Spinning Card

Spinning cards are not new. I bought a Christmas card recently that had a spinning star in the middle, but they don’t have to be new to be fun to make and a surprise to open. The design potential is almost without limit. We selected hearts.
Materials:
image to spin*folded note card – 5 ½" x 4 ¼matching envelopecoordinating card stock cut 5 ½" x 4 ¼"2 ¾" x 3" piece of card stock or cardboard5 ½" length monofilament (fishing line)double-sided tapecraft knifecutting matrulerremovable tapepencilglue stick (optional)
* The images you select can be stickers, die-cuts, rubber stamped or hand drawn. You will need two and they should be mirror images so you can place them back to back. In some instances if you have images that almost match they can be trimmed to fit each other. Such was the case with the sticker hearts I selected.


Steps:

1. Lay one sticker on work surface adhesive side up. Add glue with a glue stick if your images are not stickers.

2. Position monofilament vertically in the middle of the image so that an equal amount of the line extends both above and below the image (Figure A).

3. Carefully place the second image on top of the first, adhesive side down (Figure B). Trim any necessary edge overlap (Figure C).

4. Place the 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" piece of card stock on the inside of the front cover of the card (Figure D) and secure in place with a piece of removable tape (Figure E).

5. Open the card and place it flat on the cutting mat.

6. Center the 2-3/4" x 3" piece of cardboard on the front of the card and lightly draw around it with the pencil.

7. Remove the cardboard and cut out along the penciled line. Or cut directly around the cardboard without drawing the line. Either way you should cut through both the front of the card and the extra piece of cardstock taped to the inside of the cover (Figure F).

8. Open the card and remove the extra piece of card stock. Place a short piece of double-sided tape above and below the cut-out area on the back of the card cover.

9. Position the image in the center of the cut-out area and pull the ends of the monofilament straight up and straight down. Press to the tape to hold (Figure G).

10. Attach more double-sided tape around the opening and press the extra piece of cardstock in position so that the openings match (Figure H).

11. Add any desired decorations or writing to both the inside and the front of the card. These can be hand done, rubber stamped, stickers, etc. We added a bunch of polka-dot stickers on the outside (Figure I) and another heart on the inside.

12. Before placing the card in an envelope, twist the images a number of times so that when it is opened the image will spin and hopefully surprise.

Handmade Collage Greeting Cards

Steps:

Leaf Card

1. Cut cardstock 10" x 7" for the background. Score down the center using a bone folder and ruler and fold so the card measures 5" x 7".

2. Cut a piece of wrapping paper (green background with red leaf design) 1/4 inch smaller than the front of the card. Apply adhesive to the back edges using craft roller adhesive and press the wrapping paper onto the front of the card (figure A).

3. Cut a piece of white paper 1/4 inch smaller than the wrapping paper. Apply red ink from a stamp pad to the edges (figure B). Draw a line around the inside edges with a gold pen. Attach photo corners to the corners of this paper.

4. Stamp a piece of white paper with brown leaves and red circles (figure C).

Tear a 2-inch wide strip from the stamped paper.
Tear a strip of red paper and draw gold lines through the center.
Affix the red strip onto the stamped strip of paper and glue the bottom strip to the red edged white paper.
Apply adhesive to the back of the red edged white paper and glue it on top of the wrapping paper (figure D).
5. Glue a postage stamp across the leaf-stamped strip onto the red edged white paper (figure E).

6. Spray the back of a pressed autumn leaf with adhesive. Glue it vertically onto the front of the handmade collage greeting card (figure F).