Interactive Card Dies

Hello everyone!  Today I’m going to be talking about interactive card dies.  sometimes these can be a bit daunting…especially if there are certain folding techniques required.  I’ll be walking you through the making of an interactive card and talk about what I’ve learned along the way.   I’ll be using the Platform Pop-Up Die Set from Lawn Fawn and the Add-on.  The very first thing I did was to choose my paper.  I chose Paper Rose Dear Isabella – patterned paper and die-cuts.

This is the paper collection.  I wasn’t sure what paper I would use and I did end up only using one pad of the paper and some solid lavender card stock.  Once I had chosen my papers, I was all set to get die-cutting.  I had previously watched a YouTuber construct one of these cards and that’s what prompted me to buy the dies and add-on.  The dies don’t come with instructions, so when my dies arrived I made a dummy one out of left-over card stock.  This really helps to get to know the die-cut pieces and where everything belongs.  So, I was sure of myself when I started die-cutting the base for my card.

READ ALSO: BEST “THANK YOU” CARD FOR A SPECIAL TEACHER

With the appropriate pieces cut I then scored them.  I used a fairly heavy card stock for the base.  This would ensure sturdiness.  When I scored my pieces, I made sure to really score them well.  This ensures the card stock bends or lays correctly.  Next I applied double-sided tape.

As you can see I used redline tape for this,  It’s the strongest tape I have.  The project really needs to have a strong adhesive and double-sided tape definitely works the best (over a liquid glue or a tape runner).  Since it had been a while since I had made one of these I also pulled up YouTube and re-watched the assembling of this.  The first step in assembling was putting tape on these 2 pieces.

The T piece goes in front to back with the tape side down through the slit.

The front needs to be folded at the bottom of the 2 longest score lines.  Pulling the T piece fairly tight, it’s then taped to the piece shown.

Now, one half of the card platform is finished.  Next, take another T piece (there are 3 total) and cut the bottom off at the score line.  The apply tape to the center.

This piece then gets adhered to the flat side of the card.

The other side of the card is made the exact same way except there is only the one T piece that is fed through the slit.  Now, one side of the 2 halves gets adhered together.

The tape gets placed on the 2 halves on the small flap.  Laid out flat, adhered one of the sides of the 2 pieces together.

And put tape on the long side of the half of the card that only has one T piece. Tape one of the sides together.

Remove the release paper from the long piece of tape and adhere the 2 halves of the card together.  Make sure to line up the bottom edges.

Then adhered the other side flaps together making sure they are even.

The base of the card is now complete.  You can leave it like this and add other elements.  But I wanted a backing for mine.  I used 1/8″ double-sided tape for this.  The tape goes along the very bottom on the back.

And then this get set into the top of the card platform.

The add-on die set includes stitched panels to decorate the sides.  I used more of the patterned paper for these.  I also chose one of the die cuts and heat embossed my sentiment in gold.

I cut the bottom off of the die cut piece so it wouldn’t sit so high.  This cards does fit an A2 size envelope so I was keeping that in mind.  I took the piece I cut off and glued to the front of the cut off edge and adhere it to the top piece in the center.

Next I added my other die cut elements, cutting them down where they needed it and filling in spots.  These pieces are adhered to the tops of the T pieces.

This finished my card.  It collapses by holding the short sides and pushing up the bottom gently with your thumbs.  It lays quite flat if you have really reenforced the fold lines.

That finished my card today!  I hope you found this helpful.