SHAPED CARDS - TUTORIAL

Greetings Everyone … This is ♥Carol♥… Thanx for visiting me here at my Little Creation Corner. Today I’d like talk about the various ways to make shaped cards. I’ve always enjoyed making shaped cards … there is something a little whimsical and unique about shaped cards and a nice departure from the standard square or rectangle shaped cards, that just makes them fun to do. I’ve been asked to give a class on making shaped cards and the techniques I use … and I thought you might be interested in learning about these techniques too.

So let’s get started … These are the cards I am going to be talking about … and we’ll go into the details as we go along. Oh, and by the way … click on any image to see the full size and a better view of the details.  (I used a different technique to make each card.)

Let’s start with the Dress which uses a partial adhering technique…

BTW … this card is featured this week at the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog where they are making creations utilizing fabric … take a moment to stop by there to check out the fabulous creations made by the other talented members of the Cuttlebug Challenge Design Team.

This dress was cut from the Forever Young Cricut Cartridge … for those with this cartridge, the dress is located on page 28 in the hand book. I cut the basic dress shape 3 times on patterned paper, and flipped one of those shapes. I then cut just the bodice of the dress in the gold metallic paper. To do this, I used my Gypsy (you could use DS too) and placed the lower portion of the dress off the mat so that only the top portion cut. But, you could also cut out the entire dress and simply snip off the lower portion.

I then gathered some material and attached it under the bodice … by the way, this is repurposed fabric that was actually wrapped around a bouquet of boxed roses that I received as a Christmas gift. I then attached the bodice over the top of the bodice on the base dress, wrapped a ribbon around the top and tied a bow … I left the tails of the ribbon long to give the dress more of an elegant “ball gown” look. I then attached the base shape to the flipped image and adhered it down (this was to give a clean finish to the under side).

Because it was difficult to keep the fabric in place, I attached some metallic gold braid to the base of the fabric and attached it to the base of the card. With the shaping flexibility of the metallic braid, I was able to give a rippled shape to the base of the dress (in real life it really looks amazing).

I then attached the top portion of the card to the bottom of the card by adhering the two pieces together at the bodice section only, and scored the card right at the ribbon line. Here is how the card looks opened up …

Next is the egg shaped card, which uses a hinge attachment technique …

This was very easy to make and this technique can be utilized on almost ALL shaped cards. I cut 4 eggs from the Easter Limited Edition Mini Cricut Cartridge. Two of the eggs were cut using the flipped feature. I placed two mirrored eggs side by side, lined them up evenly with just a small space between them (approx. 1/16 of an inch). I then placed a small strip (1/2 inch by 3 inches) of the same colored card stock between the two (almost like a little bridge) and adhered it down. Next, I adhered the two remaining eggs over the top of the first two, which covered all but a small portion of the hinge (or bridge piece). Next I scored between the two eggs and folded the card in half. Lastly I added the decorative top piece. Here is the egg open … see where the two pieces are joined together? …

Next is the Heart card, which utilizes a welding technique …

This card was perhaps the easiest card to make, but does require the use of either a Gypsy or Design Studio. For this card, I used the heart from the Calendar Cricut Cartridge, but any heart shape would work just as well. I placed two images of the heart shape, with the shadow feature, on my mat and moved them together so that they were just touching a smidgen, then welded them together so they would cut as one piece … super easy. I then cut two more shapes without the shadow, one in solid white, which I adhered to the inside of the card as a place to add the sentiment, the inside of the card, and one in patterned paper. I then added lace around the boarder of the patterned and adhered it to the top of the card. Here’s what the inside of the card looks like …

Lastly is the Owl card, which uses a swing technique …

This card was actually very easy to make too. I used the owl from the Sentimentals Cricut Cartridge for this card. I cut it out using the shadow feature 2 times, one in black and one in white. I then cut out the owl using a patterned paper without the shadow feature and placed it over the top of the black piece. Next, I cut out the owl’s features in different colored card stock … the outer eye part and the branch are in glittery gold, the inner eye piece and envelope were cut from a cream colored card stock, and the eye center, beak and feet were cut in a glossy black. Each layer of the eye, as well as the beak and feet all were popped with dimensionals. To adhere the top and bottom of the cards together, I used a brad. Since I did not have the proper colored brad, I colored it with gold embossing powder and heat embossed it so that it would match the rest of the owl … I really love the way this turned out … Isn’t he cute? *wink* Here’s a look at the card as it swings open …

(Remember ... Click on any image to see details in full size)

I hope you enjoy these cards as much as I did making them and sharing them with you. As you can see, making shaped cards is really easy to do and can be made different ways. Give it a try, I think you’ll have fun making a shaped card too. Please take a moment to leave a comment, I’d really love to hear your thoughts on this brief tutorial ... and if you are not yet a follower, I'd sure love you to join me. As always, thanx for visiting me here at my Little Creation Corner!

Hugz,
♥Carol♥