With the Walt Disney film, The Nutcracker, around the corner, I decided to do a set of Nutcracker themed ATC’s. This one is Clara. Below are the steps which I used to create Clara.
For the character of Clara, I chose a digital stamp by AuroraWings, and a Nutcracker digital paper by KaramfilaS. I resized Clara so that she would fit comfortably inside of a 2.5″ x 3.3″ card and then coloured in Clara to match the digi paper. For the background I opened up the digital paper in Photoshop, and cropped an area 3.25″ high and 5.75″ wide. I will do a tutorial on how to do this another time. For now simply take your chosen background paper and cut it to the dimensions I’ve just given.
Although I love using polymer and rubber stamps, the digital stamps are ideal for smaller items such as ATC’s as you can modify the size to suit them. With traditional stamps, although it is possible to find smaller stamps, they are not always what you want. The advantage of digital stamps is that they are much cheaper than traditional stamps, plus you can alter the size to fit your project.
To make the pop-up, fold the paper in half, as shown in the diagram above and then cut where the red lines are. I haven’t put measurements because you can vary the lines as long as you follow this basic rule. The width between the dotted line on the left (A) should not be less than the width between the dotted line on the right and the edge of the paper, otherwise the your pop-up will stick out. To make sure that the cut line is in the correct position, you can take your pop-up character and place it in position on the left hand side of the card. Your pop-up character should fit comfortably between the dashed line (A) and the left edge of the paper.
Once you’ve made the parallel cuts, you can score the ends as shown in the diagram. Lift up the tab and turn the center line into a mountain fold. There are loads of Youtube videos where you can see this being done. Once you’ve done that you can either use glue or double sided tape to cover the back with the exception of the strip which pops up. If using glue, only do one side for now.
Take a piece of coloured card 3.5″high x 5″ high. Fold it in half then line up the center fold with the center fold of the digital paper. Adhere in place on one side and then remove the backing of the remaining tape and fold the card closed. Test it pops up correctly and doesn’t stick out beyond the edge of the paper. If you followed the rule above you should be OK.
Use tape or glue to stick your character on the pop-up strip and decorate the front. You then have a pop-up ATC.
