These are two different accordion tunnel cards – I needed something for a young man’s birthday (hence the Steampunk) but as I had never made one before, I needed to practice and kind of make a template.
For my practice accordion tunnel, I chose Mintay’s Dreamer 6×6” paper, partly because I enjoy the floral color scheme, and partly because I was lucky enough to have two Paper packs, and so had plenty of spares, in case I messed up! The base was created from a single 8-1/2” x 11” piece of white cardstock, which was cut into two 4-1/4 x 5-1/2” cards. I won’t bore you with details, as there are basic tutorials on YouTube.
Here is a look at the side:
For the Steampunk card, I used a 12×12” piece of Kraft paper, to creat two 6×6” cards for the base. I used Stamperia’s Vagabond paper and chipboard ephemera – left over from when I made that album last year.
I also added a few metal embellishments to go along with the Steampunk theme, and slipped a Happy Birthday sentiment along the second part of the accordion (in gold, doesn’t really show well).
I have to say, when he saw I made him a card, he wasn’t surprised. But when he actually looked at it, he liked it more and more. So success!
I love to give “stuffed cards” as gifts. I like to “wow” my friends with my creations, and they know the card is a gift from the heart! This particular card is also an entry for the G45 brand ambassador application. #G45BACall2022
You will need: Two solid pieces of paper 8-1/2 x 11” Two or three 12 x 12” designer sheets to decorate the inside and outsides of your card One G45 square tag One G45 long tag Ribbon for tags Organza ribbon for card front A variety of flowers to embellish G45 Ephemera cards or cutouts to embellish your tags, also some of the stickers and/or chipboard pieces from your selected G45 paper collection A small hanger found in Hobby shops if desired Art Glitter Dries clear glue Glue gun
Select your card base paper 7-1/2” x 10”, and score in half to make a card base measuring 7-1/2” x 5”, this will open from the side. Reserve the paper you cut off, to use later. On the inside panels of the card, you may want to attach two thin magnets – do this now, before you forget! If you do use magnets, sometimes it is easiest to attach the inside decorative papers right away on top of them, so you will not have any difficulty opening up the card later.
Cut several layers of alternating solid, white and patterned paper in diminishing sizes for the front (reduce each paper mat by about 1/8-1/4” depending on which paper you might want to draw attention to). For the center focal piece, select a cut out or ephemera card. We will embellish with flowers at the end.
Open the card, and choose different designer papers for each side, 7-1/4” x 4-3/4” (sometimes it is nice to have a single paper, about 7-1/4 x 10”, cut it in half and mount them on opposite sides, but I chose different papers). Cut a piece of solid card stock which matches your card base, to 2-1/2” x 5”, cut another piece just slightly smaller, (2-1/4” x 4-3/4”) which will complement the paper for your background on the left side. Attach the decorative 2-1/4” x 4-3/4” to the solid piece, then take this, and apply glue to the two short sides, and one long side, and attach at the base of the left hand side, on top of the other decorative paper, to create a pocket. Select a cut out or sticker to additionally embellish this side of the card as well, if desired.
On the inner right hand side of your card, select a decorative strip from the cut apart page, mount on matching card stock again, and apply first the 7-1/4” x 4-3/4” paper, and then the decorative element at the top. The rest is left for a note, a photo or whatever you like.
For the back of the card, cut the back decorative paper to 7-1/4” x 4-3/4”. We will attach a gusseted pocket before attaching it to the card back.
To create the gusseted pocked, cut a piece of reserved card stock used for the base, measuring 8-1/2” x 4”. Put your decorative paper on this “pocket” piece in a perpendicular pattern, or like a “T”, and center it. Score on the solid paper, along the sides of the decorative 7-1/4” x 4-3/4” paper. Then score outside both of those score lines about 1/8-3/16” away. Remove the decorative paper, now turn the solid paper and score along the 8-1/2” long side, about 3/8” from the edge, and again 1/8-3/16” away from that first score line. Fold on all the score lines, all in the same direction. The outer”wings” of this will need trimmed. First place the decorative paper (the “right side” is facing down) onto the solid and push it right up to the outer score line – fold the little strip of paper over your card panel and glue down (the scored part, which creates the gusset will be on the “right” side of your paper. Now cut along the inner side score lines to the inner long score line of each wing and trim away a thin piece of excess paper at the base of each wing. Fold the wings to the back of the decorative paper, and use a couple of pieces of thick card stock to keep the gusset in place, as you glue the wings to the back of the decorative paper.
Whew! Almost done! Now cut some pretty paper to put on the outside of this pocket, measuring about 3-1/2” x 4-3/4” depending on how much of a border you want, and gently attach to the front of your pocket.
Take the reserved card stock from when you first cut the card base – fold and glue to make a double thick strip of paper measuring about 3/8” wide, and cut two 1-1/2” pieces to anchor the hanger in place at the top of the card. Loop these strips over he bottom of the hanger, glue them together, and anchor with a clip for a bit. Created a decorate strip to cover those hanger anchors, from your paper, and mount it on matching card stock, measuring about 1” x 4-3/4”, depending on what you choose for your decoration. Once the hanger anchors are dry, mount at the top of the card, and then glue the 1” x 4-3/4” strip on top of this.
Now to stuff! Create a couple of tags, both long and wide, and decorate! I used some card stock and ephemera cards, as well as stickers here. I also created little “books” of small cut apart in the paper pack. I also like to stick thin chocolate bars in this pocket, and sometimes, I have put in fancy Tea bags with a honey stick, and sometimes even fancy Hot Chocolate packets from Land-o-Lakes or Swiss Miss.
Lastly, we need to embellish the front of the card! I love to create my own flowers, but you can select pre-made flowers from various companies, or even use small silk flowers found at Hobby Shops. I glue down the leaves first, after fiddling around with where they need to go. Then I tuck in extra leaves as needed, small filler flowers, and finally an organza ribbon. At last I select a sentiment from the paper “cut-a-parts” page, put some puffy tape on the back for additional dimension, and attach to the right hand corner. Now step back, and admire your stuffed card!
This is a shaped card, they are so fun to make and receive! This uses almost exclusively Heartfelt Creations products, with the exception of the sentiment, which is from Creative Expressions – I have several of their dies, and they are perfect for people like me who have messy handwriting!!
The paper is from HFC Sweet Peonies paper, and the die to create the shaped card is called the Fancy Classic Oval. Flowers and leaves are hand made, using the HFC dies, with a little ribbon tucked in for eye appeal.
I love the little fern like die there – it came in the most recent HFC Christmas collection, and I had no idea I’d use it so often when I first got it, but I seem to find a place for it all the time!!
I even used coordinating shaped paper for the inside, and I have to say, I love the way it turned out!!
I made these cards quite a while ago, but for some reason never posted them here.
They are really sort of gift cards, and a unique element is the hangar on top, which allows the recipient to display it on a knob – like I have here in my kitchen.
The pink one is just a single sheet of paper decorated on both sides, the purple is an actual card, and even has a thin magnetic closure, which was required because of the heaviness of the back (see below).
It’s the chocolate bars, frankly, but maybe also because these are sorta “stuffed” with tags and mini-booklets!
Personally I think they are adorable, but then, I’ll admit, I’m kind of biased!
I just realized that I forgot to post this card! I had quite a bit of fun, as I “cut down” the size of the flower (purple & black card) and since the flower is just so darn easy, it’s easy to have a card made, and then just rummage through your leftover flowers to embellish it.
This was pretty much finishing up the paper pack from Heartfelt Creations “Delightful Dahlias”, and for me, really branching out into the color orange.
Of course I didn’t really intend on orange, I kinda was hoping for that flame type flower, where it starts out as a pink and then near the tips has the orange/pink flame colored, but oh well!
Both of these are little folios, the square one measures about 6” x 6”, and the rectangle is about 5” x 7”.
I have a secret tag tucked in behind these bright pink dahlias – it has the light purple, organza ribbon bow on the top of it, and a little message on it.
The inside folio has a pocket with a gusset that will allow a thin candy bar, or package of hot chocolate, or some other fancy gift or gift card.
I was super excited to see that I won one of the monthly contests by Heartfelt Creations! Funny enough, on my FB post, I said that I already felt like a winner, because working on the flowers and playing with the beautiful paper helped me get out of a crafting slump!
I’m branching out….not very far, but a wee bit, to explore other decorative paper companies. This past week I received the Birds & Booms from Little Birdie Crafts, I had been wait listed for so long, I almost forgot about it!
This paper is thick, very thick. Think cover of a paperback book thick, and add some weight to it. It is also very glossy, on both sides, both the white & decorative side. That being said, I used a lighter weight paper for my card base, about 60#.
This first card measures 5”x7”. As you can see, I have used some hand made roses and blossom, and borrowed the sentiment from a different paper pack.This is the inside, aren’t these little birds adorable!! The right side (white background) features a circular punch out from the collection, and a strip from the embellishment page. On the left (pink background) the sentiment was fussy cut from the collection, and the white lace piece is a die cut from, guess where? Heartfelt Creations.This is actually the first card I made from the collection, measuring 6”x6”. I used a white die cut bird cage, and a hand colored butterfly for the upper corner, and an organza lavender ribbon with two handmade purple petunias, and a bright pink flower in the center.The inside of this card has a pocket (right above the wood slats) which I tucked a little ephemera card in to. Perfect for a sweet message of friendship.
This entire card probably took a mere 90 minutes to put together, since I already had the flowers made, and in my stash for “emergencies “!
Once again, it is time to visit the ladies in the neighborhood, and see how they have been faring with the Pandemic/CoVid-19. I leave these on the doorstep with some homemade cookies or quick bread to let them know I’ve been thinking about them! (I haven’t had any complaints yet!)
These cards use the Sweet Peony paper from Heartfelt Creations, and some flowers (peonies) that I created out of vellum, and a rose out of paper, which was colored with Prisma water-color pencils.
This first card features the vellum flowers I made. It is important to select high quality vellum, ink and powder, or the powder will just flake off the paper and get everywhere!It is a simple z-fold card, which basically means this: take a piece of paper (this one is 6″ x 12″), and place it long side against the edge of your score-pal, score at 3″ and 6″. Fold along the score lines, the two 3″ wide sections create the front.This particular card has a paper rose that I made. The center scene is only glued on the left side, and has a lace border to emphasize it.The middle part is left alone, or sometimes I will put a pocket and insert a tag. Then select a pretty flower (mine are hand crafted, of course) and secure to the left lower edge of the decorative center panel. Also I shellac the flowers with “Glossy Accent” or something similar, when I make them out of paper, to give them that shine.
This is a repeat of one I made before, with improvements to my wisteria, and a more elaborate inside.
So I figured out how to make my wisteria look a bit more lush, and again, I had fun water/coloring the bluebirds. Plus, the organza ribbon bows in each corner give it a nice touch, I think! The little bit of shiny gold cardstock beneath the sentiment is a subtle eye catching element as well.I just love adding a little bit of lace to the inside, a half circle which helps set off both inside panels. I felt very clever figuring out the panel with the hearts, and I really like the way it looks. I almost had trouble giving this card away!The last panel is simple, unless you lay the lacy part on top, and then it’s rather striking!
Totally enjoy working with this paper, and also enjoy playing with my Zig Clear Color markers, as well as the beautiful lacy dies created by Heartfelt Creations! No I don’t work for them, but it almost seems like I’m doing a commercial for them, doesn’t it!
My Celestial Creations 