Waterfall Card tutorial -from a single A 4

Waterfall Card

Waterfall cards are super fun interactive cards and recently I made quite a few with matching post it note holders.The photos show the flipping panels of our waterfall card.

Waterfall Card

 I had fun using butterfly stickers on the 2 inch square flipping panels of this waterfall card.

Waterfall Card

The photo shows the matching 3 x 3 inch  pen with post it note holder.

Post it note holder

Waterfall card tutorial

Though I love making all kinds of interactive cards ,waterfall cards seemed complicated.I couldnt quite understand  the tutorials on the net and I  couldn't even fathom the name waterfall as the panels actually flip up on pulling the tab [how crazy it would be if a waterfall defied gravity like that!].Also the tutorials on the net seemed to require a lot of card stock!
As paper-crafters we all love to "save" our precious card stock don't we? So the fun "paper saving" aspect about this tutorial is you can make a waterfall card using just a single sheet of A 4 card-stock and once you get the hang of it ,it saves time too!

What is a waterfall card?

For my crafting friends who are not familiar with a waterfall card its a beautiful interactive card which looks way more complicated than it is!!

The waterfall mechanism needs 4 paper parts

1.Base card

2.Interactive strip

3.Flipping Card Panels

4.Restraining Belt strip
Stick card panels on to a folded card strip and your waterfall strip is ready. Use a belt type card strip to anchor it to a card base and your waterfall is ready to flip!
To cut these waterfall card parts from an A 4 card

1. Cut off 2 inches from one end of an A 4 strip-gives the panel strip
2. Cut off 1.75 inches of the remaining piece as shown- gives the interactive strip
3. Cut off 8.5 inches of the last piece- gives the base card and the belt

Waterfall card Tutorial

For those who love measurements [Base card: 8.5 x 6.5 which when folded is 4.25 x 6.5 ; Interactive strip:1.75 x approx 9.5;Panel strip:8.25 x 2 which when cut gives 3 panels of 2 x 2 inch and one panel 2.25 x 2 inch;Belt strip 6.5 x 1 and 1/8th which should be trimmed to 4.25 length]

Waterfall card Tutorial

Score and fold the interactive strip .Cut the panel strip into 4 panels at approx 2 inch intervals[the Panel strip is 8.25 x 2 which when cut gives 3 panels of 2 x 2 inch and one last panel 2.25 x 2 inch..if you want you can shorten this odd one to 2 x 2 or leave it as such ].By this method you utilize just one A 4 card to make the waterfall and only waste a small strip of card marked "cut off" from the belt strip.

Waterfall card Tutorial

Take the interactive strip [9.5 x 1.75 inches] and score at 2 inches,2.75,3.5 and 4.25 [ie 0.75 inches gap]. Fold both ways at the creases to loosen the score lines. Fold over the strip as shown[ at the last score line towards the center of the strip].

Waterfall card Tutorial

Apply glue on the 2 inch wide area of the interactive strip as shown.Glue one card panel [I choose my odd size one which is longer than the rest] on it aligning the top of the panel to the score line.

Waterfall card Tutorial

Apply glue to the area before the next score line and glue on the next panel again aligning the top of the panel with the scoreline.Similarly glue on the other 2 panels of the waterfall card.

Waterfall card Tutorial

Now you have your folded waterfall mechanism with the overlapping panels stuck on, the folded base card and the belt strip which you have cut short to a length of 4.25[ the width of your folded base card]

Waterfall card Tutorial

Attach the belt strip to the lower part of your base card using strong white glue at the edges[ around 0.5 inches area] or brads or eyelets.The belt attachment needs to be sturdy yet loose to allow easy flipping of your waterfall  card.

Waterfall card Tutorial

Slip in the folded waterfall strip under the belt keeping the part with the panels above the belt. Apply glue on the central part of the strip which will be covered by the panels.Stick on the panel which overlaps the belt aligning the lower border of the panel to the lower border of the belt.Allow it to dry well and pull the interactive strip to see your flipping waterfall card.

Waterfall Card

Well for those of you who have never made a  water falI card it may sound complicated..but do give it a shot and I bet you will be hooked ! And I  do hope this crazy tutorial is of help..to my fellow crafters in some way.

Here are some more waterfall cards

Teachers day cards and Blog Hop Winner

Teacher's day cards

Teachers day cards

I love making cards with all kinds of interactive movements such as spinning cards, swinging cards, pop up cards, sliding cards,wiper cards,shaker cards and crazy cards with combinations of all these mechanisms.

Teacher's day cards- waterfall card

We combined a waterfall card with a simple pop up mechanism in this teacher's day card.

Teacher's day cards 

You would have guessed who chose all the stickers on this teachers day card [I am actually glad my 6 year old chose " hello kitty" than Disney princesses this time- I am suffering from an overdose of sleeping beauty these days!].I made a punchcraft rose to embellish a matching post it note holder.

Post it note holder

These post it note holders are completely inspired by my blogger friend Nupur though I did have to scratch my head to figure out how to make them.

Post it note holder

Also Sharing in this post the winner of the first candy I am giving away on my blog [For My dear friend Beckie's blogversary hop]

Its .....

Jessica S 

from  http://jessicascraftshaque.blogspot.in/ in the USA!
Its quite amazing since I won my first ever blog candy from her and she is the winner of the first candy at my blog!
Here is what I will be sending her.

Blog candy

It includes a Peacock emboss painting kit,Flower and beads mobile making kit, Quilling kit, Finger puppet making kit,Puffy Fabric flowers, 6 little Dolls ,Peacock embellishment and rhinestones. I must confess when I realised Jessica was the winner I tweaked the gifts to include the emboss painting[for an Indian touch as its our national bird] and the finger puppets[ Jessica has 5 darling children]! I hope she likes it!!

Interested in card making ? Here is a compilation of nearly 30 card making tutorials

Teachers Day Card and Bookmark

Teachers Day Card

Teacher's Day card

As mentioned in my previous post this year we made quite a few teacher's day cards. All were waterfall cards. The pencil shape in the above picture is because we placed the bookmark atop our teacher's day card!

Teacher's Day card

As my friends would have correctly guessed this particular card was embellished entirely by my 6 year old!

Teacher's Day card

This card was made for her "Environmental sciences" teacher and my kiddo thought her teacher would love all the bugs since her teacher was forever teaching them about bugs! [Who am I to correct the logic of a 6 year old!!]

Teacher's Day card

I hope the poor teacher has the heart to smile at this lovingly made interactive card!

Teacher's Day card

Since the foam bugs had only eyes my little artist drew cheeky smiles for them!!

Teacher's Day card

I almost didnt post this thinking "ugh bugs" !! what do you guys say ??

Linking to Crafting for all seasons[for child/back to school]
Edited: Thank You so much DT of Crafting for all seasons for appreciating and featuring my little's one's crafty project!

Teachers Day cards - waterfall card

Teachers day cards

Teachers day cards

Teachers day is celebrated on Sept 5th in India and though I usually make special cards for my daughters teachers this time it was a struggle as my daughter is in a new school this year and she has 10 teachers! In the rush I didnt take photos of all the layers of this waterfall teachers day card!

Teachers day cards

My daughter loves interactive and pop up cards and I made the inside of the waterfall card special by making a honey comb orange pop up card. [Here is the link to  Honey comb pop up card tutorial]

Used the beaded flowers tutorial to make the beaded flowers on our waterfall. 

We didnt make 10 cards  as my daughter was quite particular  she wanted cards for only 6 of her teachers! Managing to make 6 cards in one go was tough for me...Hats off to those talented souls who make cards for exhibitions and client orders!!How do you guys manage it?!!
I am still not happy with this one as I couldnt put my whole heart into it !!
Here are links to more Teachers Days Cards
Here are some Teachers Day Gift Ideas

Puppy Interactive Card

Pop Up Card Kirigami Puppy

I love interactive cards and dogs so this card is a combination of the 2!
This card was made keeping 2 Indian Card Challenges in mind. The inspiration is my Cocker spaniel Goldy!
This card goes for the ICR [Indian Craft Room] Challenge 4 - Card with black , white and turquoise.
and Crafty JC Challenge by Jaya- Card with doodling/drawing.
The front of the card is a waterfall mechanism with 4 puppies whom I have drawn based loosely on popular dog characters- Clifford, Dalmatian,Bolt and my own Cocker spaniel .

Waterfall Card Clifford

A dalmatian puppy features on the next panel of the waterfall card.

Waterfall Card Dalmatian

This one is my version of a cocker spaniel.We have a golden one and his only mission in life is play! So here is  my attempt at a cocker spaniel on the 3rd leaf of the waterfall card.

Waterfall Card Cocker Spaniel

Here is my version of BOLT. He is a doggy movie star.If you have not watched the movie you should its touching and hilarious.So Bolt the superdog is on the last panel of the waterfall card.

Water fall Card Bolt

The inside is a Kirigami Puppy Pop up card with a cocker spaniel and a blue ball.

This type of pop up card is called a 180 degree pop up card as it opens flat out unlike most pop up cards which only allow the card to be opened partially.This design is from the master of Kirigami pop up cards Chatani.

Kirigami Pop up card

Here is the closeup of the Kirigami pop up card puppy.

Kirigami 180 degree pop up card

A dog needs a ball ,doesnt he ,so there is a ball for the pop up card puppy!

Pop Up card Dog

Kirigami Pop up cards are not as difficult as they appear and I shall try to post a Tutorial in next post
Do tell me what you feel about the puppies!
Here are links to waterfall cards
Here are more examples of pop up cards
Would you like to try making pop up cards? Here are links to Pop up card Tutorials