Magic Slider Card Tutorial

Happy Tuesday!

As promised, today I'll do my best to walk you through how to make a Magic Slider Card that WON'T take you 7 hours like mine did!

As I mentioned in yesterday's post before attempting my card I watched Karen's YouTube Video and on her blog TuppenceColoured.co.uk,  Watching one of these being made is VERY helpful so you can understand how it all works together and why the pieces are where there are.  I highly recommend checking out her video here before going any further.

I posted this picture yesterday but here it is again.  To make my card you need these pieces and dimensions EXACTLY.  When I was designing my card I kept changing things "jus a little" and it would throw EVERYTHING out of whack … that's why it took me 7 hours - so stick to the plan - at least for the first one.  Change it after you wrap your head around the whole thing, if you want to.

Quick recap of what the final card looks like: 

 

Okee Dokee.  Ready?   Sitting comfortably?  30 pictures coming your way - here we go!

Actually - before we get going on the pictures and tutorial I'll quickly TELL you the "magic" behind the Magic Slider card … you know … just in CASE you didn't actually watch the you tube video!  Essentially we stamp our image twice; once on an acetate (clear) window sheet and once on a Whisper White sheet.  The images are stamped in the exact same place on both pieces - EXACTLY.  We then colour the image on the white piece, lay the clear (stamped in black only) acetate piece on top of it and staple them together.  When we assemble our card w slide a "secret" piece of card stock BETWEEN the two layers.  When the recipient receives the card only the clear, black stamped image is showing but when they pull the "magic" piece up the coloured piece and the clear piece both move up, the coloured piece is no longer hidden by the "secret" piece of card stock and (because the two images are lined up so perfectly) it appears as if the black, uncoloured image magically transforms into colour!  Make sense?  If not WATCH THE VIDEO! *lol*… ok - back to our previously scheduled tutorial ...

Start with your Designer Series Paper.  I used the 2015 SAB paper Best Year Ever (why do I only ever cut my DSPs once they retire??? … but I digress …)

DSP is cut 5 1/2" x 5 1/4" and scored 1/2" on the left hand side, right hand side and bottom of the piece (the 5 1/2" sides are the left and right hand sides)

Once scored you can fold the DSP on the scored lines but I actually prefer NOT to fold them yet as I want the paper to lay flat.  (Why?  Because in a few steps we will punch a hole in the DSP and then stamp our image THROUGH that hole and it is easier to do that if the DSP is flat).

Once scored cut the bottom two corners off.  I cut mine so you cut through the intersection of the two score lines.  Why do we cut the corners off?  So that when we fold the DSP and tape the whole project together the corners are less "bulky" and lay flat nicely.  Here is the DSP with the corners cut off:

You then take your 2 1/2" punch, centre it width-wide, pushing the punch in as far as it will go and punch out your circle.  In this picture I've punched the whole and folded on the scow lines (but, again, I would refrain from the folding at this point)

Set your DSP piece aside and work on what I call the "Slider Backing".  This piece is 4 3/4" x 3 3/4".  Onto the Slider Backing we are going to tape two "bumpers".  Think of bowling - kids (and us bowling challenged adults!) use bumpers to keep the ball on the alley.  These paper bumpers do the same thing - they keep our sliding "magic" piece from wobbling around too much - it helps keep it in the track.  So tape the 4 3/4" x 1/2" bumpers to the left and right side of our backing ...

There should be 2 3/4" gap between the bumpers.

Take TWO of the 2 3/4" x 1/4" bumper pieces, tape them TOGETHER and then tape them to the top of the slider back.  See below.  Now.  WHY do we need this top "bumper"?  Actually it's not so much a bumper as it is a STOPPER.  If you watch the video you'll remember Karen saying you want to add a stopper so the recipient doesn't pull the piece all the way out and give the game away - so we create a little ledge/stopper.  Why did I tape two of the pieces together first?  Simply because I wanted it thicker.  My first few attempts didn't always stop the card … so I doubled up the stopper and it seemed to help.  You could also just use a piece of DSP backing, chip board, a dimensional edge … something thicker than standard card stock.  Here is how your backing will look - it is now done.

Now let's do some stamping!  As I mentioned above, we need to stamp the image twice - once one white card stock and once on acetate.  What Karen didn't mention in her video was how to do this and how to get the images to be exactly where you wanted them to be … and how to get them to align exactly.  Read-on and learn Grasshopper!

Grab your DSP "sleeve" and make sure it is flat (it will be if you didn't fold on the score lines like I told you not to!)  Also grab your 4 1/4" x 2 3/4" Slider Whisper White piece … and your Memento Ink ...

Line up your white piece so that the top of the white piece is EXACTLY along the top of your DSP piece … and centred.  In the picture below you can see it is centred between the folded score lines ...

If you need to you can use a small tick of tape to keep your white piece in place because you then need to turn the whole thing over to be able to stamp through the whole.  See below.  The white piece is centred, lined up at the top and ready for stamping.

Stamp away!  Remember to use a paper piercing mat if you are using photopolymer stamps.  You won't get a clean image if you don't!

Ta Da!

So far so good!  NoW  We need to stamp the black image on our acetate piece.  You can use our window sheets … or an overhead projector sheet … or do what I did - use the acetate piece from any of your photopolymer sets!  Have you seen the Mary Fish video on how to store your photopolymer stamps?  No?  Then check it out here.  Storing your sets this way leaves you with DOZENS of leftover acetate sheets.  That's what I used for my card :)

To stamp on the acetate you need to use the Staz-On ink.  This stuff is tricky and often took me 2 or 3 tries to get a good, dark image that wasn't too light or too goopy.  The best trick I found was to not delay between inking and stamping.  Work quickly or the image doesn't come through dark enough.  I also found on my particular set that the "boob area" was the one that consistently didn't stamp clearly.  I inked that area a little more than the others.

Another tip.  You will notice in my "recipe card" that the acetate piece is slightly larger than the whisper white piece.  It measures 4 1/2" x 3".  That is for a reason.  Even though I used a photopolymer set AND a stamp-a-ma-jig, my first 3 attempts weren't bang-on perfect.  Being a perfectionist I couldn't stand that so for the fourth attempt I made the acetate piece bigger and then once it was stamped I moved it around until it was PERFECTLY lined up with the white piece and then I trimmed it down to be the same size (4 1/4" x 2 3/4").  This took all the stress out of trying to line it up. Stamp as well as you CAN… and then just trim it!

So ...  Ink and stamp on the acetate … (the white lair is under the acetate in this picture) ...

… then I slid the acetate piece off the white layer - easily done as the acetate is now sticking to the stamp.  I actually picked up the whole piece and rubbed my finger along the back, more or less massaging it to try to get a crisp, clean image.

… and here is how it turned out.  Fail!  Wasn't crisp or dark enough.

 No worries!  You don't have to throw it away - jus grab your Staz-on Cleaner ...

.. rub it on your failed image ...

… wipe it off … and try again!

Here I am "massaging" the acetate piece ...

Wa-low!  Perfect!

Color your whisper white piece.  I used the colours from the DSP - Soft Suede, Crushed Curry, Bermuda ay, Sahara Sand, Calypso Coral and then some Blush Blossom for the face ...

Almost done!

Next up we need to add another stopper.  This time we do the same as last time - tape two pieces of the 2 3/4" x 1/4" pieces together - but this time we tape it to the FRONT of the Whisper White slider piece - not the acetate - the Whisper White piece.  If you think about it the placement makes sense.  The "secret" card stock piece that will be between the acetate and the whisper white (what we called the Slider Backing) has a stopper at the top of the back.  The Whisper White image piece will be sliding BEHIND this secret Slider Backing so we also need to put a stopper on the FRONT of THAT piece.  Clear as mud?  Just do as I say.  It will make sense when you put the whole thing together (although I have to admit I did it wrong the first two times I tried! *lol*)

Here is a picture with the stopper in the front of the white piece ...

Oh!  Don't forget to stamp your sentiment on the Whisper White piece too!  Use the Memento Ink and stamp the sentiment close to the image.  As a little aside - I was worried that when I coloured the whisper white piece the image would bleed as I coloured it with our markers and not the Blendabilities.  I'm happy to report it did NOT bleed!  Sweet!

Now it's time to start assembling the whole kit and caboodle!

Line up the acetate piece and the whisper white piece and staple them together as close to the top as you can.  Set aside.

Take your DSP Sleeve and your Slider Backing and tape them together.  Do this by applying snail to the bottom, scored flap first … then place your white Slider Backing as far down into that score line as you can, akin sure it is centred on your DSP sleeve and adhere.  Then apply snail to the left and right scored flaps and adhere.  IMPORTANT***  Make SURE your bumpers are facing up as in this picture below.  Twice I tapes it together the wrong way - Argh!  This is the way it should look - you should be able to see your bumpers!

I forgot to take a picture of the next step.  You now apply tape to the three DSP flaps above and adhere the WHOLE THING to your  5 1/2" x 4 1/4" card base.

Now you can attach a pull tab of some sort.  You can use ribbon - I used our long retired Tab Punch to make my topper.  Line it up and staple it as CLOSE to the top as you can.  Like this ...

You can now insert your slider piece.  The acetate goes in FRONT of the secured "slider backing" piece and the whisper white coloured piece goes BEHIND.

Decorate the front!  I cut a 1" x 3 1/2" strip of whisper white to stamp the sentiment on.  I used our quilted ribbon (from the occasions catty), a button from the Best Year Ever Accessory Pack and some twine.  I attached the ribbon with good old snail, the sentiment with snail and 1 dimensional and attached the twine to the button using glue dots … and then more glue dots to attach the button to the card.  Wa-low!  Done!

If all has gone to plan everything will line up, slide nicely and the inside sentiment will be visible!  If it DOESN'T go to plan pitch the whole thing in the bin, chalk the whole afternoon up to a bad learning experience and pour yourself a large glass of wine in an attempt to get over the whole, traumatic experience :)

… but if it all DID go to plan I can guarantee that you'll slide the slider no less than three times to bask in the glory of your awesomeness.  Go on - give it a go *lol*

You made it to the end!  Congratulations!  I know have typers-cramp in my fingers and my bed is calling.  Thanks for checking me out.  Pop in again soon to see more projects.  Until then - have a stampy day!


Tam