Tyra Smith, Cloud 9, Tips & Techniques

Explosion Card

Linda Hengen lindaloo@telusplanet.net
Take a square (usually 8 ½ x 8 ½) piece of paper (not cardstock) and stamp on it. Fold diagonally to match the corners and press fold. Open and do the same to the opposite corners, pressing fold. Open and flip over. Fold one side back to match the other side making sure that your stamping will be facing you to read the correct way. Press fold. Do this only once. Open and flip over. Now fold the top half toward you to match the bottom half while pushing the sides inward along the fold lines so that you end up with a triangle shape, with the wider base towards you.

Take the right corner of the upper level of the base and fold it to the middle and do the same with the left. Then flip it over and do the same with the other two corners. Make sure you press the folds firmly. Now open each of these out individually, and refold them inward along the creases. It will then look like a triangle with cut off ends on the base. Using double sided tape, insert this into a card so that the top point of the triangle is in the center of the fold of the card. When you open the card, the `explosion' will unfold. This is great to use if you have photos of people color copied onto paper. I've also used it in a `Congratulations on your new home' and used a color copy of a picture of their new house.