My first easel card

One thing I would like to do more of in my card-making is trying new techniques. Well, last weekend I made my first easel card! An easel card is one that is flat when closed, like a traditional card, but when you open it, it can be propped up so it stands open. (There is a great tutorial for making easel cards on the Splitcoaststamper site.) I actually made the card in two stages. I had made the card base and focal image about a week earlier, but I didn't assemble the whole card. When I came back to it, I didn't really like how they looked together, so I revamped the background. It's still not my favorite, but it's not bad for my first easel card.

Supplies (all Sstampin' Up!^®):
Stamps: Greeting Card Kids, Happy Hearts, Holiday Best
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Poppy Parade, Calypso Coral
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Chocolate Chip; markers: Chocolate Chip, Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade, Blush Blossom
Accessories: Labels Collection Framelits dies, Chocolate Chip satin ribbon, corner rounder, Extra-large Oval punch, Decorative Label punch, Small Heart punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, Crystal Effects, paper-piercing tool, mat pack, Dimensionals

To make the heart background, I chose three heart shapes from the Happy Hearts set, one for each color ink, and randomly stamped them on the card stock. Here's a tip: When doing this type of stamping, start with the lightest color and move to the darkest, so if you overlap images as you stamp, you don't pick up the darker ink colors on your stamp.

The focal image and the mat behind it were cut out with the Labels Collection Framelits dies. For a little texture, I used my paper piercer to punch a border around the edge of the larger label shape. To finish off the card front I added some satin ribbon and a little heart, covered with Crystal Effects, in the lower right corner.

For the inside of the card, I adhered a strip of card stock, punched with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, about 1" from the bottom of the card. I stamped and colored the greeting (which I think works perfectly with the image of this sweet little girl holding a valentine heart) then punched it out with the oval punch and layered it on a Decorative Label punched shape. I used Dimensionals to adhere that piece to the card, centered over the punched strip. Another little heart in the lower left corner finishes off the inside.

Making an easel card wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. If you haven't already made one, you should give it a try!