Tutorial Tuesday - Double Z to Diamond Fold

I've been having a great time lately producing cards using ALL DIFFERENT FANCY FOLDS and came upon a fabulous discovery that I think you'll enjoy!

I started out by working on a Double Z-Fold 

card using the following instructions:

• One 5 1/4 x 12" piece of cardstock for card base (you get TWO out of a 12x12)
• Two 1 3/4" x 5" piece of cardstock (or patterned paper) for side panels
• One 3 3/4" x 5" piece of cardstock (or patterned paper) for inside of card

 STEP 1:

Score the 5 1/4" x 12" piece at 2", 4", 8" and 10"

STEP 2:

Fold second score line in.

STEP 3:

Fold the first score line back.

(sorry for the blurry photo)

STEP 4:

Repeat Steps 2 & 3 on other side of cardstock.  

Your card base is done.

Now you can decorate the outside & inside panels to your liking using designer paper, images & embellishments.  Here is how I finished my card which AT THIS POINT is a DOUBLE Z-FOLD creation.

I have used one of the images from Shelly's 'CARNATIONS' set for this creation.

NOW HERE COMES THE TWIST!

 I discovered that with just a few more FOLDS, you will have created Shelly's 'Diamond Fold Card' but in the smaller A2 size!  How cool is that!  

All you have to do is mark the CENTER of your inside panel (top and bottom) ... then with the card opening DOWN ... fold the four corners into those center lines.  It will look like this:

(again sorry for the blurry photo)

I seem to be having technical difficulties so from this point I will use Shelly's photos from her tutorial on the larger sized Diamond Fold card.

 Unfold all of the folds and open your card base out flat.  You will see little triangles.  Fold these triangles down as shown here.  Once all corners are folded lay your card down flat and again use the bone folder.  This will help your card stand up nice.

 All of the folds are now done and you are ready to start decorating your card.

If it helps ... you can refer to Shelly's post HERE for better clarity.  

The only difference between her's and mine is the FINISHED CARD SIZE.  

The process is the same!

Here is my finished 'Diamond Fold' card using Shelly's 'APRIL SHOWERS' image.

 I hope you will give these two Fun, Fancy Folds a try and please, share a link if you do, we'd love to come and see what you've created!  Remember, we have SEVERAL tutorials to help inspire you.  Just click on the TUTORIAL LIBRARY logo in our sidebar to find one that catches your eye!

Hope to see you back here on Thursday for another Terrifically Thrilling Thursday Challenge!

Tuesday Tutorial - Diamond Fold Card

I am excited to show you how to make the diamond fold card today.  It is so fun and different.

I saw this card on a video awhile back and cannot find the link now to give credit to the original inspiration for my card.  

Picture #1

 Start with a piece of cardstock that measures 7 1/8 by 10 1/2 inches.  My finished card is about 3 1/2 by 7 1/8 inches.  Mark along the 10 1/2 inch side at 1 3/4 inches, 3 1/2 inches, 7 inches, and 8 3/4 inches.  Score along each of those marks.
Picture #2

 Fold along the score lines as shown in the picture.  Use your bone tool to make nice crisp folds along those scores.
Picture #3

This step is optional.  But I found it helpful.  I made a mark at 1 3/4 inches at the top and bottom of my card. This will help with the next folds.  Once you begin to fold you will see that your fold really can't be any larger due to the original folds.

Picture #4

 With the card opening down begin to fold the corners to the center of the top and bottom.
Picture #5

 This is what your card base will look like after you have completed all four folds.  Again...use your bone folder to make those folds nice and sharp.
Picture #6 

 Unfold all of the folds and open your card base out flat.  You will see little triangles.  Fold these triangles down as shown here.  Once all corners are folded lay your card down flat and again use the bone folder.  This will help your card stand up nice.
Picture #7

 All of the folds are now done and you are ready to start decorating your card.
Picture #8

 I chose to use Bazzill Pine Cone brown on the front diamond and the two side flaps.  I used the front of the card as a pattern and traced with a pencil.  Then I cut along the pencil lines.

 For the side flaps the brown cardstock mat measures 6 7/8 inches by 1 5/8 inches.  The patterned paper measures 6 5/8 by 1 3/8.  I used Basic Grey Two Scoops paper for the front and K & Company paper for the two side mats. (Oh....and I chose to decorate this side of my card.  But try turning the card around to see the interesting folds on that side.  Either side could be decorated.)

I hope this tutorial inspires you to make your own Diamond Fold card.  If you do create one please come back and share your projects.  We would love to see what you make.

Fabulous Freebie Friday!

Hi Everyone!

TGIF!!!

It has been awhile since we offered a Fabulous Freebie Friday so I thought I would share three files that I made for a project for my daughter Taylor's 13th Birthday.

The first file is a sentiment.  This sentiment is great for many projects, but also works perfectly for this Diamond Fold card.  If you would like to know how to make your own Diamond Fold card you can visit our tutorial here.

Sorry....our freebie event is now over.  Thanks to everyone who stopped in and enjoyed our freebie and left us a wonderful comment!

Our second freebie today is the template I used to create the pouch for my daughter's birthday card.  If you use Word be sure to download the file because it is perfectly sized for the dimensions of the diamond fold card and ready to print.  The Word file also contains the frame file.  Again perfectly sized and ready to print.

Here are a few quick tips for using our Pouch Template.

 I always print my items on plain paper before printing on patterned paper.  I folded my trial template on the middle fold just to be sure that my project was going to fit inside easily.  This template is designed to print on an 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of paper on the landscape setting.

 Now I am ready to print the template on the back side of the paper that I am using for my pouch.

 Cut as many lines as you can using your paper trimmer.  Then scissor cut the other areas.  Now use your scoring tool to score along the 3 dotted lines on the template.

 I folded the pouch inside out and cut both of the notches at the top of my pouch at the same time.  This just ensures that they are a perfect match on my finished pouch.

 I am going to use my frame template to make a cut out in the front of my pouch.  I am using carbon paper to trace the larger outline onto the wrong side of the front panel of my pouch.  Caution!!!  Carbon paper loves to smudge and smear.  I prefer to use the carbon paper that is made for sewers and pattern makers.  It comes in lighter colors and doesn't smear so bad.  I just didn't dig that far in my file today.

This picture shows the pink frame added to the opening.  Remember you are actually using the cut out part as a window so be sure to leave extra space around the pink frame for gluing it inside of your pouch.

Next fold the pouch on the score lines.  Be sure that your flaps don't show through your window after you fold everything.  If they do then just trim them a little.  I like to fold the bottom up, then the side flap and then use adhesive to glue the back panel down.  In other words the flaps are glued inside the back panel.

I used Shelly's Images "Presents" digi for my project.  You can get that project from now through Sunday at 1/2 price.  Don't miss this opportunity to get this wonderful digi at such an amazing price. 

If you enjoyed today's freebies, please thank us by leaving a little note.  We love hearing from our friends.

And remember.  Sharing freebies is not allowed.  But please send all of your friends in to get their own copy of the files we are offering today.

"Invisible Line" Digi Video Tutorial

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Seems like it has been forever since I have done a video tutorial for you.  So today I wanted to share a short video about coloring "Invisible Line" digi stamps. 

Here are the links that I promised to give you.

My Diamond Fold Tutorial 

Darlene's Z fold to Diamond Fold Tutorial

Shelly's Images - Tulip Digi Stamp (now comes with the invisible line digi stamp included)

Flower Shaping Tool Kit and Paper Blossoms Molding Mat from Joan's Gardens

We hope you can see from the video how fun these "invisible line" digi stamps are to work with.  We would love to hear what you think.  Remember to leave us a little comment.

Aaaall Aboooooooard! It's a Marvelous Monday!

Happy Monday everyone!  And Happy Valentine's Day!  To all those celebrating today (and to our friends in countries that don't celebrate Valentine's Day) I hope you have a great day surrounded by those you  love!

I am so happy to be able to bring you our Marvelous Monday image and projects this week.

This image started out as a request from a customer in Africa.  Her Father was retiring from his railroad job after many years and she wanted to make a special card for him.  While drawing the image I couldn't stop thinking about my Grandfather who passed away when I was pretty young.  He always wore overalls very much like the boy in this image.  So I couldn't help but dedicate the image to my Grandpa.  I hope you enjoy the image and the wonderful projects that our design team created with it.  Remember that this image is available at a special price for today only so hurry over to the store.  

Conductor

Here is my creation.  I made a diamond fold card.  Check back in tomorrow for a tutorial on how to make your own diamond fold card.

 Here is Stephanie's wonderful and colorful card.  I love that she chose to make a Hello card with the image.

 And Scrappy's equally colorful card.  I want to go through Scrappy's papers because she always seems to have the perfect papers for every project!

We are so excited that Amanda is back after her hand injury!  I love this card and how she set off her button embellishments.

Here is Sammi's beautiful card!  The buttons seem to go so well with this image.  And I love how Sammi added the corner of ribbon over the top right corner of the image.

I hope we have inspired you today.  Please leave us a little note because we LOVE hearing from you.

And please don't forget to join our "Love Gift" Challenge.  We know so many of you have been making Valentine's and love themed projects and this is your chance to enter your creation for an opportunity to win a free image.  You have until Wednesday night to get your project entered.

On the 11th Day of Christmas

I love to decorate my house for Christmas. And I really love making everything super special for my family. This project is perfect in both of those categories.

Today I am going to show you how to make a pie box. And I am going to show you how I transformed these cute little boxes into a wreath. These boxes are perfect as a party favor for your friends and family.

For this project you will need:

8 Sheets of 8 1/2 by 11 cardstock for pie boxes (I used cream cardstock from Hobby Lobby)

Paper for printing your images

Pine and Holly images from Shelly's Images

Pie Box Template or Pie Box Cut File for Make the Cut and Cricut
shellysimages.com-pieboxtemplate2.doc
pieboxcut.mtc
Liquid Adhesive (I like Scotch Quick-Dry Adhesive)

Glue Dots and Foam Dots

Embellishments (I used Glossy Accents, Diamond Dust, gold ribbon, fabric flowers, and brad accent)

Scoring Tool (optional)

Begin by printing your template onto your cardstock. Or use your Cricut to cut out the box.

Next score along all of the score marks on the template or cut. *Tip* Ever get frustrated because it is difficult to line up some of the inner scores on your projects? Use a ruler to line up the score marks making sure that the ruler extends past the edge of your project. Now line the ruler edge up with the line on your scoring tool. Perfect scoring every time. ;)

Fold carefully along each of the score lines and then unfold.

Now we are ready to glue our box together. You can really do this a few different ways. I chose to glue the flaps to the inside of my box. So fold your box to get an idea of how it is going together and then add your glue.

This picture just shows the flap glued to the inside of my box.

Repeat for the other side of the box. This is really where the liquid adhesive comes in handy. The liquid adhesive gives you just a few seconds to adjust your box so that the position is right.

Here you can see both flaps glued inside of the box.

Fold in the flaps on both sides of the opening and then close the box.

Repeat these steps until you have 8 assembled boxes.

These boxes also line up nicely like this. Keep in mind that you will decorate the boxes differently if you choose to do the line of boxes rather than the wreath.

Now we are ready to color our Holly and Pine images. I made one pine, one holly and branch, and one additional pine branch in a slightly different size for each of my pie boxes.

Now embellish your images if you like. There are many different options, but I chose to use Glossy Accents and Diamond Dust. I added Glossy Accents with Diamond Dust to the tips of the pine cone and to the pine branches. *Tip* When adding glitter, embossing powder, or diamond dust, I sprinkle over a magazine page that I have folded in half. The magazine pages are slick and don't have alot of static build up. So any left overs will slide right down the fold in the middle of the magazine page and right back into my container.

And I added Glossy Accents alone to the light areas of the holly leaves. Since holly leaves are naturally shiney this looks really pretty.

Now begin to add your images to each box. I found it easiest to build the wreath a box at a time. I used foam dots in some places to give the wreath some dimension.

Place the second box beside the first box to begin to decorate it. Layer the images so that the wreath looks like one continuous shape. I chose not to glue my individual boxes together because I want my guests to be able to pull one box out.

Continue adding images and layering until you have your completed wreath. I chose to lay ribbon over my wreath. I didn't attach it because,again, I want guests to be able to pull out a box to take home with them. The bow for my wreath is also just sitting on top of the wreath.

I added a little fabric flower and brad embellishment to the center just to finish the wreath.

I hope you will give this fun project a try. And as always please be sure to share your projects with us. We love to see what you create.