Fancy Fold Botanicals For Stampin' Royalty

>>>>>Update<<<<<

My card was chosen as a Top Pick on Stampin' Royalty #317! Click on the picture below to come and and play!

There is nothing like playing with a new technique to get your creative juices flowing! For awhile now, I have been wanting to try the Drapery Fold so tonight I put it to the test!

I decided to work with the colors from the Stampin' Royalty Challenge #317 because not only did they coincide with the colors in the Shine On Specialty Designer Series Paper I wanted to use but they happened to be some of the intense colors that I enjoy!

To begin with, I checked out the video tutorial by Song Of My Heart Stampers. Once I knew what to do, I chose a piece of the Shine On paper that had Cucumber Crush ferns printed on the Kraft with silver V's on the opposite side.

I trimmed one side of the paper to 11 1/2" and then cut a strip that was 11 1/2 x 4". I scored the paper at 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 10 inches. I used my Stampin' Trimmer to cut from the 3" score line at an angle to about 1 1/2" from the top right corner of the strip. (In the video tutorial, she used a pair of scissors but I knew I couldn't cut that straight freehand!)

I accordion-folded the paper on the score lines and then used Fast Fuse Adhesive to secure the pleats in place. This pleated matte fit almost exactly across a 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" card base. I knotted a piece of Watermelon Wonder 1" Dotted Lace Trim around the top of the pleated matte.

I cut a card base from Bermuda Bay card stock and trimmed it slightly narrower than 5 1/2" in width to match the pleated matte. I used Stazon ink and my MISTI to stamp the sentiment from the Rose Wonder Stamp Set in the bottom right corner of the card front. Once the ink had dried, I used Dimensionals to adhere the pleated matte to the card front.

I stamped the veins of the two leaves using Cucumber Crush on Cucumber Crush card stock. I then used the Botanicals Builder Framelits to die cut flowers and leaves. I punched centres for the smallest flowers using the 1/8" Circle Punch. I played with my arrangement and took pictures to allow me to choose the best design.

Before adhering my arrangement, I used my McGill Paper Blossom Tool Kit to give some dimension to the die cuts and then used a sponge dauber to ink the edges of each flower and leaf with the coordinating ink. Once the ink was dry, I gave each a coat of Wink of Stella for a touch of glimmer.
The die cuts were adhered to the card front using a combination of Dimensionals, glue dots, and the Fine Tip Glue Pen. I added silver sequins from the now retired Frosted Sequins and also rhinestones to the largest flowers.

One last design detail was to wrap some of the now retired Silver Cording Trim around the knotted ribbon to provide a visual triangle between the silver of the underside of the pleats, the silver sequins in the flowers and the silver cord. For a good explanation of visual triangle design, check this blog post by Traci Reed. She applies the principle to her scrapbook pages but it can also be used in card making.

Here's the visual triangle on my card:

Visual triangle that uses the color silver

For the inside of the card, I chose a Very Vanilla matte and used the Botanical Blooms Stamp Set to stamp tiny flowers across the bottom of the matte. I inked the edges with a sponge dauber and Watermelon Wonder and then adhered the matte with Fast Fuse Adhesive to complete the card.

Close up details showing the Wink of Stella glimmer on the flowers

This drapery fold technique was a lot of fun to try and I will definitely be using it again soon!

Have you tried a drapery fold on one of your cards yet? Give it a go and then link to it in the comments below–I'd love to take a look!