ShirA's crafting blog
Valentine’s day is just around the corner, so how about making a special card for a special someone?
To get a better idea of how I made this card, check out the tutorials for this mechanism – the “Table-Top” and the “Table-Top” Variations.
Have fun this weekend!
ShirA
This tutorial will show you how to take the basic “table-top” technique and take it to a new level. The variations shown here, including the measurements, are simply an example to get you started. There are no rules, and you can experiment with it and get different results.
1. Cut cardstock to your desired card size. Mine is 20X15 cm (to achieve a 10X15 cm card when folded). Score a center fold with a bone folder.
2. Cut out the cardstock pieces that will eventually be your “table-tops”. You can use a stamped image, a die cut shape, etc. To demonstrate the general idea I simply used 2 rectangles (shown in red). The table-tops can be as high as you wish (but no higher than the card’s height, or it’ll peek from the edges of the card when closed). Check it during the preparation of the card, make sure it is doesn’t peek on the sides when closed. Score a center fold with a bone folder on both pieces.
3. Now create the table-top’s “legs”: use 2 stripes of cardstock for each “table-top”, following the measurements in the picture (make two stripes of each kind). Score accordingly .
4. Fold the “leg” stripes where you’ve scored them. Add glue to the little gluing tab and close the stripe, creating a closed rectangle. Do the same with with all 4 pieces.
5. Now, glue both pieces together. You’ll end up with two flexible shapes, as shown below.
6. Add glue to the bottom faces of the “legs”, and glue them to the back of the table-top piece, close to the center fold. Let the glue set before you continue.
7. Flip the table-tops (red) pieces inside-out, so they’ll look like this.
8. Add glue to the “legs” of the smaller “table-top”, and attach it to the face of the larger one, close to the center fold.
9. Add glue to the “legs” of the larger “table-top”, and attach it to the face of the card base (in yellow), close to the center fold.
10. Close the card firmly and let the glue set well. You’re done!
More Variations
There are so many different variations you can make with this basic technique. You can build more floors, changing the “legs” measurements.
Another option is to add another set of “legs”, attached to the sides of the basic mechanism, as shown below. Just try it out, go wild! 🙂
This is a card I made to demonstrate the lovely Table-top pop-up technique. I stamped and embossed the background with some thick enamel embossing powder. Besides adding texture, it gave the card a bit of a “wet”, rainy feel.
I warmly recommend you to try this mechanism, experiment with it and create your own thing. If you need instructions, just check out the tutorial.
Have a nice day!
ShirA
Hi everybody!
As promised, I’m going to give you a step-by-step tutorial for the technique I used on my Monochrome Monday card. This is the basic principle. Once you get the hang of it, you can change the measurements and shapes and get creative.
Ready? Lets get down to business:
1. Cut cardstock to your desired card size. Mine is 20X15 cm (to achieve a 10X15 cm card when folded). Score a center fold with a bone folder.
2. Cut out the cardstock that will eventually be your “table-top”. You can use a stamped image, a die cut shape, etc. To demonstrate the general idea I simply used a rectangle (shown in red). The table-top can be as high as you wish (but no higher than the card’s height, or it’ll peep from the edges of the card when closed). It should also be narrower than the card’s width when closed. Meaning – if the card’s width, when closed, is 10 cm, the table-top should be no more than 10 cm wide. Score a center fold with a bone folder.
3. Now create the table-top’s “legs”: use 2 long stripes of cardstock, as wide as the card (shown in orange). I’ve made mine 3 cm high and 20 cm wide.
4. Score the 2 “legs” as shown. The principle is simple: A + B should be less than the card’s width when closed (10 cm).
5. This is how the stripes look after folding (all mountain folds).
6. Add glue to the little gluing tab and close the stripe, creating a closed rectangle. Do the same with both pieces.
7. Now, glue both pieces together.
8. You’ll end up with two flexible parallelograms, as shown below.
9. Flatten the “legs”.
10. Add glue to one of the faces of the “legs”, and glue it to the back of the table-top piece, close to the center fold (to better understand which face should be glued, look at step 12 for the desired result).
11. Turn over the table-top and glue the other face of the “legs”. Close the table-top piece firmly and let the glue set for a few minutes.
12. This is what you should end up with.
13. Flip the table-top (red) piece inside-out, so it’ll look like this.
14. Add glue to the “legs'” face (orange), and attach it to the card’s base (yellow), close to the center fold. Turn the card over and do the same on the other side.
15. Close the card firmly and let the glue set well.
16. You’re done! The table-top pop up is ready!
A few tips:
* I recommend using the same paper for the card base and “legs”, to make them less obvious.
* This card tends to be quite thick and bumpy, to make sure the card base will handle it I prefer adding another cardstock for the card’s exterior. You can see an example on my Monochrome Monday post.
There’s more! In a few days- some “Table – Top” pop – up technique variations!
Have a great weekend,
ShirA
Hi all!
This week has only started, but I’ve already managed to make quite a few crafty things, which is awesome! You’ll be updated with all the details soon.
Today I want to share a card I made for a challenge at the Just Add Ink site. The challenge was simply “Monochrome” – a great opportunity to try new colors! At first I thought it’ll be a no-brainer, but discovered along the way that without some contrast it’s not easy making a card pop. So… I literally popped it up! 🙂
To make this clean, simple card I used peachy papers from pale to saturated, and a beautiful Stanmpin’ Up! large stamp.
I’m going to upload a tutorial for this pop-up technique in a few days, so stick around!
ShirA
This product just blew my mind! I love it! The idea is absolutely awesome – edible crayons, a (supposedly) healthy and tasty colorful kid’s toy! I love it when things are being taken out of context in a bright, humorous way.
I found this great pack of joy at the Luxirare site, check it out.
Hope I made you smile!
ShirA
My dear friend Avital recently had a baby boy named Evyatar. He is the cutest little baby, holding him in my arms for the first time was very exciting. I wanted to let him know just how special he is and how happy I am he joined us, so I made this card – it tells the story of one single leaf that bloomed in the winter.
The card opens to 3 different directions (a bit hard to explain, and I didn’t get the chance to film it…): one side is a pop up scene of naked trees, one contains wishes for Avital and her husband Gil, and the last one is a message from me to little Evyatar (last two are decorated with a small leaf motive pop-up).
I love the finished result, unique and one of a kind – just like the newborn!
Have a great year everybody!
ShirA
Our honeymoon in New Zealand was full of beauty, wild landscapes, powder blue waters and glowing clouds. There were so many hues of gray, aqua, blue and green, a cool magic that astounded me. It was at Punakaiki rocks, in front of a stormy sea, that I declared that our next home will be in that precise color scheme.
For my husband’s birthday I wanted to capture some of that southern-hemisphere feel in a card. I made this tri-fold card following a few tutorials on You Tube, and chose cool shades of gray and blue (with a hint of green). I wanted to keep it very clean and simple – it is always very challenging, creating a card for a man…
Since it doesn’t really feel like winter around here, hope this post helped cooling you down…
ShirA
the Little Green Box 