Theater Fold Meerkat Birthday Card with Video

Hello and welcome! Today I’ve made an interactive card featuring Meerkats on the Lookout from Gerda Steiner Designs.  I don’t usually make Halloween cards but wanted to do a fall colours card so this is what I came up with.  

I’ve made a video of how to construct this card and it’s probably the easiest way to figure it out.  If you would like to see the video in HD, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Here’s a list of the pieces of cardstock used and a diagram of where to crease the curtains.

I started by assembling the front first.  I die cut a rectangle from two of the white 4 1/4 x 5 1/2” pieces of cardstock as well as a black piece and then glued these together.  I cut a notch out of the side edges, using a small circle die and partial cutting.  I white heat embossed the sentiment and added the three dots with a white gel pen.  I folded and creased the two sleeve pieces so they fit along the side edges and glued them in place on the back, making sure they weren’t too tight.  I trimmed the sleeves around the notches so it would be easier to grasp the curtains.

For the back and curtains, I ink blended using Distress Oxide inks in Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon, and Candied Apple.  I used a die from Find IT Media called Amy Designs Wild Animals Outback, and partially die cut this from black cardstock to fit along the lengths of all 3 pieces of cardstock.  

I trimmed the two curtains just slightly along the 5 1/2” edge so they would slide more easily through the sleeves on the front.  Then I creased and folded the curtains at 2 3/4” and 4 1/8” for the left curtain, and at 1 3/8” and 2 3/4” for the right one.  Finally, I glued the black die-cut silhouette pieces to the curtains and back and creased along the fold lines.  

I used glue to attach the curtains to the back piece, being careful to only apply glue to the first folded area on the curtains and to try to keep the center fold of the curtains together. Really, the glued area of the curtains should line up along the side edges of the back, but I found it more important for the folded curtains to match in the center. 

I cut a second platform piece from black cardstock and glued the two pieces together.  I cut slits in both curtains at the same distance, wide enough for the platform piece to pull through.  I made stoppers by using pieces of narrow scrap cardstock and gluing these to the ends of the platform so it couldn’t pull through.  Next, I stamped the inside sentiment and clear heat embossed it.

To assemble the card, slide the left curtain through the sleeve on the back of the front piece, and the right curtain through the other sleeve.  I added pull tabs to the curtains by folding a small strip of black cardstock and used the same circle die to cut them out.  Now all that’s left is to just add your images.  Oh, and to play repeatedly with opening and closing the curtains!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day!

*Video* Gerda Steiner’s Meerkats on the Lookout

Hello everyone, I’m back with one of my most favourite stamp sets ever!  It’s “Meerkats on the Lookout”  from Gerda Steiner Designs and I’ve had no end of fun with them this last week! I love that these can easily be used for masculine cards because we all know how hard those can be to make.

If you would like to see an HD video on YouTube of how I made this card, please CLICK HERE. Otherwise, you can click on the video below.

To start this card, I created a horizon line in light pencil. I made sure that there was enough room for my meerkat to hide below the horizon behind some rocks. Once I had the horizon, I decided on the placement of my group of meerkats. I stamped the front two meerkats in copic friendly ink and then masked them while I finished stamping the back row of meerkats. I coloured in the meerkats with W3, W1, E31, E53, E40, E27, C2 and C0. I also used a black glaze pen to fill in the eyes and noses. I also stamped and coloured the lone meerkat who comes up, after masking off his arms and adding a cupcake to his hands. I also coloured a couple of the rocks that are in the set and cut them out.

Masking off sky line. 

I then cut a strip (the width of my card) of post it note paper in half lengthwise to create my true horizon. I masked off the meerkats and added one of the strips to make the sky line. I ink blended the sand with Tea Dye Distress oxide ink. Then I removed the post it note paper and lined up the other half over the sand to now colour in the sky. I used MFT’S cloud stencil and Mermaid Lagoon Distress oxide ink to make the sky. Once this was done, I stamped on my sentiments in Versamark ink.

Pencil mark widest point of meerkat. 

I adhered a strip of clear acetate to the back of the lone meerkat. After positioning him where I wanted him to pop up, I pencilled in the width of his ears (his widest part) where I wanted him to come up. I used a T ruler and craft knife to cut a slit here. I inserted the acetate through this slit and worked it up and down a few times to be sure it was wide enough. Then I attached a small strip of cardstock to the bottom of the meerkat to act as a stopper so he wouldn’t pull out through the slit. Finally, I pulled him up through the slit as far as he would go to determine where the top slit needed to go (just above his head). This slit only needs to be as wide as the acetate strip.

Adding a stopper to the bottom of the meerkat. 

I covered over the bottom slit with the rocks, being sure to not glue the middle portion down where the meerkat would pop up. I also die cut a few cloud shapes and placed one of these over the upper slit, again being sure to not glue down the middle portion.

I added part of an African tree die I have from Elizabeth Craft, and a few more clouds to complete my scene. I then adhered my card front to the base, being careful to not adhere any of the moving mechanisms. I also added 2 die cut cloud shapes to the front and back of the top of the acetate to act as a pull mechanism. I had glued in the word “Pull” on the front cloud.

Finally, I added some accents to the sand with copic markers E35, W5 and YG17 for grass. I also used a sparkle pen from Gelly Roll to add a little sparkle to the sand.

I hope you can give this card a try - it’s such a fun card to make and receive - and perfect for the men in our lives!