A Fabulous New Fold: Venetian Blind!

I first noticed this awesome new type of fold on Julie Semone's DCBD card two weeks ago. I was immediately enthralled and decided I would certainly try it out! Thankfully Julie linked directions to Nancy Legate's blog which has a typed tutorial available! Thanks Julie and Nancy!

My parents' 40th wedding anniversary was this weekend so we went up north to celebrate and this is the card I made for them. The directions show this card on a typical card front so you can have a stamped message inside as well as behind the blind, however I only made mine a card front because I wanted the focus to be the message behind the blind.

The nice thing about this technique is that even if your stamping isn't all-star material (like here) the look of the folds makes it look much better I think. If it hadn't been for the folds I would've pitched this piece and started over.To open you pull the cords straight out to the sides (this is in Nancy's step 12 but I missed it and nearly tore my card apart). Here's the inside.

If you are like me you can mostly figure out a card just by looking at it- without formal instructions of any kind. However, that wasn't the case with this card. The folding I could've figured out, although having measurements done for me was wonderful. But threading the cording through the holes was complicated and would have been near impossible for me without following the step-by-step tutorial. I did make a few changes to Nancy's directions that worked better for me, which I would recommend, but don't hold your breath waiting for me to make up my own tutorial... just takes too long and I'd rather be stampin'! If you don't intend to make this card SKIP THE ENTIRE NEXT PARAGRAPH.

{In case you do try this out yourself here are the changes I would make: I believe the picture in step 4 is a bit different from the actual directions. You may have noticed mine has an extra hole at the bottom (doesn't show real well- you may have to click to enlarge) that I didn't thread through. I have 10 holes on each side but I didn't use the bottom one because the directions say there should be a 1/4" flap at the end that doesn't need punched. Actually the flap shown in the tutorial that has no hole is 3/4" I believe... SO, you could follow the directions as they are and your card will look like Julie's I linked above with the 1/4" flap on top of the cording, or you could read the direcitons for step 4 to say "Fold the scored area like an accordion, starting at the top with a valley fold. There will be a 3/4" flap at the end that you should not punch..." if you do this it will lay like mine but without the extra hole that I have that is not needed. Also, step 5- I believe the measurements should read 1/4" from the side and 1/2" from the bottom. Otherwise there is not enough room for the sticky tape as shown in the pictures. My sticky strip had to go above the bottom piece of thread as opposed to below where it is supposed to be. It worked OK, but I did end up adding some mono glue to hold it further. Clear as mud? }

Thanks for stopping by! I've got some surprises in store for you beginning next Tuesday (Sept. 1) which I'll be working on this week. I'll try to squeeze something else in in the mean time for you to enjoy. Have a great week!

~Kristin

Almost SUO Supplies:

Stamps: Inspired by Nature, Greenhouse Garden, Kanji (retired), In My Thoughts (retired), Stem Silhouettes (retired), Organic Grace (retired)

Colors: River Rock (retired), Dusty Durango, Rich Razzleberry, Ballet Blue, Soft Suede, Black

Accessories: Crop-a-Dile, Linen Thread, Modern Label punch, Filigree Brads, Non-SU Watercolor paper (crummy Walmart stuff that I don't recommend- ink smears!)