Accordion Cards

Today I have some Accordion die cut cards.  I have three different Accordion Dies from Elizabeth Crafts (Karen Burniston's dies) - an Oval Accordion die, a Fancy Label Accordion, and a Katie Label Accordion.  Here I have made several cards so that I could use all three dies & get a better feel for how these work.  I DID make one several years ago (see post here), but it was long enough ago that I forgot how I needed to use them!  

After the third card I post here, you'll see a listing of the basic instructions for how to create these cards.  Here are the pictures I used on the card you see above.

Card #1 - Katie Label Accordion Die set (see above):

This first card started out as a three page card, but became six pages when I made mistakes that caused me to end up decorating the back side as well. The 4 pages you see above are from the Hunkydory Little Book of Winter Time, and I used these to decorate the card.  I also used an old blue/purple patterned paper from HOTP as you'll see in the pictures below.

Here's what the card looks like when closed:

 

Here's the first side when opened out:

As you can see, for the center panel, I stamped a verse (Divinity Designs set called Our Savior's Birth) on a panel that I die cut from a piece of scrap card stock (same die set as the card base). 

 

And here's the back side:

This time for the center panel, I used a simple stamp from HOTP's  Christmas Labels & Trims.

 

Card #2 - Oval Accordion Die set:

 

 

Because I made so many mistakes on the first card, and I knew I would need to help my mother put her four page card together, I decided to play a bit with the accordion structure.  This is a 4 page card that really looks more like a 5 page card because the center oval is different when the card is closed (unlike the one above where the center oval when the card is closed is the same as the first one on the inside).  

 

I used materials from a paper pad my daughter gave me for Christmas (called Glitz & Glam - by Park Lane).  It had some papers that I was less fond of, so gave me an opportunity to play with the structure by using materials that I could live with throwing away if I needed to do so.  It also had the added benefit of being sturdier than the papers I used on the last one - which makes the card itself more sturdy and is less like to wrinkle when glued in place.

As you can see, I used a make-up paper for the background.  The focal is fussy cut from one of the cut out pieces that comes in the set.  I added a bit of Distress Ink to change the color a bit so it would blend better with the background.  I also inked the oval using a different color of the Distress Ink - then glued the cut out in place.

Opened:

Here you can see the card when opened.  The picture made it a bit hard to see the first page that says "Glam Girl".  The first three centers were die cut from cut outs in the set.  The last has a die cut piece of white card stock - to which I added a heart cut from another of the cut outs.

Card #3: Two-Page Oval Accordion

I really like the way this one turned out.  It was a pretty easy card to make - just two pages of the Oval Accordion.  In addition to the cardboard panels, I cut panels from a patterned paper to cover the entire card base front & back.  I don't know if the hinge would work well if one uses a heavier paper to cover, but I figured this light-weight paper would be fine - and it was! The focal is based on a stamp from Divinity Designs that I colored with Inktense pencils and water - then fussy cut around it. The sentiment on the front is from a Stampendous set called Bible Promises - again it's stamped on white card stock - then fussy cut near the sentiment.  The corner pieces are cut from white card stock using dies from the Katie Label Accordion die set.

Here's what the card looks like when it's opened up:

 

The inside sentiment is from another Divinity Designs stamp set called On Eagle's Wings.

 

So far I have learned the following about using these dies:

1) Choose your configuration - These cards can be constructed one of two ways.  Either you have a single edge to open (like the first card) or you have a folded edge to open (like the 2nd).  Put another way, as you put your card together, your frames will either start with a valley fold (like the 1st) or a mountain fold (like the 2nd) and then alternate for as many pages as your card has.2

2) Connect your outer frames (frames ONLY - we won't connect the inner parts until later) - Now that you know which way you want the folds to go, you can glue your outer frames together.  Before you start, make sure that all pages have the tabs (both frame and center tabs) facing to the right in front of you.  Fold your tabs the direction you want the fold to go (valley or mountain) starting from the left to "train" the fold before gluing the pieces together.  If your decorating will be covering the frames COMPLETELY (by using the main die and removing tabs & center) you can (if you wish) glue the tabs to the front where they will be covered with the decorative paper.  Otherwise, glue them behind each piece where they won't be visible from the front.  As you glue each piece, fold it as you want it to fold to ensure each page is lining up as you wish.  When you've glued all pages together, lay the connected strip out flat - face up with the little tabs facing to the right.

3) Decorating - Next, decorate these pages as you wish - but keep in mind that if you went with the "folded edge" configuration (mountain fold first) you will have an additional "center part" to decorate, and that additional center part will actually be seen as your card front. Similarly, if you went with the Valley fold first you will have an additional "frame" part to decorate (which will become part of your card front). If you wish, you can wait to decorate that additional part until later (optional step 5). For now, just decorate the frames and other center pieces as they lie in front of you - making sure the little inner tabs are facing to your right and your first fold (valley or mountain) is to your left.  NOTE: if your decorative pieces for the centers of your pages are all cut with the base die so you will be covering the centers completely, you CAN hide the little tabs if you wish - by assembling your center decorations like you might a card front - but WAITING to glue them in place until after step 4 (and gluing the tabs in front instead of in back).  This, of course, is totally optional - and only works if you will be covering the entire center section (not counting the hinges, of course).

4) Finish assembly - Once you've finished decorating the pages, you can begin to attach the center pieces.  You want your center pieces to fold opposite to the way the frames fold.  So, for example, if your first frame fold is a mountain fold, your first center fold will be a valley fold - and vice versa.  Once again train the little tab(s) to fold as you want them to fold and then glue them in place.  (You will have to have your frames folded a bit in order to bring them together close enough to glue in place.)  I recommend that as you glue each tab in place, that you fold the card to ensure it's aligning as it should - once again, making sure that the center sections fold the opposite way of the frame sections.  

5) Complete your decorating - Once your card is completely connected, you can finish any decorating that remains - gluing centers in place if you waited on that - and decorating the front (frame if first frame fold is valley, center if first frame fold is mountain) when the card is closed - making sure it is right side up! By waiting to decorate the card front until last, you will have the folded card in front of you and it will be easy to see what remains to be decorated!              

Now to use these dies to make even more interesting structures!

Card #4 - Mix of Accordion Oval & Katie Label Accordion - AND turned them horizontally!

I can't take credit for the techniques used here.  I saw them in a couple of videos from Karen Burniston the creator of these dies - I just combined the techniques.

Because of the way I did this, the structure is not at all flimsy!  I started by cutting the 3 main pieces out of white card stock.  I had already attempted a stacked structure that didn't work because I had measured incorrectly, so I used it for the new "hinges" I needed here - otherwise, I'd have had to cut 3 extra pieces in order to get the hinges I needed.  

Basically, the technique is: 

1) New Hinges: For each panel, cut loosely around the hinges of a second piece and glue to the new horizontal top & bottom structures.  

2) Remove old tabs & hinges: You can then cut all the other tabs & hinges off.  You have replaced the hinges in the previous step - next up you'll start replacing tabs.  

3) Replace the frame tabs & connect the frames:  Using lengths of narrow length-wise folded scrap, connect the sides (use the same color card stock that you used for the card bases - white in this case).  You connect the panels much the same as you would ordinarily do, but you have to glue it on both sides since you don't have a tab on one side - ensuring they fold as you want them to (valley/mountain/valley in this case).  NOTE: If you used different base pages like I did here, you may need to do some trimming on the frames so that they are all the same size

4) Decorate as desired: Using the base dies, cut the base panels out.  Cut out the centers and glue the frames in place - front and back (to cover the hinges & tabs - trimming if needed).  You can also decorate the centers on the front of your string of panels and glue them in place, but wait to glue the centers of the back until after you've connected the centers.  Add whatever embellishments you wish - though you can also add some at the end.

5) Replace the tabs for the centers & connect centers: You can fold a narrow length of card stock in half width-wise (at least double the size of the inner tabs that you cut off - I like to make them even a bit longer since they won't be seen).  Glue them to the sides of the centers to connect them - folding them opposite of the frames (mountain/valley/mountain in this case).  

6) Cover the centers on the back: Using the centers you cut out of your patterned paper/card stock earlier, glue them in place to cover the center tabs.  

7) Finish decorating as you wish.

Here's what this one looks like when opened up:

Using the dies that came with the sets to cut out white panels for the insides of the centers, I decorated with misc from my stash.  The greeting on the front (that folds to the left of the inside when opened) was hand printed.  The greeting on the inside was stamped with a sentiment stamp from Sweet Stamps.

Card #5 - Staggered Accordion!

 

Details regarding construction follow the pictures.  For this card I used a printed card stock to cover the base frames on the front of each panel - and an extra on the back of the first panel (which becomes the card front).  I also used 3 scenic verse stamps from Art Impressions - Shepherd Window (above), Be Joyful Window, and Eagles Window - stamped directly on the centers of each accordion panel.  I colored these with Inktense pencils.  I made two sentiment panels - one for the front and one for the inside.  These were cut using dies from the Katie Label Accordion set.  The sentiment stamps are from May May Made It.  The one on the card front is from Your Faith is Showing set - the one inside is from Blessed Inside and Out.  Here's what the card looks like when opened (except that you can see the first panel better in normal light!)

Here's a closeup of each accordion center panel:

This technique is outlined in a Karen Burniston video here.  This structure requires that the accordion centers have tabs top and bottom (center tabs like for the Oval Accordion die won't work!).  The hardest part of this is making sure you start with the correct card size so the tab will line up correctly.  

The basic technique for a staggered accordion is to start with 3 panels that are the designated size (see highlighted numbers below).  Then use the accordion die to cut each one - 2 panels with the die at the top, and one with the die at the bottom - making sure the tabs are always on the right.  The trick is that you have to carefully stagger your cutting plates before sending the die/card stock through the die cutting machine.  You want your top plate to be set such that it doesn't cover one card edge so it won't cut - lower edge when die is at the top, upper edge when die is at the bottom.

I have two dies that could work for this style of structure.  The one I used here is the same one Karen used in her video - the Fancy Label Accordion.  For that one, you need to start with 3 panels that are    5 1/8" x 6 7/8" (she uses 5" x 6 7/8" with a narrower tab, but I prefer to cut the full tab).  

If I were to use the other die - the Katie Label Accordion - I would cut 3 panels that are 4 3/4" x 8 1/8".  (I haven't actually tried this last one since I ran out of time, but measurements are based on the same principles as those for the Fancy Label Accordion so it SHOULD work!)  

In addition to making a staggered accordion from the Katie Label die, there are two other techniques I'd like to try sometime.  1) Combine the accordion die with a pivot die (video here) and 2) cut the card base from a fold-able acetate.  This makes elements look like they're floating in air (video here).