Welcome to the February 2023 Technique Squad Blog Hop! I’m excited to be a part of this collaboration with fellow Stampin' Up Demonstrators because it’s a chance to explore new techniques and have fun experimenting. This month, we’re making a window pop-out card, which is a fun way of carrying the image from the outside of the card to the inside.
There are several variations, but basically there's a window on the front and an accordion-folded section inside the card. Anything that is attached to the accordion section will move through the window as the card is opened. I made mine in a similar way to Jennifer McGuire, which involves having 3 panels in the accordion section and then adding a couple of small strips of cardstock as a hinge to connect this to the front of the card. The other common method is to have a 4-panel accordion section. The extra panel attaches to the card front, so no hinge is needed, but it's bulkier.
For my card, I've chosen the Lighting the Way bundle. Note that this bundle comes in both cling and clear photopolymer versions. I prefer the clear stamps because it's easier to line up the images of the lights, but rubber cling stamps also have plenty of fans.
Measurements:
-Starry Sky cardstock
8-1/2” (W) x 5-1/2” (H), scored at 4-1/4” along the long side
6-1/4" (W) x 5-1/2" (H), scored at 2" and 4" along the long side
TWO 8" (W) x 1/2" (H), scored at 4" along the long side
-Evening Evergreen cardstock
4-1/4” (W) x 1-1/2” (H)
-Basic White cardstock
1-3/4” (W) x 5-1/4” (H)
1-7/8” (W) x 5-1/4” (H) (adjust if needed)
scraps to fit images
I started by die cutting the lantern shape onto the front of my card, forming a window. This is centered horizontally and is 1-1/2" from the bottom edge.
The rightmost (widest) panel of the accordion section attaches to the inside of the card. However, instead of adhering that right away, I start by folding it and lining up the other edge so that it's centered behind the window. I then use that as a guide for attaching the rightmost panel. If my window is perfectly centered, my accordion section is going to actually extend about 1/8" past the right edge of the cardbase; this is easy to trim off. I like having the extra width to work with because it gives me leeway to make adjustments in case I didn't get that window centered after all. Once the accordion section is in place, I add the hinges to the back of the left edge of the accordion section, and this gets adhered to the card front.
The lantern was cut twice from Rose Gold paper. I traced the shape of the bulb onto Basic White cardstock and stamped the largest light circle in Daffodil Delight. I also blending some additional ink all over the light bulb so that there's a haze of yellow over the whole thing. Both sides of the bulb are decorated this way, and it's sandwiched between the two lantern die cuts. This ensures that it's glued in more securely, and the back of the lantern looks tidy, in case anyone takes a peek. Only the right side of lantern is adhered to the accordion section.
The front of the card is decorated with ink blending and die-cut images. Just make sure that nothing gets in the way of the lantern as it's moving.
The inside of the card has some more fireflies and 2 message panels. The one on the right is a tiny bit wider, and its measurement assumes you did trim off the excess so that the section it sits on is 2-1/8" wide. If that section is a little more narrow or wide for you, you can adjust the width of the message panel accordingly.
Thank you for hopping to my site and checking out my project! I hope you’ll have a chance to try this technique with us.
Click the NEXT button to see Joann Pollock’s awesome project!
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