Tutorial - Shaped Card - Circular Easel Card

I know it's not my usual slot for posting to The Dragons Den, but I'm popping in today with a tutorial for you.

On the Stamping Dragon Designs - Facebook Group we have a "Colouring In" challenge every month.  Everybody who wants to take part is given the same image, and we have until the end of the month to colour and craft with it and upload the photo of our finished item to the album in the group (and there are points on offer for taking part and winning that get you a voucher for the Dragons Lair Designs - Shop when you've got enough points.)

This month I decided to make a circular easel card and offered to make a pictorial guide showing the steps of how I made it.

I used -

• Digi Stamp -  Monsters.
• Backgrounds - Space Case Mini Theme

Firstly decide on what size of circular easel card you want to make - I decided on a 6" diameter card because this is the largest size my circular scissors cuts and it is the largest size that the base card can easily be made from an A4 sheet of cardstock.

  With my chosen size in mind I printed out the digi-stamp and my chosen circular mats and other elements at the right size, and I collected what I'd need together.

I took an A4 sheet of Centura Pearl cardstock and scored it at 3" and 6"

I then folded it at the 6" line and burnished it
(you will notice that because an A4 card isn't 12" long that you have one side longer than the other)

I took my circle scissors and put the blade in the 6" hole and put this just inside the edge of the shortest side of the card, leaving the circle scissors overlapping the card at the fold.
(you can use circular dies in a die-cutting machine, or even draw around a plate or saucer and cut using a pair of scissors or a craft knife, but make sure whatever you use extends out over the fold.)

This will give you a "clam" shaped base card.

I also cut out a full 6" circle out of a second sheet of A4 Centura Pearl cardstock.

And also a 5.5" circle out of a background.

I'd printed one of the circular elements from the kit out at 6"diameter and cut it out by hand.  This was put behind the circular base card, marked,  and I cut off the extra piece that stuck out just inside the marked line.

This left me with a piece the same size and shape as the base card.

This was stuck inside the un-scored side of the card.
(I used Pinflair Glue gel as a flat glue here to allow time for me to slip the panel into the right place)

I then folded the card at the second score line I'd put in originally and put finger-lift tape over the rounded half of the card front.
(I could have used glue gel again to allow for movement, but I didn't want to wait for it to set before continuing.)

Because I used tape and so had no "wiggle time" I put the non sticky side to the top circle first and matched up the edges.  I then pressed the other half together.

I use glue gel and attached the circle of background I'd cut earlier to the front of the card.

 I put 2mm deep, double sided, foam tape behind another of the circular mats I'd printed out from the kit at around 5.3" in diameter, and after taking off the backing I smeared a bit of glue gel behind the foam to give me some movement time.

I put the circular mat on top of my card front so that a wide band of the card top and a narrow band of the backing was visible.

And there you have it - my circular easel card front.

But what about the topper? I hear you ask.

Well I could have attached the digi-stamp topper straight to the front of my card like this after colouring it in and cutting it out -

But I didn't!

I took a strip of acetate about as wide as the monsters between both their outside legs, and I scored it at 0.5"

I then folded it and burnished it at the score line and put one of the paper ribbon strips that I'd printed from the kit on top of this.

Attaching it in place using another strip of foam tape.

This was then put down on the card base as a stopper, with the acetate coming out the front.

I trimmed the stopper bar to match the round base mat outline and put some ultra tacky tape at the top of the acetate.

After taking the backing off the tape, and with the card open, I pressed the acetate backwards towards the back of the card.

And I then put on my monsters - making sure that the head of the taller one was a smidgen shorter than the fold line.  I also put a little world printed from the same kit near the front of the base.

And now the card is complete - when the card is opened the monsters pop up and when the easel is put into place the monsters float in front of it.

And this is what the finished card looks like -

Well, that's it from me for today.  I hope what I've shown you will be of some use to you in creating your own circular easel cards as the same ideas can be used with any theme.

Please pop back often to The Dragons Den blog as there are a lot of posts and inspiration planned by the team over the next few months.

If you fancy trying out some of Stamping Dragon Designs, please do visit the Store to find all sorts of digital goodies.

Till next time - Enjoy Your Crafting!

Gwyneth

DT Member

(And if you are wondering "who's Gwyneth?" - then you'll find an "About Me and My Blog!" piece on my blog.)