There’s only a week left of October and nine weeks today will be Christmas Day. So I have another Christmas card idea for you, and this time it involves a fancy fold. It`s true some fancy fold cards are quite complicated and involve lots of measurements and pieces, but not this one. This is one of the first fancy folds that I teach my beginner stampers and it’s called an easel card. This particular design was one I made during my recent 24 cards in 24 hours marathon.

EASEL FOLD CARD

As I said, the easel fold card is very simple to make. I began by using my Paper Trimmer to cut some Shaded Spruce Card 4-1/4″ x 11″. Then with the long side at the top I scored the card at 2-3/4″ and 5-1/2″. After that I folded the card along the scored lines and sharpened the creases with a Bone Folder. This piece forms the base of the finished card and supports the standing section.

Next from Shaded Spruce Card I cut a piece 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ this would form the standing part of the easel.

For the background layer I chose a pretty holly design in Soft Sea Foam from the Painted Christmas 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack. After cutting the DSP to 4″ x 5-1/4″ I mounted it onto the 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ Shaded Spruce Card using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow).

Now I was ready to join the two sections of the easel card together.

Taking the 4-1/4″ x 11″ piece I folded it in half. Next, looking at the two smaller scored sections I put liquid glue just onto the one furthest from the fold. Then I lined up the DSP mounted piece with the folded card base and fixed the two together. The photo above shows how this will look when open, and the one below, when closed.

Finally I opened up the card and glued a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Basic White Card on the inside of the base.

CHRISTMAS PUDDING

With the basic easel card made I was ready to get to work on the decorative part, the Christmas pudding. For this I turned to the Sweets & Treats Stamp Set.

Using Tuxedo Black ink I stamped the Christmas pudding image onto a scrap of Very Vanilla Card. Then I coloured it using Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. For the holly and berries I chose Shaded Spruce and Poppy Parade. Then for the pudding I went with Cinnamon Cider and Bronze. I didn’t need to do anything with the icing/sauce on top of the pudding as the Very Vanilla Card worked perfectly there. Once I’d finished colouring I used my Paper Snips to cut out the image.

For the cake stand I simply stamped the image from Sweets & Treats onto Shaded Spruce Card using Tuxedo Black ink. I decided to make the plate section stand out a little more so stamped that part of the image a second time. Then I cut out the whole stand and the separate plate section with Paper Snips too.

Turning to the front of my easel card I used liquid glue to attach the cake stand, lining it up at the bottom of the DSP. Then the pudding was glued on top of the plate before I added the second plate section.

BRING ON CHRISTMAS

I had just a few final touches to do, starting with the “Bring on Christmas!” sentiment from the Sweets & Treats Stamp Set.

Using Tuxedo Black ink I stamped the sentiment onto some Thick Basic White Card. Then I cut it out using my Cut & Emboss Machine and a small die from the Stitched Rectangles Dies. I also cut out three extra rectangles using the same die.

While the easel card was made I needed a way to make it stand and that’s where the sentiment and extra die-cut pieces came in. Using liquid glue I stacked the rectangle pieces together with the sentiment one on top. Then I opened the easel card and pushed the standing section back until it was where I wanted it. Then I glued the stacked sentiment to the white layer underneath and held it firmly in place for a few seconds.

Obviously as this is a card that’s designed to be mailed I needed an envelope and a Basic White Medium Envelope was the perfect size. To decorate it I cut a 2-1/4″ x 6″ piece of the same holly design DSP as I’d used on the front of the card. After attaching it to the flap of the envelope with liquid glue I trimmed off the excess using Paper Snips. This was a simple job, using the edge of the flap as a guide. Once that was done my easel Christmas card project was complete.

I love how this card turned out and it really is simple to make. I hope you’ll give this a try and let me know how you get on.

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