Lowri - Cards

Hi Everyone - Lowri here.
In my box of Christmas Goodies were the latest papers from the Imaginisce “Cottage Christmas” collection.

There are some lovely colours and a real variety of prints suitable for everything from cards for kids, bold brights – some of them even have a retro feel to them.
I have three cards to show you today – they may take a little time to figure out, but once you master the technique, it would be easy to repeat quickly. These first two cards look impressive but actually use very little product – making them very economical too.
If you are in Timaru – pop into the shop to take a look as I have sent these cards to Liz! I have also uploaded instructions and more pictures in my gallery.

Tri-Fold Shutter Card

I had seen a few of these in magazines and on-line and I have been waiting for ages for a suitable time to try one out! It looks complicated but it’s really not. Just follow the diagram carefully and remember to use EITHER the inches or cm measurements. Either set of measurements will result in a card to fit a standard envelope.
When I try something new like this – I always give it a go with scrap card first (even a cereal box for thicker cards) to get a feel for how it works, double check measurements etc. It’s much easier to make adjustments at this stage, where if you make a mistake you haven’t spoiled any of your good quality paper.


Once you have made your card base following the diagram – then the fun starts and you can get decorating. I used plain cardstock in co-ordinating colours to make a mat for each panel and then cut patterned paper to decorate. I used a 1/8 inch margin (3mm) each time to get a layered effect.

The beauty of this card is the structure, so I wanted to keep the decoration simple. Saying that I have seen some really ornate cards in this style online which work very well too.

Here is the template for this card

Tri-Fold Square Card

Once again I have provided a diagram for the basic card which I made from plain white cardstock. Once you have done this , place the card down in front of you right side down, and glue the top left triangle to the bottom left triangle.

I printed some invitation wording onto acetate for the inside – but of course you can write any note or greeting you like. I have highlighted some of the stars on the patterned paper with rhinestones and used Kindyglitz on a chipboard accent for additional decoration.

The chipboard present on the front of the card was a precut piece I had from last year, so I covered it with the Imaginisce patterned paper, then a layer of glossy mod-podge and then a little bit of Kindyglitz over the top for extra sparkle. I used Kaisercraft’s tiny red pearls for Holly Berries. The ribbon is glued across the back only, leaving it free to be tied easily at the front.

Here is the template for this card

Pull Apart Card

This was a cross between a labour of love and hate! I had seen a couple of cards like this online and I even followed a tutorial to make one – but the end result was really flimsy. My kids have a set of pull apart flashcards which I wanted the feel of, so I carefully prized it apart to see the mechanism and copied it.

Basically it involved a lot of frustrating cutting of chipboard and paper and them some very fiddly gluing to get it to work properly.
So - bottom line is this was a lot of work for one card – but if anyone has an easy template for this card I would really like to see it!
I love the effect for a card/invitation so I am definitely going to stay on the lookout for an easy pattern.

The Kaisercraft Flourish star on the front I dabbed with white ink and sprayed with silver glimmermist. The inside had to be kept simple as any extra dimension would mean the card won’t open properly.


Set of Notecards

Finally, I wanted to use some of the Bella Blvd felt pieces Liz sent me – so I created these mini cards using the Kaisercraft Sheet music stamp, and then also stamped on the felt for a bit of added detail.

I used Stayzon Ink and it worked really well. I hardly do any stamping, but this was a fun idea which has left me inspired to try a few more projects!!

I hope you enjoyed these - if you have any questions please leave a comment and I will try and answer.

We have heaps more posts coming this week, so keep an eye out for some more inspiration from the Design Team