Waterfall card for Polkadoodles

Hello lovely peeps

I've got a last card to show you from last weekend's Starfish and Sandcastles launch on the Polkadoodles Facebook page, along with a little tutorial on making a waterfall card.

First I made my toppers - the top one was a digi stamp from the collection which I coloured with Promarkers and Graph-Its. The next three were snippets of digi papers with part of the sentiment dragged on in Craft Artist & coloured to match (I also added digital emellishments to the last topper).

So, to make the Waterfall mechanism start by cutting a strip from the long side of a piece of sturdy A4 card, the same width as the toppers you want to use. I have four toppers which are 6.5cm square, so my piece of card is 6.5cm x 29.5 cm
 
The next step is to score and fold it - the first fold should be the same height as your last topper, and then add folds at 2 cm intervals, one for each additional topper. I have scored at 6.5cm, 8.5cm, 10.5cm and 12.5cm

 Add some double sided tape to each of the panels so that you can attach your toppers
(the picture below shows the piece I have used on my finished card - I printed onto one side of my A4 card before I cut off my strip and I have glued a matching piece of card onto the long panel)

Your last topper needs to go on the large (in my case, square) panel first, then attach the 3rd, 2nd and 1st (so your 1st topper sits on the fold which is next to the long back panel)

 Now turn the strip over so that the bottom topper is face down and nearest you. Glue on a piece of some more sturdy card which is wider than your strip and 2-3 cm high. This is the part that will be attached to the front of your card, I have decorated the front of mine.

Pierce some holes through each side for brads

Before I attach it to the front of our card, I'm just going to add an eyelet to the other end of the strip - this is the part that will be pulled.

Punch a 3/8" hole through
I have used a Fiskars Eyelet Setter which has a punch at one end and a setter at the other

Then put your eyelet through the hole, turn it over and set the eyelet in place (which basically means bashing it until the metal splits and grabs onto the back of the card)

I would recommend testing the mechanism at this point- place it flat on your desk with the longest part folded behind the toppers. Place a finger firmly over each of the holes we made in the wide strip and then tug on the bottom of the long strip that has the eyelet set in it. As you pull down the first topper should tuck in behind to reveal your second topper, then the second will tuck behind to reveal your third topper, etc.

Assuming that all works OK we can attach the mechanism to the front of our card. The only parts you actually want to attach are the sections of the wide strip that stick out from the sides (i.e. the parts we put the holes in). Place the mechanism where you want it on the front of the card and mark through the holes with a pencil.

Pierce holes through the front of your card where the pencil marks are and then place the mechanism back over the top, thread some brads/split pins through both layers and then spread the legs out on the inside of the card. This will hold it securely in place on the card while the recipient (or if they're an adult, their children) merrily push and pull the strip up and down several dozen times to reveal the hidden panels .

All that is left is to finish decorating the card.I have tied some tiny white 'rope' through the eyelet at the bottom to tie in with the nautical theme and covered up the wide strip and brads with lots of shells and crabs.

I'd cut a strip off the right-hand side of the card front, which reveals the inside of the card, so I have used a matching paper to cover this. I cut out some flags from one of the Design Sheets and glued them to the right hand side of the card front.

here's a little video showing each panel revealed as the rope is pulled down ...

  I would like to enter this in the following challenges:-
Allsorts #371 One for the Boys
Through The Craft Room Door - Always Anything Goes
QKR Stampede #199 Transportation
Julia Spiri Challenge #21 Anything Goes with a twist of *At the Beach or Sea*
Kitty Bee Designs #75 Summer Fun
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge Blog #285 Anything Goes
Pile It On  #111 Moves Me (Vehicles) 
World Wide Open Design Team Challenge 11 Anything Goes
Tinker- Dream  #42 Journey/Vacation
Simon Says Stamp (Wed) Photo Inspiration

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Katrina x