Cool Friend – Peek-a-boo Penguin Tri-fold Card

Morning everyone! I hope you had a fab week so far!

Is it too soon for Christmas cards? 🙂 I think that I have done pretty well to last until now, don’t you?

Well, even though it is not technically a Christmas card, today’s card is ALL about this sweet, wintery penguin from the More Flakey Friends stamp set! I just ADORE this cutie! In fact, I loved him so much, that I really wanted to make him the front and centre of the card. I wanted a card that was fun and interesting, but didn’t take away from the awesome image – an image that really speaks for itself.

And so I decided to create my own trifold card, with peek-a-boo panels. I love how it almost feels like you are looking through a window at our fuzzy friend!

To start building the card, I used a 4-bar stitched rectangle die to cut out four panels of cardstock. Next I ran two of the panels through the cuttlebug with a small Spellbinders label shaped die. I had to run this back and forth a few times, and add a paper shim to make sure the die cut through both pieces of cardstock – but it worked absolutely fine.

Next I stacked up the remaining two rectangle panels, and ran this through the cuttlebug with a slightly larger label shaped die. I used the small label die cut to help me position the larger die, so that when  the card was assembled, the ornate apertures would line up nicely to frame mister penguin.

Next I cut a piece of cardstock the same height as the 4 bar rectangles, but slightly wider, so I could create the back panel. I used a score board to create creases on the left and right of this panel, so that there were flaps on both edges. These flaps act like hinges for the card – so I adhered the side pieces in place, by sandwiching the flap, and a piece of acetate, between the two identical pieces of card with the ornate aperture. Once I had done this on both sides – the assembly was complete, and the fun began – the decorating! I promise it is much easier to do than it is to explain! 🙂

I decided to use a smaller version of the 4 bar stitched rectangle die to build up a decorated panel that I would stick on the inside of the card. I cut several panels from smooth, white cardstock, and die cut snowy hills and a tree border, before adding colour with a little distress ink blending. I kept the colours soft and muted, so that my stamped penguin would really pop against the background. As for mister penguin, I added a little, teeny, weeny bit of blue colour around the inside edge, just to give him some depth, and added some simple colouring to his beak and feet- all with copic markers.

For fun, I wanted to add some snow on top of the trees in the background, so I used a white sakura glaze pen to give them a snowy cap – and then I had the idea to add snow onto the acetate of the inside flap. I LOVE the way this turned out! It is so fun! The little white dots give the impression of falling snow, but at the same time making sure that mister penguin can be seen in all his glory when the card is open!

Even though it is fast approaching Christmas, I couldn’t quite allow myself to add a Christmas greeting, so instead I decided to use the Brush Grunge Alpha set to create my own greeting! This way it would be used for a birthday, a thank you card, or for any other occasion- just with a wintery twist! To make sure that the card had a nice finished look, when fussy cutting out ‘Cool Friend’, I held another piece of card behind my stamped cardstock, so I cut out two identical pieces of white cardstock. This meant that I could stick the stamped greeting on the front and add a matching piece of blank cardstock on the back.

And that is it!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a fabulous day!