A Beautiful Diamond Z-fold Card for a very special occasion

I have been looking for an opportunity to make a new “paper engineering” project.  With the excitement of the new catalog and the exquisite products in it, I wanted to try this with one of the new ones:  Stampin’ Up! Hues of Happiness Designer Series Paper (DSP).  The beautiful Stampin’ Up! products take away so much angst with their beautiful, juried color palettes. 

The Diamond Z-Fold Card pattern is one that I have seen in a couple of other demonstrator posts – including my direct upline, Mary Deatherage.  Mary’s card is a beautiful design in black with bright spring colors – and it won a Festive Friday Card Challenge! Her directions for this A2 card are as crisp as the design itself!

My take on this Diamond Z fold card, though, uses a 5” x 7” format as shown by Jan B., a UK demonstrator and colleague whose work is amazing.  This card is appropriate for many occasions.  But why not send a Happy Birthday to a close friend – which is who will receive my card?

There are a lot of paper pieces to it – but once cut, the design goes together easily as the pieces are all part of the layered mats.  In this cutting chart, I have arranged the cuts by paper type so that you can do the cuts as efficiently as possible.  Because I created a couple of versions of this card, I also experimented with the cutting list order.   I hope that works better for you, as it did for me:

Once the card base was cut and scored, I assembled the “building blocks” for the decorative layers of the base itself as well as the diamond layers.

I attached the larger mats to the card base on the front, the inside large panel, and the inner left side panel.

To adhere the diamonds to the card face:  I lined the points of one of the smaller boxes so that the points were aligned with the top of the card and along the fold.

The bottom diamond was aligned with the bottom edge of the card face and along the fold line.  Be sure that you apply the glue or the tape to the left half of the squares – so that you do not glue the card closed.

Hopefully the diamond points will meet in the middle.  However, the message panel can cover small gaps if needed.

To assemble to the pop-up mechanism:  Using the cardstock piece that measures 3” x 4”, score along the 4” edge at 1”, 2” 3”, and 4”.  Score and burnish.  This is the box assembly that will hold the larger, center diamond that will pop up when the card is open.

I used Tear and Tape on the end fold of the “box”.  Fold the box in half and center it on the back fold of card, letting tape face the inside of the card.

Applying the Tear and Tape to the other end, carefully fold the “box” in half and then close the card to adhere the box panel to it. (This method will assure that the card will fold flat.)

To adhere the middle diamond to the pop-up mechanism:  You will need to trim the middle diamond back a little bit so that it will fit within the 5” x 7” card when folded.  (The diamond will stick out from the right side of the card if you don’t trim it.) Here is my method:  Turn the panel upside down so that the inner point is facing out.

Place a small pencil mark on the panel where the point begins to stick out and draw a very light line.

Trim with scissors and dry fit the panel onto the box.  You will find that the panel will now fit perfectly when the card is closed.  Use Tear and Tape to adhere the middle diamond to the pop-up mechanism.

And all the rest is decorating!

I used the Hues of Happiness DSP for the flowers that adorn the three diamonds.  One of the reasons that this paper pack is so awesome is that the Blossoming Happiness Dies work to cut out some of the printed flowers!  I spent some time die cutting flowers from 2 of the DSP sheets and I have a great supply of embellishments for cards – including this one!

I created the sentiments on the front panel using the Stampin’ Up! Stitched Rectangles die set and sentiments from Stampin’ Up!  Happiness Abounds stamp set

The back panel of the card offers a large area for a sentiment and a note.  My version of this card has a coordinating sentiment from Happiness Abounds with a decorative edging along the bottom of the panel from the DSP.

Add some bling to the card, remembering to use an odd number as this is always more pleasant to the eye…and voila! .  I used the Stampin’ Up! Polished Dots to add some bling.

As you might expect, I have done a few other examples of this card.

Thank you for checking in for today’s card!  I have been itching to do a little more “paper engineering” and I hope that I have made this design a bit easier for you to CAS.  I am always thrilled to think that someone out there is enjoying one of my cards enough to give it a try!

Please experiment with other images from the Stampin’ Up! product line, as there are so many options made easier with the defined color palettes.

If you have any questions that I can help with, please let me know.  I am always happy to brainstorm about cards and designs and colors!!