Tunnel cards 2 - a Castle and lots of Flowers

Another method for making tunnel cards is the "concertina" method. This type of tunnel card is sometimes also know as a "book" card. A large aperture is cut into the back sheet of a standard folded card. Two sides are formed from identical pieces of card cut to the same height as the card, and each scored with a number of vertical lines about half an inch or 1.5cm apart. The side pieces are then folded back and forth to create two "concertina" pieces. The size and number of folds depends on how many layers you want to make. If you make the two side pieces about 15cm wide, and hence score 9 vertical lines, each 1.5cm apart, this allows for 4 layers. To make the layers, cut 4 pieces of card to the same size as the folded card. The back layer must remain intact, and the others have apertures cut into them. The top of the concertina is fixed to the back of the folded card. The layers are slotted between the concertina folds and glued at the edges with PVA.

Top of "book card" showing concertina folds

The front of the card is decorated as normal.

"Front cover of book card"

Each layer is decorated to make up a picture with lots of depth.

"Inside of book card "

The book card shown above has a number of layers with large oval apertures cut out, and a back page formed with a decoupaged castle. Each layer features various cut-outs of medieval princesses. Most of the free graphics are from the Graphics Fairy's blog.

This technique can be used to make cards of different shapes and sizes and with a number of different embellishments, and is a great way of using up stash. The layers can be made from patterned papers, and it's one of those designs that lends itself to the use of lots of embellishments!

"Flowers 1 front"

"Flowers 1 inside"

The apertures in the layers for this flowers card are different sizes. The apertures get smaller the deeper into the card you go. This gives the illusion of even more depth and leaves extra room for the embellishments.

"Flowers 1 top, showing concertina folds"

These flower cards are all made from the "Sugar and Spice" collection of papers & embellishments.

"Flowers 2 front cover"

"Flowers 2 inside - flower power!"

When I was given the pack I thought it was a bit "twee".

"Flowers 3 front cover"

"Flowers 3 inside - if friends were flowers, I'd pick you"

But I'm pleased how the cards turned out :)