accordion cards

Little Ladybug

| ullycatdesigns

Celebrating Valentine’s Day often brings up visions of candy hearts and chocolate. This is a special display style Valentine card with coordinating candy hearts box and mini gift bag with a ladybug theme.

For this card and gift set I used four new dies from Karen Burniston’s December 2023 release – Hearts Add-Ons, Happy Valentine’s Day Shadow, Candy Hearts Box and Mini Gift Bag – as well as her previously released Fancy Label Accordion and Happy Valentine’s Day dies.

Before starting, watch assembly videos for the linked die sets. The videos are towards the bottom of the linked pages.

Accordion Frames: Cut four accordion frames using the Fancy Label Accordion die set. They will be decorated AND THEN they will be assembled. It is much harder to decorate a fully assembled accordion card when you cannot flatten the various moving panels and frames.

Hearts Add-Ons: The Hearts Add-On cut a pivot panel that attaches to two Fancy Label Accordion panels. It also has dies to cut decorative hearts in three sizes. Cur one hearts panel from a double-sided decorative paper. Train the folds on the panel as directed on the packaging. Decorate the heart panels on the front and back sides.

Once the panel is fully decorated, work on the accordion frames that it will be glued onto. Glue two frames together using the outer long tab. From one panel cut the label panel along the pivot point making sure to keep the label attached to the pivot bar. Cut the other label, but the cut will look different than the other panel. See photo below. Add glue to the back side of the hearts panel and attach it to one of the label panels. Add glue to the other end of the hearts panel and attach it to the other label panel. (I die-cut one pivot panel from ladybug paper to go over the back of the pivot panels as a decorative feature and to cover over the tabs from the other panels.)

End Frames: Cut two of the largest decorative labels from the Fancy Label Accordion set for use on the end frame panels. Using the stitched heart die from the Candy Heart Box, cut hearts out of the labels. Add labels to the end frame panels. Once the end frames are decorated, attach the end accordion frames to the center hearts frames. Cut off unused tab from accordion panel and glue over contrasting tab on back of card. Cut another tab to cover other contrasting tab. Glue the fancy labels together. (I die-cut one pivot panel from ladybug paper to go over the back of the pivot panels as a decorative feature and to cover over the tabs from the other panels.)

Sentiments: “Happy Valentine’s Day!” is made by cutting the shadow from white cardstock and using contrasting patterned paper for the words. The space for a personal message is on the right back panel and it uses the second largest label with dotted edge in the Fancy Label Accordion set.

Box: The Candy Heart Box is cut in one piece from double-sided decorative paper. Before the box is assembled, a large heart needs to be cut out of the front of the box. Using double-sided tape, adhere a piece of clear acetate or plastic to the inside of the box over the opening. Assemble the box as directed on packaging. (I used glue to assemble the box.) Decorate with hearts and add a scalloped white square folded over for a personal message.

Bag: (Watch assembly video) Using coordinating decorative paper, cut the two Mini Gift Bag pieces and assemble as directed on the packaging. (I used glue to assemble the bag.) Add ribbon or pom-pom string for handles. Decorate with leftover hearts from other pieces in the set.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Ink N’ Splatter – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pack – Ladybug Days
  • 12×12 Double-Sided Decorative Paper – Pink Polka Dots and Flowers
  • White Cardstock
  • Grafix Dura-Lar .005 Clear Film (Acetate/Plastic)

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Pom-Pom String

Celebrating A 9th Birthday

| ullycatdesigns

Growing a year older should be celebrated. This show-stopper card is for a 9-year-old.

For this card I used two new dies from Karen Burniston’s December 2023 release – Birthday Candle Add-Ons and the Topper Tags – as well as her Fancy Label Accordion, Fancy Winter Frames, and a few other previously released die sets to decorate.

Before starting, watch assembly videos for the linked die sets. The videos are towards the bottom of the linked pages.

Accordion Frames: Cut four accordion frames using the Fancy Label Accordion die set. They will be decorated AND THEN assembled. It is much harder to decorate a fully assembled accordion card when you cannot flatten the various moving panels and frames. (I assembled this card as I would normally, but the candle and heart add-ons are designed to be assembled with with the accordion frame behind the add-on panel and not as I did by putting the frame’s center post in front of the panel.)

Candles Add-Ons: The Birthday Candles Add-On cut a pivot panel that attaches to two Fancy Label Accordion panels. It also has dies to cut and stencil four candles and their flames. Cut one candle panel from a solid color cardstock. Cut another from decorative paper. Train the folds on the solid color panel as directed on the packaging. Using the largest decorator label from the Fancy Label Accordion set, cut a frame from the decorative paper. (The section between the two label cut outs will fall out and the frame can be cut down the center fold.) Glue the frame onto the panel matching up the edges.

Assemble and decorate the candles using the die stenciling feature or use decorative papers. (Because I needed to celebrate a 9-year-old’s birthday, I did not use all twelve candles that the panel will hold. I decided to add a number 9 as another candle by cutting a “9” using the Numbers die set and cut the top of a candle with the flame attached to the back top of the number.) The flames I cut from a background paper I had made using glitter ink and drew the black burnt wick onto them.

Once the panel is fully decorated, work on the accordion frames that it will be glued onto. Glue two frames together using the outer long tab. From one panel cut the label panel along the pivot point making sure to keep the label attached to the pivot bar. Cut the other label, but the cut will look different than the other panel. See photo below. Add glue to the back side of the candle panel and attach it to one of the label panels. Add glue to the other end of the candle panel and attach it to the other label panel. (See 2nd photo under tags for what the back side of the attached candles panel into the accordion frames.)

Tags: Cut two tags using the second from the smallest tag die in the Topper Tags. (If your paper is a single-sided decorative paper like mine was, cut two more tags that cover at least the part of the tag that will not be covered by the fancy label panel. Glue the tags together as shown in the photo below.) Attach the back of the tags to the fancy label panels on their backsides.

Decorations: The Birthday Charms die set are used for balloons, party hats and cupcake. Three colors of bakers twine are used for the balloon strings and for tag ties. A thin black pen was used to draw the balloon strings onto card back. The frame borders are cut from white copier paper backed with a wide double-sided tape using the polka-dot frame die from the Fancy Winter Frames.

Once the frame borders are adhered, attach the end accordion frames to the candle frames. Add balloons to the folds and then glue the fancy labels together.

Sentiments: Add the sentiments once the accordion frames and fancy labels are all attached together. “Happy Birthday” uses two dies – Happy Birthday Shadow and Happy Birthday. “Just for You” uses three die sets – Word Set 15, Word Set 8 and Mini Alphabet. The “You” is cut from a phrase die and its shadow is created by tracing the outside of the die and fussy cutting. (You could use other word dies for the “You.”)

Envelope: The closed card fits into an A7 (5×7-inch) envelope.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Violet Studio Designs – 8×8 Single-Sided Paper Pad – Hoppy Easter
  • Yellow 110lb. Cardstock
  • Blues, White and Cream Cardstock
  • White Copier Paper

Ink

  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker –Fine Tip – Blue. Green, Orange and Yellow
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black
  • Gel Pens – Multiple Colors
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Spectrum Noir – Sparkle Glitter Ink – Candlelight

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Three Colors of Bakers Twine

Sleighing It Accordion Style

| ullycatdesigns

It’s time for the Karen Burniston Design Team Challenge for August 2023 with the theme of ACCORDION dies.

I choose to use the Fancy Label Accordion die with the sleigh from the Sleigh Pop-Up and reindeer from the Christmas Animals set as add-ons similar to the new Cupcake or Fence Add-ons for the Landscape Rectangle Accordion set. I also used the snowflake frames from the Fancy Winter Frames set.

There are several ways of assembling this accordion card – prepare frames and attach them all together and then add the sleigh and reindeer – OR – prepare frames (adding snowflake frames to fronts of accordion frames only), make all the animals, sleigh and gifts and assemble each panel as you go adding the back snowflake frame pieces after you attach the accordion frames. The latter is the method I choose to follow. Watch the assembly videos for the Fancy Label Accordion and the Fence Add-ons (located towards the bottom of the linked pages.)

Frames: Cut four accordion frames from the Fancy Label Accordion set from heavy white cardstock. With scissors cut off the sides of the fancy label to form a pivot post on each accordion frame. Cut a total of 16 snowflake frames pieces from the Fancy Winter Frames set from blue cardstock. (I sprayed my frames with mica spray to get the metallic shiny frames.) Brush the accordion frame sides and the pivot post with glitter gloss. (I recommend doing both sides of the frame at this stage.) Glue blue snowflake frames onto the fronts only of the accordion frames. (Watch assembly video for the Fancy Winter Frames.)

Sleigh: Using red cardstock cut two sleighs. (If using decorative cardstock with a different pattern on each side, cut one red in reverse.) Cut two more of the lower portions, of the sleigh from silver foil cardstock making sure one is the reverse of the other. Fussy cut off just the sleigh runners. Glue runners to red sleigh bases.

Gifts: From the Sleigh Pop-Up set, cut a total of six gift boxes and four bows, making sure you have pairs of matching papers for each box and bow. (I used a glitter marker to add some accents to the bows.) Play with the layout of where the packages and bear will go in the sleigh and still fit inside the accordion frame.

Bear: Cut two bears from white cardstock and two of the tummy and nose pieces from gray using the Winter Animals set. Cut from red two hats and scarves and two pompoms from white. Assemble as shown on the package. Use the main die to stencil the pink ears and black eyes, and the nose die to draw the mouth and nose in black. Assemble with the hat covering the opposite ear from the other bear.

Reindeer: Cut 12 reindeer from brown cardstock and 12 pairs of antlers from darker brown cardstock using the Christmas Animals die set. With a fine tipped black marker use the reindeer die as a stencil to color hooves and faces of the six of the deer and a white gel pen to color the ears. Repeat with the remaining six reindeer, but on the reverse side. Color all the tail as shown on package with white gel pen. Glue on antlers to one set of six reindeer. You will glue the remaining six pairs of antlers on when you assemble the card matching up the fronts and backs of them. (I made one reindeer have a red nose by using red Nuvo drops.) Cut six strips of red cardstock 6-inchs long and 1/4-inches wide for the sleigh shafts that the reindeer will be harnessed to.

Assembly: Play with the layout of where the packages and bear will go in the sleigh and still fit inside the accordion frame. Glue the packages and bear to the back of sleigh. Start with the first frame and position the sleigh so that the front curling tip of sleigh is just inside the frame and a small portion of the back of the sleigh is over the other side of the accordion frame. (I placed my sleigh so that the shaft that will connect the sleigh to the reindeer will be approximately in the middle of the frame.) Glue the frame tab to the second frame. ( I used crafting clips to hold the frames together until the glue set-up.

Flipping the two frames over, I glued a shaft onto the back of the sleigh making sure it was long enough to reach the edge of the next frame. Next, before I glued the blue frames on , I brushed all the accordion frame sides with a glitter gloss then I attached the blue snowflake frames to the back sides of the accordion frames covering over where the tab is. Use weights to keep the frames from curling as the glue dries.

Cut two pieces of baker’s twine 6-inches long and ten pieces 5-inches long. (Use the 6-inch piece of twine for the rein deer that attach to the sleigh.) To make the harness on the reindeer start with the end of the twine on the back side going over the neck and back under the belly. Glue the end and bend to back of reindeer. Pull twine around the front of the animal and with a dot of glue, adhere the twine to the rear end of the reindeer. Glue the lead reindeer to to the second frame and glue the end of the harness twine to where it will be covered with the reindeer with with a 6-inch harness. Adhere second reindeer and wrap end of twine around the bear’s paw.

Add the next two frames following the same instructions for the second frame and reindeer. (In hindsight, I think it may be easier to assemble all the accordion frames together, adding one sleigh and attaching all the shaft pieces together. Then you can start adding the reindeer starting with Rudolph in the front, gluing down his twine harness, and adding the next reindeer and so on with each frame.)

When all the frames have been added with blue frames on both sides and front side of reindeer added, flip over and cut off the unused tab on fourth frame. Glue red shafts to the back side of shafts. (This covers the different patterned paper for my card, but also adds some strength to the folding mechanism.)

Glue the packages to the backs of the first packages matching them up. Then adhere the bear. Finally glue the sleigh in place matching up the edges and runner swirls. Use clips to keep the pieces in place until the glue dries.

Glue the remaining reindeer in place. Train all the folds. (I decided that the back side of the reindeer would look better with faces so I stenciled them on after the card was assemble.)

This card will easily fit into an A7 envelope, but it is thick, so a padded envelope or hand delivery is recommended.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Click here to see other Accordion cards

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • My Mind’s Eye – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Cozy Christmas
  • White, Brown, Gray, and Light Blue Cardstock
  • A7 ivory Envelope

Ink

  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Fine Tip – Pink
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Nuvo – Glitter Marker – Fired Brick – 193
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer – Glitter Gloss
  • Nuvo – Mica Mist – Nebula Blue

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Baker’s Twine – Red/White
  • Nuvo – Vintage Drops – Postbox Red

Celebrate with Cupcakes!

| ullycatdesigns

This card was made for Craft Roulette #172 whose parameters included: Z-fold card, OLD, any colors and something from my mesk (messy desk.)

For this mini-slimline card, I used Karen Burniston’s dies to created a three panel accordion card with cupcakes. The main dies used are Cupcake Add-ons and Landscape Rectangle Accordion with decorations from Paper Frames Pop-Up and Happy Hour Charms.

Accordion Frame: (Watch assembly video at the bottom of link page.) Cut three frames from heavy white cardstock using the Landscape Rectangle Accordion set. Trim the rectangle panel to just a pivot post. Cut a total of six frames from patterned papers and cut out the pivot panels and tabs from all to have decorative frames. Glue the white frames together as shown in video. Adhere the decorative frames. Trim off unused tab.

Cupcake Panels: (Watch assembly video at the bottom of link page.) Cut four of the cupcake panel die from the Cupcake Add-ons set from white cardstock. Cut a total of 15 of the cupcake icing piece from different papers. (I cut six from three different papers coating the yellow and orange papers with a glitter gloss. the sprinkles were die cut into the icing piece and colored with fine-tipped markers and gel pens.) Cut a total of 15 of the cupcake paper piece from different papers. Using die, stencil shadows onto cupcake papers. The sprinkles die and cherry decoration dies are included in the Cupcake Add-ons. The orange slice is from the Happy Hour Charms set. Adhere cupcakes to fronts of three of the white panels. Cut fourth panel apart into thee separate cupcake outlines. Glue decorated panels to pivot posts on frames. Decorate backs of panels using the white cupcake outlines to cover the pivot posts and the remaining six cupcakes to cover ends of panels. Glue the panels together using tabs. trim off unused tab.

Decorations: The ribbon streamers are in the Cupcake Add-ons set along with the hearts. The stars and circles come from the Paper Frames Pop-Up. Strips of decorative papers were also used from my scrap bag.

Sentiment: The white cupcake panels on the back are for either personal messages or the heat embossed happy birthday sentiment. When the card is closed the main sentiment is visible.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Waffle Flower – Clear Stamps – Sweet Sentiments – 271296

Papers

  • Carta Bella – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Happy Crafting by Steven Duncan
  • Solid and Patterned Paper Scraps
  • White Heavy Cardstock 110 lb

Ink

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Saltwater Taffy and Salty Ocean
  • Simon Says Stamp – Pawsitively Saturated Ink – Citrine and Sunbeam
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Red and Yellow
  • Gel Pen – Pink
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Nuvo – Aqua Simmer – Glitter Gloss
  • Papercrafting Society – Matte Metallic Embossing Powder – Gold

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Sponge Dauber
  • Craft Mat
  • Scissors
  • Craft Knife
  • Heat Tool

Easter Bunny Accordion Style

| ullycatdesigns

I’ve been experimenting with taking Karen Burniston’s Landscape Rectangle Accordion and cutting the pivot panel into a smaller string of shapes. For this card I used dies from her crosshatch circle and oval sets.

I made a template from heavy cardstock (110 lb) by first cutting a panel and then tracing around the dies to create a pattern. For the pattern, I used the second smallest oval for the center and the two smallest circles. (Make sure you don’t cut away the pivot mechanism at the top and bottom of the panel. The center point of the rectangle is the scored fold-line.) I fussy cut the pattern and then used it to trace onto my die-cut panels of double-sided medium-weight, patterned cardstock.

Now for the fun part – deciding what decorations to add. I pulled all my Easter and Spring dies out and tired various layouts to see what would fit.

after deciding to add a frame to dangle a charm from, I used the smallest crosshatch oval to die-cut the opening. Because the frame top was so thin, I used a needle and thread to create a string to dangle an egg charm. (The charm is made from two charms glued together.) The knotted thread ends were finished with dots of glue. (In hindsight, I would probably make the opening with a smaller circle so that the frame would be wider near the pivot points. See below, photos of another card that I cut a circle aperture.)

For the sentiment (in the Easter Charms Set), I traced around the outside of the die and fussy out to create a shadow for the words. I cut two of the sentiment and glued them together before attaching them to the shadow. To add some pizazz to words, I coated it with a glitter gloss and popped it up on foam squares over the flowers.

The flowers come from two different die sets, but the flowers are all the same. (This makes for quicker die-cutting when you two of the same die.) I find putting two flowers of similar colors together you get a fuller, more pleasing flower. I shaped my flowers using my fingers to curl the petal ends down while pushing the flower center down as well.

I mostly followed the packaging examples for the eggs, bunnies and chicks, but you can view the assembly video for the Easter Charms. I coated the chocolate bunny with a glossy clear gel after I had used the die to ink in the bunny’s eye with a white gel pen. I also added a tiny red grosgrain ribbon at his neck. For the Easter Bunny, I used a grey suede paper so he was fuzzy to the touch. (Here is the assembly video for the Spring Animals.)

After all the panels were decorated, I attached the frames and panels using there tabs as directed in their assembly video.

As you plan where your decorations will go, think about how thick they will be, if they will be attached using foam squares and if they will become catchpoints for the pivot mechanism or folds where the panels are joined. (I popped up a purple flower at an inside fold that some of the petals ended up creased and folded back.) I chose to keep the middle section as flat as I could, only popping up items on the outside panels/last panel.

The front panel introduces the Easter bunny theme while the back panel has a matted label popped up on foam squares for a personal message.

The card folds to fit into an A6 (4×6 inches) or larger envelope. It may require extra postage because of its thickness to post in the USA.

Below are photos of a similar string accordion card using the same papers, but with a religious theme and a circle aperture rather than an oval aperture in the center panel.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

For more Accordion Fold cards click here.

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Dare2BArtzy – 12×12 Double-Sided Paper – Honey Bloomz by Andie Hanna – Buds & Bloomz-PP1049
  • Hot Off The Press – 8.5×11 Faux Suede Paper – Smoke Suede – HOTP-10434
  • Colored Cardstock and Paper Scraps
  • A6 Envelope – Ivory

Pens/Gels

  • Gelly Roll – Gel Pen – White
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 – Black
  • Pigma – Mircon 05 – Brown
  • INC – Scented Gel Pen .08 – Grape
  • Orange and Pink Fine-Tipped Makers
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer Brush Pen – Glitter Gloss
  • Ranger – Glossy Accents

Miscellaneous

A String of Hearts

| ullycatdesigns

This is a quick fussy cut string of hearts using Karen Burniston’s Landscape Rectangle Accordion die. The large red hearts and smallest dark pink hearts are from the Hearts-Crosshatch set while the medium size pale pink hearts and hearts with sentiments and arrow are from the Love Charms set. (I used a purple gel pen to highlight the candy heart sentiments.)

Below is a PDF file which you can download for a basic template of how to fussy cut the panels which are connected by the smallest hearts.

hearts-accordion-scan-of-prototypeDownload

For more Accordion Fold cards click here.

Blue Nose, the Pink Alligator

| ullycatdesigns

As young children my father would tell my siblings and I, stories about Blue Nose the pink alligator. They generally began with “Have you ever seen a pink alligator with a blue nose?” We would discuss how an alligator could live in the American Midwest where there is snow and ice as well as hot humid summers and how the alligator came to be pink and received his blue nose.  This card tells that story.

I used Karen Burniston’s Fancy Label Accordion die set for the card base and the alligator from her Bayou Animals set as well as other elements from a mixture of her designs.

The alligator is ingeniously designed using three pieces – the body, the tummy pad and the teeth/eyes piece. I colored the eye on the teeth piece while still in the dies with a fine-tipped black marker. Then gluing the teeth onto the back of the alligator head and slightly opening the teeth. To get the half asleep red sunburnt alligator, I used the oval that came out of the eye and cut it in half and glued it over the eyes. I glued the tummy pad in place, but it is tightly snug between the arms even without glue.

For the sunbathing scene, I used striped paper cut into a rectangle and then fringed the short edges to make it look like a beach towel. The sun is from the Tropical Scene set.

For swimming in a snowy frozen river, I only used the head of the alligator with large spec glitter paper for the water and white glitter paper snowflakes cut with dies from the Sleigh and Winter Charms sets. The background is a coated blue glitter cardstock. The decorative frame is from a frame set KB had previously released with another company.

The last panel with Blue Nose, the pink alligator, used the waste from the decorative Fancy Flourish frame. (I save the tiny swirls to add to shaker element mixes for variety.) The sky is inked with a tiny make-up brush and blue ink.

The back panels explain the story and use scraps from the front. Stitch marks decorate the back frames and are made using the die as a stencil with a white gel pen.

Because of its bulk, the card can be mailed in an A7 envelope.

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Echo Park Paper Co. – 6×6 Paper Pad Double-sided Papers – Paradise Beach by Michelle Coleman
  • Recollections – 12×12 glitter cardstock -deep blue
  • Heavy teal blue cardstock
  • Orange, yellow, and white cardstock scraps
  • White litter card scrap
  • Coated baby blue glitter cardstock

Ink

Miscellaneous

Bee Sweet

| ullycatdesigns

BEE SWEET Front extended

Summer holidays are wonderful for their lazy days to be creative.

I had picked up several BoBunny paper pads at my Tuesday Morning store which included the BEE_UTIFUL YOU 6 x 8 paper pad. The collection features bees. I also picked up at the same time Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection Little Things Cling Stamps set which has a bee about to land.  Needless to say, I felt the need to get BEE-zy and created something from all this inspiration.

BEE SWEET inside detail

This simple Oval Landscape Accordion fold card was created using the Elizabeth Craft Designs Karen Burniston Pop It Ups die set 1108. I cut six frames with the inner oval taped to cut a narrow frame around the pivot oval.

BEE SWEETBack extended

Once all six frames were cut, I mixed the inner ovals patterned paper and taped them into the oval frames on the back side using white paper backed double-sided tape.  I left the backing paper on the tape until I was ready to adhere two frames together.  Once I had decided on the fronts and back of the frames and the order of the patterned paper on the frames, I placed double-sided tape on the backside frames (only the three patterned paper for the backside of the card.) Starting with my last frame on the right, I peeled off the backing paper on the two oval sections and carefully matched them up. I did not press the ovals together as I wanted wiggle room to remove the backing paper from a side of the outer frame, one-at-a-time, matching the sides together as best I could.  I did not put tape on the two tabs that would attach to the next frame.  I snipped off the two tabs of the back frame. Next I folded back the backing paper off just on the tape on the back frame of the middle section where the two tabs would adhere. I lined up the tabs and pressed them onto the tape of the middle section and started the process again to adhere the ovals first and then the outer frames of the middle frame section. Finally, I cut off the tabs on the first section before adhering the middle section tabs to the first frame as described before.

BEE SWEET inside wide

The ovals tabs were inserted between the sticky sections, aligned and firmly pressed together to adhere.  (See Karen Burniston accordion assembly video which shows a different shape, but the principles for accordion assembly are similar.)

BEE SWEET Front extended above

I decorated the ovals after I had assembled the frames so that I would not over embellish them.  To mail this card, I needed it to lie flat, but I wanted some dimension to the panels. Using small flower shapes cut from colored food boxes, I assembled six small flowers and two large flowers (see Supplies Used list for specific dies). On the Thinking of You frame, the flower and bee come from a Burts Bee’s box I had saved in my stash.

The last oval has a lacy oval of cream colored card stock to write a personal note on.

SUPPLIES USED:

Dies

Stamps:

Paper:

Miscellaneous: