Paper Shapers circle punches, EK hole punch

The Steps

Step 1: Cut out two 5.5" by 8.5" sheets of cardstock
Step 2: Fold one of the sheets in half, and make cuts 1" length that are 1.5" from either edge
Step 3: On the cut sheet, score along the card fold between the two 1" cuts
Step 4: Pop out the cut section, or "step", towards the interior of the card

Step 5: Apply tape/glue to the front of the "step"
Step 6: Attach sentiment/ image to be popped

Step 7: Apply tape/glue to inside cardstock, taking care to not apply any adhesive to the step.
Step 8: Attach interior (cut, scored) cardstock to the exterior (uncut) cardstock.
Step 9: Decorate, decorate, decorate!

Other Considerations:

• I used solid cardstock as my bases. But, there's no reason not to use dp. I'm thinking 8.5" by 11" sheets or 12" by 12" sheets would work better for this purpose than 6" by 6" pads.
• I added the wavy, white strip on the inside for a handwritten note.
• When making cuts and applying adhesive, you'll want the "better" sides (textured, patterned) to face inside and out.
• I popped a sentiment on the inside, but images would work, too. :)

BTW

• In the past, Operation Write Home has offered tutorials and hosted challenges dealing with fold cards. In addition, the Spotted Canary broadcast (Show 106) showed more elaborate, intricate cards. If these really interest you, there are lots of internet resources to help you create more elaborate folds. 
• That said, this is the first fold card I've ever tried. There were two reasons for this: 1) I wasn't sure I had the skills needed for these fold cards, and 2) I definitely didn't have precise enough tools for them. So, for my first effort, I went with a much simpler model.
• Because of the sentiment, I chose to embellish with a variety of circles and a few waves to create a more whimsical feel.

Parting Thoughts

July 12 Postscript: Today's CAS-ual Fridays challenge is to create a polka-dotted creation. Think I'm going to post this little card for this challenge.

Hope you give one of these a try. I'm planning on making a few for OWH and the holiday craft fairs.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Thanks for stopping and happy scrappin'!