Spinner Cards are some of my favorite. This Christmas Spinner card is no exception. With a decorated tree and a colorful nativity, this one covers both sides of the Christmas holiday This one looks a lot like my Thanksgiving Spinner Card. but I made it differently.
The plaid and Santa front also add a special splash of color and whimsy to this card, but the star of this card is definitely the spinner. Cordelia loves to play with this type of card. And it fits into an A7 envelope for mailing.
You will need:
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- Heavy cardstock for the base
- Cardstock for the embellishments
- String (at least 6 inches long)
- Pen
- Glue
- glue gun for attaching the string
- Download File
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Paper Selection
I made this Christmas Twirl card from plaid paper and that adds a splash of color. The base card though (green) needs to be heavy cardstock, at least 65 lb weight and two sided. This card is so impressive it doesn’t need fancy paper though.
The background on the Santa and the spinners is silver foiled paper. Hobby Lobby has good sales on foiled paper all the time and it is a good weight.
I used fishing line for the string. DON”T DO THIS. It melts. Embroidery floss, string or yarn work much better.
Cutting the Christmas Twirl Card
I used a white gel pen for the writing on this card. If you don’t have a white pen, you need to get a good one. You get what you pay for with white pens. See my comparison of white pens here.
This card is fairly easy to cut. Be careful with the small pieces, especially the decorations on the tree. I lost several of them and had to re-cut them.
Assembling the Christmas Twirl Card
First you want to re-crease all the folds. Then you want to attach the string.
Lay the string vertically across the large oval hole in either “red” piece. You want it to extend beyond the ends of the card. We will trim it in a minute. Attach the string at the top and bottom with a glue gun. Use only a little glue. Pull the string tight before the glue hardens. Trim off the extra string so that it is shorter than the card.
Next, glue the other “red” piece over the string with the string between them. Make sure both plaid pieces face outward. You can use liquid glue for this. Wait for that glue to dry before continuing.
Next glue the embellishments together. The nativity has four layers, each one cut out a little more than the lower one. Make sure you get the layers in the right order. The tree decorations are applied randomly. When finished, attach each one to a silver oval. Glue the other embellishments and overlays except the silver ovals to the card. Don’t put the plaid center in the card yet. Look at the pictures if you need to know where they go.
Making the Christmas Twirl Card Twirl
First, lay the two plaid pieces with the string flat. Turn one of the silver ovals upside down and center it under the string. Then put glue on the back of the other oval and stick the ovals together with the string between them. Make sure you line them up properly. Let the glue dry.
Fold the plaid pieces as valley. mountain (with the string), valley. Next put glue on the back edge sections of the plaid piece up to the fold lines. Then glue it to the green base card with a small border showing. Do not put any glue past the fold lines or the card won’t fold properly. Open and close the card a few times to be sure that the center folds properly.
Wind the string with the ovals on either side a few times (7 or 8 at least) and close the card. When you open the card the ovals will spin.
The Back to School Twirl card fits in an A7 envelope for mailing and to work properly needs to go in an envelope. Be sure to wind the string before putting it in the envelope!
Nativity Facts
- The word “Nativity” comes from the Latin word “nativus”, which means born. As such, a nativity scene depicts the manger in which Jesus was born.
- Saint Francis of Assisi was the first one to create a nativity scene, back in the year 1223.
- Catholics believe that the baby shouldn’t be placed in the scene until Christmas Eve.
- Mary was more like 12-14 years old, the common age for young women to be betrothed and married in Jewish culture
- Mary and Joseph did not choose the name for their baby. The angel that appeared to Mary told her what his name would be.