Scrapbooks, Crafts, and Cards, Oh My!

Hey Everyone! Happy T.G.I.F!!! I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! I would do my Happy Friday Dance but I'm feeling very sluggish this morning. Coming off of a sugar high will do that. Phew! Thank goodness it's only once a year! Our trick or treating was almost canceled due to some bad weather that blew through Louisiana. Luckily, it stopped just in time and the candy hunt was on. To finish off our night, we ate candy, watched "Night of the Living Dead" and topped it off by watching Michael Jackson's "Thriller". I say that Halloween 2013 was a rousing success! Well enough about my night, my niece is having a birthday tomorrow ( she'll be turning 6) and I made her a stair step card. This was my first time making this style of card and it took a couple of tries for me to get it just right. I hope she likes it. Here's the pic for your perusal:

This is what the card looks like when its displayed. I like the 3D effect you get, it looks as though you can walk up the hills to reach the castle at the top. Here's another pic but from the side:

 

And here's a pic of the card when its folded up:

 

 

This card can fit a standard A2 size envelope. To finish it off, I'll add a small envelope to the back to place a gift card inside. Let me give you all the details on how I created this.

 

First you need a sheet of 8 1/2x 11 piece of white cardstock and trim it down to 4 1/4x 9 1/2. Next you score at 2 1/4, 4 1/2, 6 ,7 1/2 and 8 1/2. Fold along the score lines using mountain valley folds. And that gives you your card base. You can really decorate it anyway you want and use it for any occasion. I choose to do a princess castle.

 

Now for the castle, I freehanded a basic castle shape complete with towers and turrets. You can find this shape just about anywhere but I chose to draw mine. The castle is actually two pieces layered together. They are both cut at 4 3/4 x 3 3/4. I used a patterned paper that resembled stonework for the base, inked the edges and randomly embossed it. Embossing gives the castle that added dimension and the appearance of real stone. The towers and the turrets I cut them at 1" and adhered the stone tops and windows before attaching to the castle base. I also cut two banners out of pink cardstock and glued it to gold wire.  Cut a door shape, emboss it, add a gold brad for a knob and voila my castle is finis!

 

For the graasy layers leading up to the castle, I free handed those, inked them and glued them to the card base. I added some cut flowers and an embossed "stone" path. I used my white gel pen to trace around the paths and give it some realism. I stamped the sentiment "Birthday Wishes" on white cardstock and layered it on pink. I cut it into a banner shape, added rhinestones, and used dimensionals to pop it up. And that's it! Princess Castle stair step card complete! (phew! that's a mouthful).

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this project. It was a challenge to make but it was fun. Looking at the pics now, there are a few things I would like to change. Trim the castle to the right so it lines up with the rest of the card and center the door so it matches up with the paths. But other than that, I think it turned out pretty nice. Before I end this post,  I have begun work on the fifth page to my paper bag album series. I'm hoping I can have the pics up on this blog by Monday. So stay tuned for that. I hope you all enjoy your TGIF! and Peace!! :)