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Waterfall Card with Spirelli:
Click Here to Print the Spirelli Templates
Waterfall cards are fun to make. When you pull the tab at the bottom of the card, the panels flip open to reveal the panels beneath the top one. We used 5 panels for this card and decided to decorate them with spirelli. You can decorate the 5 panels on your card anyway you would like, stamping, stitching, adding messages, copies of family photos... nothing too thick though, after five layers, these cards can get quite bulky.
To make this card you will need cardstock, thread, tape, double-sided tape, a ruler, a hole punch, and a pair of scissors. A guillotine paper cutter comes in handy for cutting all the straight lines. If you don't already have one, they are a great investment and you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. A paper scorer is also nice to have but a butter knife and cutting board will work if you don't have one.
To make this card as shown, cut as follows:
1) Cut a piece of yellow card stock 10 inches by 7 inches then fold it in half to make a blank 5" X 7" greeting card.
2) Cut a piece of blue card stock 4.5" X 6.5" inches for the background.
3) For the panels, cut 5 pieces of card stock that are 3" X 3", we cut one of each of these five colors; pink, purple, blue, green and yellow.
4) For the pull tab, cut a strip of sturdy green card stock that is 10.5" X 2.5". One end will be the part that shows on the card as the pull tab. Go ahead and punch a hole in that end(add an eyelet if you have one) and round the corners or use a decorative corner punch if you prefer.
5) Cut one last piece of sturdy pink card stock, or any color because it won't show, to hold the pull tab that is 1.5 inches by 6 inches.
NOTE: It's important that the 1.5" X 6" strip(#5) to hold the tab and the 10.5" X 2.5" strip for the pull tab(#4) are cut from good, sturdy card stock because they hold everything together on this card. Don't make the panels too heavy or bulky or the card front may sag.
Now we are going to decorate each of the five 3" X 3" panels. If you will be using something besides spirelli to decorate the panels, click here to skip to the next step.
Unless you have a spirelli punch about 2.5 inches across, each spirelli base will need to be cut with scissors or craft knife and cutting board. On the printable page, there are five templates so you can temporarily adhere them to the back of the scrap card stock you will be using for the spirelli base, cut them out, then peel the template away. We used a slow drying Avery glue stick for this, but double sided tape, as long as you don't press down on it would also work. You tape or glue this to the back of your cardstock so it won't show later on if the paper tears a little when you pull the template away.
Now string each spirelli base according to the numbers on the template. For step-by-step instructions on how to string a spirelli template, visit http://www.cardmaking.circleofcrafters.com/anyoccasionproject2.html. Apply the same instructions to this template. After stringing each spirelli base with coordinating thread, glue one to each of the five 3" X 3" panels you previously cut out.
Next, we'll be putting it all together. Since this project calls for using thick, sturdy card stock for the tab strip and the casing to hold it(numbers 4 and 5 in a previous illustration), and both these areas need to be folded, you will probably want to score the card stock before folding it. If you don't have a scoring tool, you can just use a butter knife, ruler, and cutting mat. Just hold the ruler where you want to score the paper and run the butter knife along that line.
Score piece #5, the small pink one, 2 inches from one end of the strip and 1.25 inches from the other end of the strip. Fold toward you along each score line.
Now, on the back of piece #4, the long green one, score 3 inches from the end that DOES NOT contain the hole punch, then every 1/2 inch until you end at 5 inches from the non-punched end of the green strip. So you will have score lines at 3 inches, 3.5 inches, 4 inches, 4.5 inches, and 5 inches a total of five score lines equally spaced apart. Fold each one towards you, then unfold, along each score line.
Turn the long green strip over and now let's start attaching the panels. We're going to start with the fold line that is 5 inches from the non-punched end of the strip. Along that fold line and the 4.5 inch fold line below it, attach a strip of 3mm double sided tape. Attach the first panel with the top of the panel lining up with the top 5 inch fold line as shown. We started with the pink panel.
Now, fold the green strip back along the 4.5 inch scored line, place a strip of double sided tape between the 4.5 inch fold line and the 4 inch fold line then attach the next panel, we attached the purple one next. Then fold the purple panel back along the 4 inch fold line.
Next we attached the blue panel and folded that back.
We then attached the green panel between the 3.5 inch fold line and 3 inch fold line. Lastly we attached the yellow panel. For the last panel, place a strip of double sided tape below the last fold line, lining the top of the panel up with the 3 inch fold line.
Unfold the green strip and it should look like this.
Turn it over and now we're going to attach the pink strip. Cover the areas on the pink strip between the 2 fold lines with double sided tape or glue. Place this between the green strip and last yellow panel, so it sticks to the green piece on the opposite side you are looking at in the photo.
Fold the pink strip over and tape or glue it in place. Make sure the glue or tape doesn't touch the green card stock for this step. You are actually making a loop to slip the hole-punched end of the green strip through.
Take the end with the hole punch and slip it through the pink loop you just made. It should look like this now.
Cover the entire pink area showing in the picture above with double sided tape or strong, permanent glue. Turn the design over and mount it to the blue background.
Now glue or use double sided tape to adhere everything to the blank yellow card, add a tassle or ribbon to pull and you should have a card that looks like this.
If you pull on the tab, the panels will open up to reveal the panels beneath it.
If you complete this project or any of the other projects available here, please send in photo(s) for our gallery! Email them to cardmaking@comcast.net. If you are having trouble following these instructions, questions/comments are also welcome.
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