30 Jan 2019

TC - Rainbow (St Patrick's Day Card) Tutorial




Every month the Trimcraft Blog runs a Craft Challenge and this month the subject was "Rainbows".

Straight away my mind thought of the elusive pot of gold, which is said to be found at the end of a rainbow. That thought touched on to Leprechauns, Ireland and St. Patrick's day. So, all of that culminated into the final design for this card.

I used 270g brown coloured card for the base cauldron and inner box, as it needs to be quite sturdy.

---—---------------------

This is how to make the main base and inner box:



1.   Die cut two circles, both measuring 10cm wide.

2.   Cut a 2 cm straight piece from across the top of  both circles. This forms the top edge of the cauldron and the piece cut away will form the base.

3.   Cut each side of the circle to create the cauldron shape (as photo above). Be careful not to cut so much away that the inner box would protrude either side when glued into position.

(If you clamp both circles together when making the cuts they will then be equal)



4.   Cut 2 pieces of card measuring 13.5 cm x 4 cm and score both pieces at 4 cm and 12 cms. These will form the main box shape. 

5.   Then cut 2 slightly smaller pieces measuring 10 cm x 4 cm. Score both pieces 1 cm in from each end. These will form the struts for inside the box. 




6.  Bend the two large strips at the score lines using a bone folder. Glue together at the tabs to make the box shape.

7.  Bend the two shorter strips at the score lines using a bone folder, to make the internal struts.


8.  Glue the struts evenly inside the box (see photo above).  This can be a little bit fiddly without practice. I use a PVA glue, which allows a bit of wiggle room. You need to check that the box will still "flatten" and open back up. This is what allows the pop up card to flatten down into an envelope or a thin gift box. 




9.  Glue the two cauldron shapes evenly to the front and back of the inner box. It should stand up just like in the photo above. 



10.  Using an oval die cutter or scissors cut coin shapes from yellow and orange card. Emboss the coins and ink the edges with some gold pigment ink. 

11.  With a glue gun attach the coins to strips of acetate. 

Finally you will need to attach all the elements.............

The elements such as the coins, hat and rainbow were all made from 160g card, but I used two layers glued together for the hat to give extra strength. The coloured rainbow pieces were glued down onto a piece of plain coloured backing card.

Both the hat and the rainbow coloured pieces were drawn by me with a pencil and cut with a craft knife. I haven't made a template for these, but if you look closely at the finished card you should be able to make something very similar. There are definitely some leprechaun hat images from free clipart, if you wanted to use one from there.

If you make one I would love to see your version.

PS.  I didn't win the Trimcraft challenge but I had sooo much fun designing the card, writing the tutorial and having been inspired that, for me, it still IS a win!!



No comments:

Post a Comment