Have you ever received a handmade card from a fellow stamper that leaves you speechless and wanting to craft? That's what happened when I opened this beautiful birthday card made by my friend Debby Evoy. Honestly when I pulled it from its fancy envelope, I just stood there checking it out for at least 5 minutes. It was the prettiest card I'd received and I didn't want to put it down.
What impressed me so much about this card? Well, what didn't! I loved the double tone cardstock layers and mix for the branches. And, I was really taken with the Perennial Lavender designer series paper layers. The focal point florals, tiny butterflies, amethyst gems (my birthstone) and lovely draped folds captured and held my attention. Honestly, opening this special fancy fold card was truly a WOW, WOW, WOW moment for this cardmaker. Thanks Deb for making my day special!
Prior to Debby's card arriving I had a couple of cards in the works, that were inspired by posts on Youtube and Pinterest. This fancy fold card style comes in a variety of names. It's most commonly referred to on social media as a Cascading Pleat or Three Panel Fold Card. There are also a variety of sizes and orientations. One thing all of these cards have in common despite their different names and sizes, is they have easy to follow directions and there are many beautiful samples to inspire you.
I reviewed a lot of different posts and samples before I made my cards, but my favourites were those demonstrated by Lesly Kilby of the UK, Tami White, Dawn Griffith, and Susan Camfield (Suestampfield). Sizes and measurements on each of their posts.
Here Are My Cards: I was making a get well card for a very sick friend and wanted something special. Because I wanted to send some positive vibes I chose the Sunny Days 12 x 12 Designer Series Paper and the Brighter Skies stamp set to achieve this. My moods are highly influenced by colour so I wanted to project a soft and soothing background for my get well card. The colour mix of Pool Party, Shaded Spruce, Smokey Slate and Whisper White in the Sunny Days dsp provided that soothing feel. Also raindrops, clouds, and rainbow designs when mixed together were very cheery.
This is a back view of the card base showing a better view of the cascading pleats. I scored and cut the card base, all the mats and DSP layers and did the sentiment stamping before I started assembling the card. It came together very quickly.
This picture shows the front panel, that began with a piece of cloud covered dsp followed by a mat of Pool Party cardstock. The rain drops on the whisper white mat were stamped in Smokey Slate. The raindrop stamp and the sentiment are both from the Bright Skies #162787 stamp set. I finished this panel by adding 5 pool party opaque faceted gems and although you can't see it I used Wink of Stella to add some shine to the raindrops. For the second or middle panel I adhered a piece of raindrop dsp. When I planned the layers for this card I decided to stamp this adorable bunny from the "Playing in the Rain stamp set. This character has just the right amount of positivity and cheer to make my "feel good" get well card. The image was coloured with Petal Pink, Smokey Slate and Pool Party Stampin' Up! blends
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| The Playing In The Rain Stamp Set #160542 coordinates beautifully with the Bright Skies #162787 stamp set and dies #162793. It's available in the current Annual Catalogue on page 60. |
This cool rainbow dsp was adhered to the inside panel of the card. added a smaller mat to the center so that the dsp would be the spotlight on this panel. The "get well wishes" stamp is from the retired Petite Pairs stamp set which retired years ago and the umbrella is from the Playing in the Rain stamp set.
HERE'S MY SECOND CARD SAMPLE:
My second Cascading Pleat card is for a friend's masculine milestone birthday. He loves carpentry and Mr. Fix It stuff, so I know he'll love this one.
This card was made in the landscape or horizontal orientation mode. Although the card is assembled in the same way as my first card, the measurements are quite different and I had to make adjustments to the PDF instructions I was following. 
The tools were fussy cut from the free Sale-a-bration 12 x 12 designer called Trusty Toolbox. I used some dies from the Trusty Tools bundle on page 56 of the January Mini Catalogue. I love the pegboard background die and the toolbox. Both are easy to cut and or assemble.
Another great stamp set I used from the Sale-A-Bration flyer was called Heartfelt Hellos. I can't tell you how many cards I've made using the Enjoy Your Day sentiment over the past two months and I'll be sad to see it retired at the end of February. In fact I wish this one would carry over into the next catalogue season. The birthday sentiment and cake stamps on the middle panel are from the Hey Chuck stamp featured on page 49 of the Annual Catalogue. Both were stamped in Smokey Slate ink, on the Whisper White banner. I used the Nested Essentials Die set to die cut the banner for this focal point as well as some silver foil nuts and a screw from the Trusty Tools dies. Well that's it for today and I hope you enjoyed both of my versions of the Cascading Pleat card. I'll be making and giving away more of this style of card in future because it was so much fun to make. All you need to make this card is a good mix of dsp and coordinating cardstock.
I hope you'll give this fancy fold a try, you're sure to find it easy to make. I suggest you watch any of the crafters videos on YouTube first so you can get the full cutting instructions and see how the cascading fold is created.
Let me know how whether you've tried to make a Cascading Pleat card or would like to try it out. I love to receive your comments and hear or see what you're creating. Cheers and have a good week. HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT Penny Hanuszak, CDN Independent Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006
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