Sunday 16 October 2016

Staircase Card - The Tutorial - Making the Stairs and Card

Now I  know a lot of you have been patiently waiting for this one. So here it is... along with lots of photos to guide you on your way...

Like what I am providing... then please feel free to make a contribution via this link here . Any currency works... I prefer it this way rather than to have to charge for some of these more time consuming tutorials.... And it all goes towards new stamps etc so I can create and (hopefully) further inspire...

But before I share the steps... this is a slightly modified version of this one shared earlier. This is much more to my taste...

Much more subtle wallpaper this time using the Presents & Pinecones papers! (previous one just being masked and stencilled Cherry Cobbler cardstock) 

And the side/back wall papered too.... 

So here we go...

Metric (centimetres) Recipe from A4 card
Thick Whisper White x A4
Thick Whisper White 16.8 x 12.5cm
Paper Back 14.3cm Square
Paper Front Left 7.1 x 14.3cm (x2)  ( NOTE – this is wider than the 6.9cm wide that I would normally cut for this card type as I didn’t want a border to the RHS for neatness purposes through my staircase!)

US Imperial (inches) Recipe from 8 1/2 x 11" card
Thick Whisper White 8 1/2 x 11"
Thick Whisper White 6 1/2" x 5"
Paper Back 5 5/8" Square
Paper Front Left 2 5/8" x 5 5/8" (x2) ( NOTE – this is wider than the 2 1/2" wide that I would normally cut for this card type as I didn’t want a border to the RHS for neatness purposes through my staircase!)

And this is what you want to do....

1. Grab the piece of A4 card. (US 8 1/2" x 11")

2. LANDSCAPE. Score at 14.8 and 7.4cm. (US Score 5 1/2" and 2 3/4")
3. PORTRAIT. Cut at 14.8cm. (US Cut 5 1/2")


4. Pick up the thin strip.

5. Place PORTRAIT on trimmer with 2 score lines to top.

6. Line up at 2.5cm (US 1") to right hand side.
7. Cut from 14.8cm (US Cut 5 1/2") (ie central/2nd score line) to Top (ie 0). 
8. LANDSCAPE. 2 score lines/cut section to right hand side and thin (2.5cm/US 1") section to bottom

9. Line up at 14.8cm (US 5 1/2") (ie so central/1st score-line is on the groove!)
10. Cut from cut line (about 3.7cm/US about 1 1/2"?) to Top (ie 0)
11. Cut from Top of widest section to centre/top of 2.5cm (US 1") section (either with craft knife and ruler or with your trusty trimmer like I do!) 
Note – I have only drawn a line so you can see it! I wouldn’t actually do this myself…


12. Ink up and stamp greetings as required ( I recommend doing this now as a new section can be quickly re-made if your stamping is not as you want… you don’t want to be doing after you have stuck all you slats on!!!)

13. Grab your rectangular 16.8 x 12.5cm (US 6 1/2" x 5") white panel.
14. Cut diagonally.
Now my ladies have all been surprised at these next steps not being as difficult/time consuming as they first imagined…. Phew!!

15. Cut 12 x ¼” slats/risers (US - only 11 required) starting from the high side (TIP – make sure your orientation is in the same way as the card ie the top LHS will bethe same height as the highest slat on the left)

16. Grab your grid paper (inches) - or a ruler and pencil!

17. Turn wider/sloped section onto its back.
18. Mark every ¼” at top and bottom

19. Apply thin line of glue from top to bottom of highest ¼” section, miss a section, apply glue to next section etc… do as many or as few at a time as you like…
20. Stick longest slat/riser to highest ¼” section (Tip make sure your slope is in same direction as the base of your stairs!)
21. Continue until you have stuck all your 12 (US 11) slat/risers in place…. (TIP there is an an unequal sized gap at the end for the metric version!)

22. Stick papers. ( Tip I have lined up the front left to the centre as I don't want an ugly gap through my stairs!!!)

23. Concertina fold your base card and stairs strip (Note there should be a 2nd narrower piece of paper for that side wall in this photo shot!!!)
24. Adhere right hand side of the strip to the back right hand side

25. Adhere left hand side of the floating strip to the front left of the card (TIP - think about where you do NOT want your glue!!!)

22. Decorate as required.  As this is getting rather long and has so many photos…  I will do another post tomorrow with details on my decoration….



40 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW! What a lot of work but oh, my1 I must try it. Thank you!

Adeline said...

what a lovely card, thank you for sharing the tutorial :)

Jan Hoyt said...

Unbelievable card...thanks for sharing in such detail and with both metric Euro and metric dimensions. Definitely a one of a kind project...it's beautiful!

christine said...

Gorgeous! Thanks for the tutorial!

Mimi said...

Thanks so much for sharing the process. I love your card.

Wanda Williams said...

I can't WAIT to give this a try!!! Thanks so much for this great tutorial!!!

Anne said...

Thank you so much Amanda - you are so talented and kind. X

Amanda said...

Thank you. Only about an hour for my novice crafters going step by step in class... less work/time than they/I had expected. Even with the hand cut triple holly boughs!

Amanda said...

Thank you Adeline...and my pleasure!

Amanda said...

Thank you Jan... and definitely worth a try!

Amanda said...

Thank you ...and my pleasure!

Amanda said...

Thank you Mimi... and my pleasure!

Amanda said...

Thank you Wanda... and I hope you get to try it out sometime soon!

Amanda said...

Thank you Anne... I just love to share my creative endeavours!! Hope you get to try one of these out...

Anne said...

Hope to try this week Amanda. Not crafted for a couple of weeks. Been to visit mum and then on to Cornwall for much needed break. Took some card to cut up ready for my Christmas All Day but the weather was fabulous every day and we went out! Need to get my act tog now- I have 13 ladies coming on 12th Nov - eeekkk :-) x

Ann Lauzon said...

All I can say is WOW, I can see where I'm going to be busy for the rest of the day. lol, thanks Amanda...Ann in Canada

Pam from Maine said...

Love this card and can't thank you enough for sharing the directions. Can't wait to try this.

Unknown said...

Beautiful card with tutorial so we no longer need to guess...LOL Thanks so much Amanda...

Amanda said...

Thank you Ann... Hope you had a successful busy creative day!

Amanda said...

Thank you Pam... My pleasure.... And hope you enjoy creating our own staircase!

Amanda said...

Thanks Kat... And my pleasure to stop the guessing!

Unknown said...

Thank you for the tutorial. I couldn't wait and made my own card slightly different and will post the resulting card on fb site. Thank you for sharing.

Shelby said...

Amanda, It was worth the wait.....and I did it!...love what you do...
Thank You Thank You
Happy Cardmaking

Amanda said...

Look forward to seeing it....

Amanda said...

Thank you Shelby... And yay! Can't wait to see your stairs...

Tracy said...

Leave it to YOU to come up with this wonderfully unique card and such detailed directions shared! Truly breathtaking card. Wonderfully done, Amanda!!

Mary said...

Thank you for providing cutting guide for those of us in the US, appreciate it!! Love the card :)

Amanda said...

Thanks Tracy... hope the detailed directions help you make one of your own...

Amanda said...

Thanks Mary... and my pleasure!

Wendy Reed said...

WOW, that was worth waiting for. Thank you so much Amanda.

Amanda said...

Thank you Wendy... And enjoy...

Anonymous said...

This is so beautiful! Such an elaborate card. It's too complicated for me but I love looking at it.

KathyA. said...

Absolutely amazing! And your directions are well written with great photos. Thanks so much!

Amanda said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Amanda said...

Thank you so much... But I hope you do try it... It is a simple enough card... And the staircase isn't complicated ...just precise!

Amanda said...

Thank you Kathy... And I do hope you get to create your own...

Sheila said...

just came upon your site and this card is amazing thank you

Amanda said...

Aw thank you ...and welcome Sheila... hope you can get to make one of your own....

Kristine said...

Amanda, THANK YOU so much for this! My design teams just did a "Fancy Fold Blog Hop" and I saw the Z-fold and thought I'd try it, but your card here is what really Amazed me! Unfortunately I don't own a window die yet, so I made my own version - hope you'll check out my CAS of your gorgeous staircase card! https://inksomething2.blogspot.com/2017/11/staircase-z-fold-christmas-card.html

Amanda said...

Fabulous card Kris... and your note to self did make me giggle!