Do you remember the honeycomb ornaments we made at Christmas (they are here)? Part of this card is the same concept. I put a flower honeycomb (or harlequin design) in the center of this card. It works wonderfully! I saw a similar one at Walmart but I like mine better.
This card is wonderfully three dimensional but it takes a little room for the harlequin flower so it is a little thicker than the average card. It fits in an A7 envelope though. I really need to learn how to make those 3-D envelopes. I have the instructions but I am scared to try. See I get scared too!
You will need:
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- Heavy cardstock for the base
- Scraps of cardstock
- Glue
- Glue gun
- small scrap of ribbon
- Download File
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Paper Selection
The base card really needs to be heavy cardstock, at least 120 lb. It can be patterned or solid but I would use solid because of the embellishments. The embellishments would look nice in a patterned paper though.
The flower itself needs to be two sides and again I would stick with solid but two different colors alternated is nice. I made one that way and really liked it.
Cutting the Card
All the green pieces are really thin and easy to tear. Be careful with them.
If the base card is a solid color you won’t need the rectangle for the front and can just hide it before you cut the card out.
Assembly
First re-crease all the folds on the card and the flowers. The base card has two fold lines in the center to give the flower stack more room.
Glue the green embellishment inside the card before you start on the flower. Each edge goes up to the fold line which leaves a little gap in the center. The rest of the embellishments can wait.
Assembling the Flower
This is the complicated part. I included a lot of pictures from the ornament I made to help.
The first step is to fold all the pieces in half. Stack the pieces with the straight edges lined up. The stack should look like this (again these pictures are from the ornament):
Gluing the “Spine”
Straighten the stack and hold it in one hand. Apply glue from the glue gun to the folded side all the way to the edges and while still warm attach the ribbon. You are binding the center like a book
Bend the “binding” to form a semicircle. The ornament should sorta form the loose shape like this:
Gluing the Rest
Lie the flower flat again. With liquid glue, alternate gluing the top center petal and the lower center petal on each layer to each other. Try not to use too much glue. If the glue squirts out it will bind the wrong layers together. Fold the next “page” down and continue alternating top petal and bottom petal. This is what creates the honeycomb. After gluing the last “page” set the flower aside for about 30 minutes to dry.
When the glue is dry “fluff” the flower a little by opening the flower so that it relaxes the binding and the flower a little. Next, place the flower “binding” next to one of the fold lines on the base card and close the card just to make sure the binding of the card is wide enough. It should be, I used a thick paper to make my flower and it worked fine.
DO NOT GLUE THE BINDING TO THE BASECARD
Glue on side of the flower down to the inside of the base card. Then put glue on the other side of the flower and close the card. Let the glue dry. This positions the flower properly in the card. Once the glue is dry open the card and the flower should look like this
Add the rest of the embellishments to the front and inside of the card. You can look at the pictures for placement.
And your Harlequin Flower Birthday Card is done. Enjoy!