Mini Criss-Cross Card

I have seen a lot of Criss-Cross cards lately (instructions can be found here). I have made these in the past, and I while I do like the look, I have found them to be quite hefty. I had this idea to lighten it up a bit, and here is how I did it. First, the card:

Recipe: Stamps - So Many Scallops, Celebrate Everything; Paper - Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Brilliant Blue, Jersey Shore DS paper; Ink - Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie; Other - Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Bashful Blue and Brilliant Blue markers, Pumpkin Pie gg ribbon, Round Tab punch, 1/4" circle punch, and Scallop punch.

The standard pattern for this card is two pieces of 4 1/4 x 11 cardstock. Score at 5 1/2 and overlap two of the sections to create the base (back) of the card. The remaining two sides are cut diagonally in half, two pieces of DS paper are added to the front, and the ends are crossed over the front of the card to make the pocket.

Here is what I did differently: I cut one piece of cardstock 4 1/4 x 11, and a piece of DS paper 4 1/4 x 11. I scored and folded everything the same way, placing the DS paper over the cardstock to create a pretty 'inside' to the card. The DS paper significantly lightened up the whole project, and I was pretty happy about that. I cut a piece of the same DS paper in a triangle to fit inside the cardstock flap on the front of the card. It does not 'match' the other side, but I really like how it turned out.

For the belly-band, I wrapped a strip of Brilliant Blue cardstock around the card and stuck the ends down with some snail. I wrapped and anchored the gg ribbon the same way, then covered the space with the scallop-punched piece.

I cut a smaller piece of Whisper White for the inside and put a blue tab on it to make it easier to pull out. The 'scallop' is a series of 1/4" circles stuck under the tab. I sponged the edges of the white with Pumpkin Pie.

This design has a lot of potential, and I wanted to use it as one of my workshop projects for next weekend. Trouble is, I rarely buy more than one pack of the DS paper unless I know in advance I will need it. Based on my lack of planning, I finally came up with the project when there is only a week left before my workshop, so getting enough of the Jersey Shore paper to go around is not an option. What to do, what to do... Enter my one downline in a phone call. We chatted about just about everything but World Peace, and somewhere along the way she suggested a mini criss-cross card - same concept, just smaller so that there is enough paper for everyone. Bingo!!! I played around and ended up with this:

Recipe: Stamps - It's Your Birthday, Celebrate Everything, Pick A Petal; Paper - Pumpkin Pie, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White, Jersey Shore DS paper; Ink - Pumpkin Pie, Brilliant Blue; Other - Pumpkin Pie gg ribbon, Accents & Elements Flower Fusion, Rhinestone brad, Linen thread, Slot punch.

I reeeeeally like how this came out! :-) The card is 4 1/4 x 11, folded in half, so it stands like a tent - opens at the bottom. The mini criss-cross pocket is made with two pieces of Jersey DS paper the same size, scored in half, and two of them overlapped to form the back of the pocket. I even got to use my new Felt Flowers to cover the spot where the paper and ribbon meet on the front of the pocket. I used the Slot punch to make two holes for the orange ribbon, but I think I'll have my customers use the Horizontal Slot punch instead. It will be a much cleaner look. ;-)

Well, off to make up some more workshop projects.