Stampin’ Up! Ready for Christmas Staircase #3 – Stair Step Cards
Recently I’ve been sharing some of my favourite projects featuring Stampin’ Up’s new Ready for Christmas bundle of products which are available NOW to Stampin’ Up! demonstrators, and will be available from the 1st of September 2017 to customers. The bundle is made up of the 20 piece Ready for Christmas stamp set, and 20 piece Christmas Staircase thinlits dies. Yes, 40 pieces!
Tip: Get yours now by joining Stampin’ Up!. More info HERE.
Today’s cards revisit the good ol’ stair step card layout (aka side step cards). I’ve had a few questions about how they were made after sharing a picture over on my Facebook page, so I’m back today with all the measurements and everything you need to know to recreate these cards.
But first, a closer look at the 3 cards.
Whisper White Stair Step Card
This is the simplest of the 3 cards, and is made with a base with sentiments stamped in .
The tree and gifts are stamped, die cut and coloured, then added to the first ‘step’ of the stair step card.
Next we cut the staircase using the detailed staircase framelit, which is adhered to the back ‘step’.
The side table and santa’s cookies, plus our cute little dachshund dog, embellish the front.
Speaking of that cute little dog, here’s a tip for watercolouring him: try using the gorgeous to apply the inks.
You can learn more about that technique in this post.
The mixes with the ink to create an amazing shimmery image and I find the ink blends sooooo beautifully using this method. It’s such an amazing look but it’s definitely not easy to photograph, so you’ll have to give it a go and you’ll see what I mean. It’s stunning in real life.
Cherry Cobbler Stair Step Card
This card is similar, but with a and the addition of panels of Designer Series Paper (and just a little strip of for the flooring).
I shuffled around the order of the staircase, tree and table too, just to change things up a bit.
Garden Green Stair Step Card
Our next card uses as the base, and again shuffled around the order of the staircase and tree.
The stamped tree image is filled out with the addition of die-cut branches. Six of the large branches match up perfectly with the stamped image underneath.
I love this little side table. Stay tuned for a project I’m sharing soon which shows how the legs are the perfect base of an ‘artificial’ Christmas tree.
Turn it upside down, and I’m sure it could pass as a candle holder too!
Oh the ideas are endless.
The little stockings are a cute addition, and I’m very glad I didn’t have to fussy cut all of these out.
How to make the Stair Step Cards using A4 and Letter size cardstock
Using A4 Cardstock (21cm x 29.8cm):
- Cut cardstock in half, giving you an A5 sized panel. I trimmed mine down slightly so it was a nice and even 21cm x 14.5cm (i.e. cut 3mm off one side). This will make it easier if you decide to add DSP panels because you won’t have to deal with 2mm or 3mm in your measurements.
- Using your paper trimmer, cut a 13.5cm line approx 6cm inside from the left side of the cardstock. Start 2.5cm from the top and cut down until 16cm. You’ll need to lift the ruler of the trimmer at the start and end, to avoid cutting the piece off. Note: I say “approx 6cm” because really this measurement will change depending on how wide you want the flat part of your stair step card to be.
- Score the wider side at 2.5cm, 5cm, 8cm, 11cm and 16cm. The first and last score lines should meet the two ends of your cut lines. Score the narrow side of the cut line at 10.5cm.
- Fold the sore lines in alternating mountain and valley folds. Fold the other score line as a mountain fold.
Need to see it? I shared these projects recently at the Stampin’ Up! incentive trip in Thailand, and drew THIS rough diagram for a fellow demonstrator. lol Don’t mind the note paper it was written on. Hope it helps!
Using US Letter sized cardstock (8 ½” x 11″):
- Cut cardstock in half, giving you a 5 ½” x 8 ½” sized panel. Score the long side at 4 ¼.
- Using your paper trimmer, cut a 5 3 / 8″ line approx 2 ½” inside from the left side of the cardstock. Start 1″ in from the edge and cut down until 6 3 / 8 “. You’ll need to lift the ruler of the trimmer at the start and end, to avoid cutting the piece off. Note: I say “approx 2 ½” because really this measurement will change depending on how wide you want the flat part of your stair step card to be.
- Score the wider side at 1″, 2″, 3 1 / 8, 4 ¼ and 6 3 / 8″. The first and last score lines should meet the two ends of your cut lines.
- Fold the sore lines in alternating mountain and valley folds. Fold the other score line as a mountain fold.
Need to see it? I shared these projects recently at the Stampin’ Up! incentive trip in Thailand, and drew THIS rough diagram for a fellow demonstrator. lol Again, don’t mind the note paper it was written on. Hope it helps!
There are some great YouTube videos on this fold type, so if these written instructions don’t make sense then I’m sure you’ll have no trouble following one of the many videos.
Would you like to see some more projects using this gorgeous Ready for Christmas bundle?
Check out post #1 here and post #2 here.
So what do you think? Are you ready to give them a try? Let me know by leaving a comment below if that all makes sense. And definitely let me know if you’re planning to make these cute little fancy fold cards for yourself. They are so much fun!
Happy stamping,
[…] [Edited: You can now see more projects with this bundle here and here] […]
[…] features the Quilted Christmas suite, the Ready For Christmas bundle (which I’ve already shared a fair bit of in recent weeks), plus three other lovely watercolour-y stamp […]
Thank you so much for sharing all the details Simone, your cards are so lovely. It was so crowded at the Share Fair in Thailand, I didn’t get to see much, so to see it here on your blog is awesome, a thousand thank yous! xoxo
Bec.
oh thanks Bec! Yeah it was pretty tight in the room there. Let me know if you need better photos of the other projects too.