Paper Pros Challenge - Spring!
April 11, 2017
Hello, long lost friends!
It's time for another Paper Pros Challenge and the theme this month was set by Karen Aicken, who challenged us to make a card celebrating Spring, using blooms and/or butterflies.
I decided to get a jump on Mother's Day with a Butterfly Double Pivot Card for my Mom.
This technique is simple, and you can watch three different videos on how to do it on this post: Double Pivot Cards. The videos will show how to create the accordion card first, then die cut each half. For my card, I was using a thick cardstock so I decided to die cut each card separately and then join them together. I'll explain how I did it.
First, I cut an 8.5" x 11" piece of pink cardstock in half, making two 5.5" x 8.5" strips. On each strip I scored at 4" and then at 7.5", creating a card with a 4" panel, a 3.5" panel, and a leftover 1" strip (the tab). I arranged the strips so one had a right-facing tab and one had a left-facing tab and then added 3" x 4.5" pieces of patterned paper (SEI Vanilla Sunshine) to each panel, using a temporary removable tape. I die cut the Butterfly Pivot Card into each card, making sure I measured the distance from the die to the top of the card so I could duplicate it for the other side. After die cutting I removed the patterned paper rectangles and snipped out the butterflies from the patterned paper. This left me with two pieces from each rectangle - one to fit above the butterfly and one to fit below the butterfly. I glued the patterned paper pieces onto the cards, creating the patterned background.
To join the two Pivot Cards I first trimmed off the side panel from one of the cards (either one - doesn't matter) and then used the other card's tab to join the two, trimming the tab as necessary to avoid the butterfly area. To join the pivoting butterflies themselves, each one had a small tip of the wing that had crossed the fold, so it was just a matter of choosing one to be the tab and trimming the other one away. Here's a view of the back of the card, showing the connections.
The Butterfly Pivot Card comes with decorator butterfly dies, so I used those with the leftover patterned paper and a piece of glitter paper from my stash to decorate the card. I incorporated a few smaller butterflies from the Butterfly Accessory die set, which perfectly coordinates.
A Double Pivot Card is impressive, but easy. (My favorite combination!) For the front of the card I kept it very simple with just a couple of strips of patterned paper and a ribbon.
Remember that Pop it Ups dies are only available in 2017 or until they're gone, whichever comes first, and while I am not ruling out the option of a re-release on certain styles, I can pretty well say for certain that the Butterfly Pivot Card will not be one of those re-released styles. So I guess I'm saying . . . get it if you want it! I'll include some Amazon links below, or you can always find great deals on my dies at It's Cheaper than Therapy.
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Want to check out the other great cards by the Paper Pros? Remember this is a no-stress, no-committment challenge, so not everyone participates. The links to the other Paper Pros blogs are in the sidebar at the left.
Happy Crafting!