Quadruple Easel with a Couple Twists

This card really made me think as I tried to figure out how to make it!  It didn't turn out quite the way I envisioned it, but I rather like it anyway.  It was inspired by a couple of challenges - one to make an easel card, and one to make a twisted easel card.  It was also inspired by the lovely freebie tags I got from The Navage Patch.  There is one large easel piece which covers the card until it is opened.  This folds back behind and out of the way.  Then there are three smaller easels - twisted easels on each side, and a standard one in the center.  I'll describe it sort of the way it came together.

Card Base: I started with a base from white card stock cut 9" by 3 3/4" so it would fit in a standard business sized envelope.   After cutting to size, I embossed the base with my European A4 sized embossing folder called Linked Circles (Teresa Collins).  

Twisted Easel Bases: The two side easels were cut from the same white card stock to 3 3/4" x 4 1/4" each.  They were scored at 1/2" (measured along the 4 1/4" side with score line perpendicular to it) to form a 3 3/4" square.  They were then scored corner to corner of the square - making sure to create the correct diagonal for each side (going from the lower outside corner, to the upper inside corner with the 1/2" flap to the side where it can wrap around the card base).  Crease all score lines as mountain folds.

Center Easel Base: This one was cut 3 1/2" x 4 1/4" - scored at 1/2" from one narrow edge and 1 7/8" from the other.  Once again, crease all score lines as mountain folds.

Easel Focals: For each small easel, I cut a piece of red card stock (from my stash) just a bit smaller than the easel when closed so there would be a bit of a white border all around.  I then trimmed the tags & attached them to these squares.  To attach the focal squares to the easel base, I need to add adhesive to only part of the focal.  For the two twisted easels, I drew a pencil line on the back from corner to corner to match the diagonal fold on the twisted easel bases.  Then I added glue ONLY to the lower inside triangle & attached to the card base.  The remaining one I just put glue on the bottom half & added it to the center easel base.  THEN, I added my easel bases to the card base by attaching the flaps to the back of the card base (twisted easels attach to the sides, center attaches to the center back of the card.  I added Jewel Dazzles as fake "brads" in the holes of the tags.

Easel Stops: For each of the three smaller easels, I stamped leftover bits of cards with one of the three words in "Deck the Halls!" (stamp from a bulk HOTP set).  I did this by carefully inking so only one word was stamped at a time (wiping off excess ink before stamping).  After heat embossing with white powder, I attached these to the card base with foam tape so they would hold the easels in place.  NOTE: Placement of these is important!  Do the twisted ones first, making sure they are held far enough back that the center one is free to move!  Unfortunately, my card base had gotten a little messed up because I hadn't realized the importance of placement of the easel stops in time.  To cover/hide this, I used Crystal Stickles scribbles under each stop to give the illusion of a bit of glistening snow.

At this point, I had my easels more or less the way I had envisioned them, but they looked rather strange when closed for mailing.  After much contemplation, I decided to make a large easel to cover them that would fold all the way back behind when opened.

 
Large Easel Base: The large easel base was cut from white card stock to 9" x 4 1/4" and then scored 1 7/8" from the front edge (fold line for "easel" part) and 3/8" from the back edge (flap - allows for bulk of the card).  It was covered with a piece of patterned paper (old HOTP) cut in half so the edges meet at the score line.  I attached the flap to the back underside of the card base, so the large easel covered all the others.

Belly Band:  Now I needed a belly band to keep the card in place.  I used another tag to decorate it.  I simply took a piece of card stock, scored it to fit the card, embossed it, wrapped it loosely around my card (so it would be able to slide off), and added my belly band focal.  The focal was made by trimming another of the tags down a bit & adding scraps of red top & bottom.

 

Finishing: Even with the belly band in place, the card front looked pretty plain.  I needed to add some decorations that would not be visible & draw attention when the large easel was standing in place behind the others - in other words - just across the top!  SO I added a white strip across the top decorated with a die cut greeting.