Do you love interactive cards? Or ones that have a surprise when you open them? I do. These kinds of cards are becoming extremely popular, but they often have a hefty price tag. So I decided to make my own. Here’s the front of my card.
And here’s the card when opened.
I’m also keeping with my “green” theme of trying to use things I already have on hand, so I used some left over rub-ons and cardstock for my card.
Many of my design decisions were made according to how many rub-ons I had, or how much paper. It’s also important to “ test fit” the inside to make sure none of your embellishments will stick out when the card is closed.
This type of card isn’t hard, but it can be time consuming to do all the measuring and math and I were never the best of friends. So I used a handy template –Clever Cutts Interactive Paper Cutting System. I got the template from Art Gone Wild. It saved me a lot of time and made the job so much easier! This is what the template looks like, and it comes with instructions about how to use it.
Here’s how I made my card.
Supplies
Clever Cuts Template
White cardstock 8 1/2” by 11”
Scraps of purple patterned paper
Scraps of green patterned paper
Scraps of white cardstock
Craft knife, ruler and cutting mat
Pencil
Scissors
Lavender Zig marker ( EK Success)
Scalloped punch (McGill)
Glue stick
Foam squares
Assorted round containers to use as templates
1. Cut the cardstock in half to form a card 4 ¼” by 5 ½”. Use the remaining piece for the inside.
2. Use the template to make the cuts for the “stair steps” of your card.
3. Decorate the inside as desired with your available supplies. I cut 4 small circles from white cardstock and added rub -ons to them. They looked too plain so I inked the edges with my marker. They still looked too plain so I added the purple squares behind 2 of them.
4. Punch a scallop from the purple paper. Cut a slightly smaller circle, add rub ons, and adhere it to the front of the scallop. Adhere to one of the steps.
5. Cut a smaller circle from green paper. Add rub ons and adhere as shown.
6. Decorate the “ steps” as desired. Add a rub-on in the upper right corner and write your message in the lower left corner.
7. Front of card:
8. Adhere a 4” by 2 ½” rectangle of purple paper on the left side.
9. Top with a ¾” by 5 ½” strip of green paper.
10. Add rub-ons to a 2 ½” square of white cardstock and adhere it to the left front as shown.
Add rub-ons to a 1” by 2 1/2” rectangle of white cardstock and adhere it under the square with foam squares.
11. Add rub-on in lower right corner.
12. On the inside of the card, adhere a 1” wide strip of purple paper to the bottom and top of the card. Adhere the Stair-Step Pop Up inside your card.
If you can bear to part with it, send the card to someone special and amaze him or her!!
