Fun rotating flower cards
I love simple mechanisms in cards, this one is a handy one to know and it’s really easy!! You could use it for anything you want to rotate on your card (wheels, legs, whatever you like really!!) and all it takes is a few cuts in some card.
When I saw the cute die cut flower in the Berry Meadow Scrapbook Pack by Quirky Twerp, I knew it’d be perfect for these cards. Fun and simple to cut out.
These cards would make great birthday cards or party invites for kids but they are just as cheery for us big kids too!!
SUPPLIES:
- Digital Scrapping Kit - I used Berry Meadow Scrapbook Pack by Quirky Twerp at the Digichick
- White Card (nothing too flimsy!)
- Paper/cardstock for printing on
- Printer
- Basic suppies (scissors, glue, pencil, decent craft knife, double sided tape)
- Optional – Sewing machine, natural twine, buttons, paper clip, sentiment, yellow paper from The Thrift Shop by October Afternoon
Ok, so I printed the flowers onto a sheet of card, a good quality thickness. I cut out one flower and a matching circle centre. In the centre of the flower I cut out a small circle with a craft knife.
For the card base I used berry dots and butterflies from the Berry Meadow Pack and yellow paper layered onto some white card (but you could decorate it however you like). I added some stitching on the sewing machine but again this is optional.
Just so you can see this clearly, I drew the mechanism onto a piece of plain white card. (The card has to be a good quality thickness to be durable enough to stand up to all the movement later) This is the basic shape, each side is actually the same shape as a paperclip so you could use it to draw around. The important part: the width of the gap between the two sections needs to be slightly smaller than the circle in the centre of your flower.
Now simply cut around the edges with a sharp craft knife (as shown) and leave the centre attached. Gently bend your tabs upwards.
Now you know the simply mechanism you can apply it to your card, as shown.
Now take your cut out flower from earlier and slot over your tabs.
Make sure it rotates smoothly (the edges of the circle must be smooth) and make any adjustments if necessary.
Flatten down your tabs and add some adhesive to the top of them. Take the circle centre of the flower you cut out before, align and place onto the tabs. Rotate your flower to make sure everything is central.
That’s the basic principle. One other note, it works better if you have the edge of the flower over-hanging an edge, just so it’s easier to rotate.
Now, decorate as desired. I added a simple sentiment I just printed out, a bit of twine, a button and a paperclip.
Here’s a couple of variations. You can scale down the mechanism, and layer it on top of things, just make sure the card you use is thicker. I made a smaller flower in this one and added a button on top.
There’s lots of different layouts you could try. I used a medium flower here and layered the mechanism on top of the other flowers. Just the top flower rotates but you could have more than one if you wanted!
So, there you have it, do give it a try, it really isn’t that hard and it’s lots of fun!!
Other Articles by cbuswell:
- Trinket box with vellum flower - February 18th, 2011
- Love coupons - January 24th, 2011
- Keepsake box - December 8th, 2010
- Vintage Christmas Crackers - November 17th, 2010
- Vintage Halloween Banner - October 20th, 2010
