Eclectic Ellapu Challenge #17

Hello Crafters!

The Purple Team is on again at Eclectic Ellapu. Andria has chosen a photo inspiration for this weeks challenge and boy is it pretty. I just fell in love with these colors!

 

I chose a card I made for a wedding this last fall. I was waiting for the perfect challenge to use it. I would say this is it! Take a look:

 I had so much fun making this card for my God-daughter Kate's wedding. My stamping friend Dena showed me the fold in a magazine and I knew I had to make it. It's not as complicated as it looks. The beautiful flocked damask paper is from My Minds Eye. You may remember I used it on the special birthday card that I made for my other God-daughter (Kate's sister) Kelly's 21st birthday a couple of weeks ago. The beautiful pink flowers are a strip of fabric/ribbon flowers from Prima that I cut down.  I used 3 flowers on each corner. The pearls are from my stash and the heart stamp is from a SU set. I'm not sure where the bling is from.

 The inside is actually the pretty side of the paper. I know that seems backwards but the corners on the front are folded back so you see the pretty side. I added vanilla card stock to the inside 4 corners so I could add Kate and her new husband Joel's names at the top along with the date at the bottom corners.  I added the embellished stamped piece after it was all folded together and attached it so it would line up with the inside image on the card but only attached on one corner so the card will open nicely.

The boy and girl were cut from a Cricut machine by my friend Leslie. Isn't it just the cutest? I alternated layers of vanilla and black card stock behind it to fill the large open space. Before giving the card away I added another piece of vanilla card stock (loose) with a sentiment and a few words from the heart for my God-daughter and her new husband.

Here's the folding pattern:

Here's how you make it:

You need to start with a 12x12 paper to end up with a 6x6 card. You could experiment with different sizes as long as you start with a square. So, if you want a 5x5 card, start with a 10x10 square. See where this is going? Start by scoring the paper along each side at 3" if you are using a 12x12. This particular measurement will be half of what you want your finished card to be. So, the 10x10 paper for your 5x5 card would be scored at 2.5 inches from each side. Unfold.

After doing that, you have to find the exact center of the paper and fold the corners in to the middle. I recommend doing a little pinch in the middle to find the center. You can do this by folding your card diagonally in both directions but only pinch the center. Don't worry, this will be covered up with your card stock insert.  Be sure to leave no gaps where the edges of the paper meet.

Leaving these folds in place, fold back each of the inner corners just so the tip meets with it's outer straight edge. Now, unfold the whole thing and crease all your folds well in both directions.  This is an important step as it makes the next step a lot easier. The folds should look just like my diagram above. Follow the valley/mountain fold notes on my pattern to prepare for the next step. See my unfolded photo above for a better understanding of where you should be at this point.

 Here's the tricky part. Push the center points on each side (not the corners) toward the middle. It works best if you do 2 adjacent sides at the same time. While doing this your corner square should also form. When all sides are folded in you will have a square with what looks like 4 smaller squares on top. It almost looks like the fortune tellers we all made as kids. The last step is to fold the inner tips of those smaller squares back to the outer corners allowing the pretty side of your paper to show. All that's left to do now is to layer your card stock where you like and embellish your card.

Tip: I don't recommend using light weight paper for the base unit of this project. However, if you do, make sure to adjust your measurements so you can put a card stock backing on your base. Keep in mind that this card will get a lot of handling. People love getting cards that fold or move.

 Now, I hope you will play along with us this week at Eclectic Ellapu. I'm sure you will be inspired by the DT's wonderful creations so get over there and check them out! Don't forget to stop by their blogs and leave a little love! Get inspired then stop back with your own creations and join in. I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with.

Happy crafting!

I entered these challenges:

Crafty Ann's - Love 2/15-2/27