It's almost Easter, and I'd like to share a few card samples made with one of our most popular dies ever. Yes, this is an "oldie but goodie".This darling die isn't just for Easter cards! Oh no! It also makes lovely cards for baby announcements, birthday, and more.
I enjoyed making the slider cards so much that I just had to give one last thing a try. I wanted to make a slimline slider, and wanted to use only things in the Simple Slider Maker die set to make the card; it turns out it was simple to do! Everything in the die set works just fine without modification except the pull tab, which is too short for the slimline format. I found a really simple solution, though! I simply cut two strips of card stock 8 1/2" long and 3/4" wide, and then used the die for cutting the thumb cutout to round the end of each. Once I had my new pull tab pieces, assembly of the slider card was exactly like the assembly of my other basic simple sliders!
I hope you like today's card. Even though I designed this die set, I didn't realize how versatile it would be! And it is so much fun!
Frantic Stamper has just released a versatile die set for making slider mechanisms and adding movement to your card. I have made two basic, two intermediate, and three advanced types of sliders using this set. I have also made three videos to show you how this set can be used to make the types of sliders in the cards I have created.
Beginner Sliders
First is a simple vertical slider. This slider is perfect for any card in which you want an object to move a fairly long distance up and down on a portrait-orientation card, but it can also be used to move an onject a shorter distance. That is how versatile this die set is! you are in charge of where to place your slider, and how long you make it! For the rocket card I chose to combine the smallest and the medium length slot dies to make an extra-long slot. All I had to do was use my tiny scissors to remove the tiny gap between them.
For this horizontal slider card I chose to put my slot closer to the top edge of the card. As long as you leave enough room to apply some foam tape on the edges (2 layers) of the card and a bit more than a half-inch for the mechanism, you can put the slot pretty much anywhere on your card!
Here is a video of how to use the die set to make these basic kinds of sliders.
Intermediate Sliders
The first Intermediate slider doubles up on the mechanisms to have two sliders on a single pull tab. This kind of slider can work in either orientation, but in portrait orientation you need to be more careful about the spacing between the slots. They must be a little more than one and three-quarters inches apart.
the slots have to be parallel, and they must be the same length, but they dont have to be aligned top and bottom. Experiment!
The second intermediate slider is a push/pull slider. The object in this slider will move in the opposite direction as the pull tab. This slider introduces another mechanism, but it is still made with this die set. A little bit of plastic bag looped through the new mechanism is what does the magic of reversing direction. a perfect plastic to use is the very slippery plastic packaging that Frantic Stamper stamps and dies ship in. Thin single-use shopping bags also work well (and we all love the environmental bonus of reusing these instead of throwing them out!)
Again, I have created a video to help you to learn how to make these slightly more complex sliders.
Advanced Sliders
Now we are getting into the kind of sliders that I love to figure out and make work! These sliders combine two of the regular mechanisms with a push/pull mechanism to make two objects interact with each other.
First up is the come together slider. With this combination, two objects start at the outer edges of the card, but move to meet in the middle of the card when the tab is pulled. (This sample card was so much fun to make. as I was putting it together I was envisioning a get-together with a photographer telling people to scrunch together and to say cheese. I smiled the whole time I spent on it!)
Next we have the move apart slider. Two objects start out together on the outer edges of the card, but then move apart, toward the outer edges.
And lastly I have a seesaw slider. On this slider one object will go up when the other object goes down, just like on a seesaw. There are other ways to accomplish this movement, but I think this is the least complicated way, and it is a bonus that you dont need anything but this one die set to make it, or any of the other sliders I have shared.
Here is a video that will show you how to put these advanced mechanism together to make more complex movement.
I hope you have enjoyed seeing how this one die set is able to make so many different tyoes of sliders, from the most simple to more advanced. We would all love to see what new ways you discover to use it!
