Hi friends! I'm starting off this week with a new category of card- interactive!
(And, because I instantly get this song in my head whenever someone says "motion", going forward all of my interactive cards will be tagged this way, so hopefully they'll be easier for you to find!)
I saw this card layout in my head as soon as I found the new Taylored Expressions Treetop Background. Don't you love when that happens? And with a little creative engineering, the swing from the coordinating dies becomes an interactive element that takes a basic layout to the next level.
To start this card, I stamped the tree and the coordinating swing on to Bristol Smooth paper. I colored the images using my Copic markers, and then used the dies to cut them out. The tree die only cuts the border, but it's simple enough to make 3 straight cuts with a paper trimmer in order to free the image.
I grabbed my Childhood Friends stamp set from Kindred Stamps, and stamped and colored my pig and bear. I fussy cut them out, and went around the edges with a black marker.
I cut a piece of Neenah Solar White cardstock to 4 " x 5 1/4". I then used my My Favorite Things cloud stencils and Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide to create a cloudy sky, and my Lawn Fawn Grassy Hillsides stencils with some Forest Moss Distress Oxide for some grassy layers.
Time for the swing mechanism! (I will say, Taylored Expressions and My Favorite Things both have fantastic dies that make interactive cards really easy. If that's your preferred method, then go for it! I didn't have any of them on hand, and found that I could get good results by adapting tools that were already in my stash.)
I used a Spin and Slide disc from MFT , but you could also use a stack of die cut circles, or even a brad. Laying my tree and swing on my card base, I decided where my anchor point needed to be. I used a really strong liquid adhesive to glue my disc in place.
Then, I grabbed one of my die sets that includes a pull tab arrow. (The top of a tag would also work if that's what you have!) I die cut it from heavy cardstock, and trimmed the edges down. I also made the opening of the tab a little larger and more uniform. It doesn't have to be pretty! This entire mechanism is hidden by the tree.
I glued a scrap piece of cardstock across the bottom of the tag, and adhered just the ends of my swing to it. I placed the tab over the disc to make sure that all the areas would fit over it, and made adjustments as needed.
I adhered my bear to his swing seat with strong liquid glue, and then I put everything in place. Before I added the tree, I stamped a sentiment from the Childhood Friends set using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.
The only tricky part about this card is making sure the foam tape isn't going to interfere with the movement. I ended up placing foam tape directly on the card base, across the top and around the mechanism, and then directly on the tree trunk. This way, I was sure there was enough dimension, and I didn't have to guess which areas of the leaves were going to need to be foam-free.
I put the tree in place, lining up the bottom left corner of the card base. I trimmed the excess of the top and right sides, and glued my pig in place. I added details with a white gel pen, glued my background to an A2 (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") sized card base, and this card was done!
A coordinating envelope stamped with the tiny images from the set were the finishing touch.
Don't be afraid to try interactive cards! They're usually more simple than they look!
Corey your cards are amazing! So glad we got to see a few in person:) You are a very talented artist!