Cascade Card

MOTHER'S DAY CASCADE CARD

Since Mother's Day is fast approaching, I thought I'd try and create something a little special.

Being a Pinterest Junkie, I had seen gorgeous cascade cards absolutely overflowing with flowers and butterflies and ribbons and detail.  But I hadn't attempted it because that made me nervouis - whenever I go for insane complicated detail, it comes off looking like crap, frankly!

So, I decided to at least give cascade cards a go but keep them fairly simple - I think it still looks cute :)

PS:  My camera battery was flat this morning so the step by step photos were taken with my iphone - they'll have to do!

 

First I took two pieces of card 15cm by 26cm.  On one of the short ends, I marked a spot 8cm from the bottom.  I them trimmed from a top corner on a diagonal to the 8cm mark.  This is essential for the "cascade" look (taller at the back, shorter at the front).

I then folded each piece of card in half (as you can see in the picture above) and then found the half way mark on either side of the fold and ruled a line from top to bottom.  I found the halfway mark of those lines, marked it, and cut to that halfway mark.

IMPORTANT:  you need to cut the slits in the paper from the TOP of one piece of card and front the BOTTOM of the other so that they can be slotted together.

Erase the lines you've drawn.

 

Now you need your coloured/patterned paper to begin dressing up the card.  You need a piece for each visible section of the card, so TWO (2) of each of the following:

• 5.5cm x 13.5 (you then want to reduce the length of one side to 12cm, sloping just like the main card)
• 5.5cm x 12cm (you then want to reduce the length of one side to 10.5cm, sloping just like the main card)
• 5.5cm x 10.5cm (you then want to reduce the length of one side to 9cm, sloping just like the main card)
• 5.5cm x 8.5cm (you then want to reduce the length of one side to 7cm, sloping just like the main card)

Very important to remember when making the two sets that one set will slope to the left and one set will slope to the right!!

I then inked the edges of the pieces with a similar coloured ink.  I've gone for the messy look because...well...honestly, I slipped!

Now you stick them on!  You have to have the two smaller sized pieces stuck on the OPPOSITE side to the taller pieces bceause once it is folded and slotted together, those are the sides you will see.

Before I stuck everything on, I actually assembled the card and then put a pencil dot in the middle of each visible section so that I knew which to paper and which to leave blank.

That said, if you want the back to look pretty too, you could just do twice as much of everything!

 

Assemble the card!!

To make sure that it stays in place once it was sitting right, I cut out a 10cm x 10cm piece of patterned paper and used double sided tape along either side of the join at the back of the card and stuck the paper to it.  This stops it all from wriggling.

It also means that only the middle of the 10x10 piece of paper is stuck down - I avoid sticking down edges when working on a fold, to ensure the card still opens and closes as it should.

 

Next, cut out butterflies and/or flowers with Cuttlebug / punch / whatever.  I stuck them together ( see above) and adorned them with jewels.

 

Next, stick them onto your cascading card along with a selection of other flowers.  What flowers and what layout of them you have is up to the individual - I hope you're all less chicken than me and have that wonderful ability to go crazy and be creative!

And you don't just need to stick stuff to the front of the panels, you can stick stuff to the back as well to add to the dimensional look of the card!  As this was my first attempt, I kept it simple.

Next punch out 3 scalloped circles (or just 3 circle!) and gently, lightly pat some ink of a similar colour around the edge to give it a nice mottled look.

 

I used my computer to print out some little circles with Happy Mum's Day on them (one word on each).  I did "Mum's" instead of "Mother's" so that I could keep the font a reasonable size and consistent between the three circles.  I made the lines around the circles, and the font, a similar colour to the scalloped circles.

Stick the circles onto the scalloped circles.

 

Now it's just a case of completing the assembly!  Since I was keeping it basic and not wanting to overflower it, I filled little annoying gaps with some little jewels and pearls.

What you can do with these cards is limited only by your own creativity!  (as you can see LOL)

Happy Cascading!

Dani :)

 

UPDATE!

6 May 2012

My second attempt - slightly more compact and much more flowery :)