Tutorial

I was commissioned to make a birth congratulations card for a friend, and she wanted a concertina card with the child's name on it. I thought I would have a go and make a tutorial for the method. I've never done this before, so please bear with me and I hope it makes sense!

I used two pre-scored cards as my base card. They measure 96mm square. Alternatively, you could use one piece of A4 cardstock and cut a 96mm strip and then score it along it's longest side three times at 96mm intervals - whichever is easiest for you.

I used double sided tape to stick the two cards together as I find it is the strongest adhesive - just be careful how you line it up. It's not forgiving if you make a mistake.

OK, so that was the hardest part. Now for the fun bit. Choose your colour scheme. Obviously I chose a sweet pink - the papers are Sugar and Spice from Craftwork Cards, and I cut three squares measuring 9cm x 9cm.

I used a glue pen to stick the paper to the card, and I like to leave a thin white border, hence the squares measuring 9cm.

Now it's time to decorate!

I used the plasma letter templates from Craftwork Cards (so handy, use them all the time), and drew round them on pink card. Remember to reverse them so that when you have cut them out you get a nice clean image with no pencil marks.

I like the look of faux stitching, so with a white Sakura gel pen I drew a dashed line round each letter.

To mirror the thin white border around the pink paper, I stuck the letters on white card using a glue pen, and cut round each one leaving approximately a 2mm border.

Now your imagination can run riot. I edged the pink paper panels with a baby pink glitter glue. I would advise leaving it to dry for about 30 minutes, I didn't and kept smudging it.

To decorate the "a", I tied thin satin ribbon around it in two places and snipped the ends to a point. I used tiny Prima flowers for the "M" and put pink glitter glue in the centres. And for the "y", I glued on tiny crystals. But really you can do anything you like, it depends on what you have in your stash.

Once the glitter glue is dry and the letters are decorated, stick them to the card using thin double sided tape.

The front of the finished card.

The back of the finished card.

Because it was a special commission, I lwanted to include as many details as possible. I cut three more panels of the pink paper and stuck them on, then edged them in glitter glue. On white card, 7cm x 7cm square, I printed one panel of the baby's details, on the second I printed a photo of the baby and on the third, just the word "Congratulations" for my friend to write her own message.

I was very pleased with the finished card, and my friend was too. We are hoping that eventually the parents of the baby will frame it so that it can be a keepsake for her when she is older.

I hope my tutorial makes sense and that I haven't wittered on too much! I would love some feedback and also to see some of your cards. If I have written something that doesn't make sense, leave me a comment and I'll try to explain it better.

Happy card making!

M x