Dual Side Step Card

The dual side step card is a little more elaborate, but can easily be made using a card blank.  I thought about creating my own measurements to use the card blank as it comes, but that would have made for really challenging measurements.  So, I cut the card down from a 6.5" x 5" card to a 6" x 4.5" card and used the measurements found on Becca's blog.  However, the really important measurement is the 4.5" one - widths could be easily varied, so I could envision a card made from a standard 5" x 7" card base with 1/2" cut off each end giving a 4.5" X 7" card. Here's the process:

Card Base: 

• Cut your card base down to make a 6" x 4.5" card (6" x 9" when open - DON'T FOLD IT YET).
• Placing the open card vertically in front of you, measure in 1 1/2" from each edge and draw a light vertical pencil line.
• Still using a light touch with a pencil, mark these pencil lines as follows: 1" down from the top, 2" up from the bottom.
• Now, using a craft knife, cut along the vertical lines between your 1" & 2" marks from the previous step.
• Turn your card horizontally with the 1" mark on your left.  Now you'll be drawing light vertical lines with your pencil that go between your two pencil/cut lines from the previous steps.  Measuring from the left edge, draw these at 1", 2", 3 1/2", 5" & 7".
• Score along the lines drawn  in the last step.  
• Fold along these score lines starting from the left: mountain, valley, mountain, valley, mountain.  Fold the outside edge in a mountain fold at the card center (usually this score line is already there in a prepared card blank).  Now your card is ready to decorate.

Decorating: the remaining directions assume you are looking at the card as it is in the picture above

• Background - From a HOTP Card Maker's Personal Shopper, I found a piece of paper that had these dots on the left, a border in the center, and yellow paper on the right.  I trimmed it so there was 1" of the border attached to the dots.  I glued this to the front of the card base with the border at the bottom, and cut around it.  Taking pieces that were cut off, I cut them to fit the front of the two "steps" in the middle of the card and glued these in place.  The remainder of the border was attached to a yellow piece of paper.  I cut this off with about an inch of the yellow to form a border on the inside of the card (no picture of this).
• Focal - The focal scene is created using stamps I got free with a Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine subscription.  I stamped them on white card stock with black Versafine ink.  I colored the ground and the dogs with chalk.  Then used watercolor pencils to add the rest of the color, blending some with a water brush & some with a clear Wink of Stella for added shine.  After fussy cutting  around them, I attached the people to the back step and the dogs & flowers to the next step.  After taking the picture, I realized I didn't have as much dimension as I wanted, so I removed the flowers & re-attached them with foam tape.
• Sentiments - Both sentiments came in the kit.  The larger one was mounted on white card stock for additional stability as it hangs out in front of the scene.