Book Review: Interactive Cards edited by Tanya Fox

After making several cards from this book and posting about them this week, I'm ready to review the book.

Pros: most of the instructions are simple, to the point and easy to modify; several different types of interactive cards, several examples of the card types, nice pictures to illustrated the instructions

Cons: only 1 peekaboo card; I found the never ending card instructions lacking, no tips for avoiding errors or to point out flaws / difficulties with cards (notably the slide-around effect you get with some slider and waterfall cards)

This book covers 9 types of interactive cards: spinners (3), sliders (6), wipers (3), peekaboo (1), pop-ups (2), hinged (2), swing (2), never ending (3) and waterfall (3).  In total you're shown 25 cards using the different techniques.  In some cases, as with the hinged and spinner cards, once you know the technique the other cards are just for variety.  In other cases, as with the sliders, there are several ways to do them, so the book gives examples of different types you can do.  

Each card had written as well as photographic aids in the instructions to help get the cards and techniques right.  This was very helpful as sometimes it's hard to picture the steps otherwise.

The instructions are very precise while at the same time being easy to modify for new designs.  Once you understand the principles of each technique you can make your own design.  With a few exceptions.  Given the difficulty of doing pop-up cards, only 2 are shown and they're fairly simple patterns (in other words, patterns you can reproduce and modify - for example, the flower bouquet can be turned into a hot air balloon basket).  If you want more complex pop-up designs or instructions on how to do complex designs on your own, you'll want a book dedicated to that purpose (and there are some good ones out there).

Of the 6 cards I tried (all of which I modified the theme/pattern without problems) the only one I had serious trouble with was the neverending card (it doesn't flip so as to make it neverending).  I could have used expert pointers for the cake slider card (so it's not as floppy) and the waterfall card (ditto).

The book assumes you have a certain level of card crafting skill.  Unlike most books there's no 'useful tools' or other basics pages if you're just starting out.  Some of the cards asked for specific tools and made it a bit annoying to substitute these tools if you don't have them (like asking for a specific die but not giving the dimension so you have to look it up online if you don't happen to have circle dies).  

There are a few patterns at the back for the cards that need them (most don't), but no tips of the trade or problem solving ideas.

Ultimately, it does teach some great techniques, and part of the fun of crafting is learning the tips and tricks yourself (and I did learn a few from trying these cards).  The variety of cards and the ease of modifying them for your own purposes make it a useful book despite its faults.

Interactive Cards: Waterfall Card

This is the last card before my final review of the Interactive Cards book, edited by Tanya Fox.  My sample card is on the front cover of the book.  Waterfall cards have several pieces that flip open when the bottom pull tab is pulled.

I thought a waterfall card would make a wonderful wedding card.  The instructions were straightforward, though it's a time consuming card to make, requiring numerous pieces and care when putting it together.

Here's my card, two shots of the front and the inside.  (Please ignore the rainbow over the wedding couple, that's from my window crystal, not a feature of the card.)

So, where's the difficulty you ask?  You have to secure the pull tab and flip pieces to the page with a horizontal bar (my gold lattice edged paper).  That bar must be secured to the page, but not secured where the pull tab flits through (it has to be able to move freely and so is not attached to the page - anywhere).

In other words, this is the problem with this card:

The front slides around.  When I first made the card I had the glue on the bar too close to where the pull tab comes through so it didn't work quite right.  I adjusted that, so now it's too loose.  The book's instructions say to use brads to attach the bar, which could solve this, but only insomuch that it might make it less loose.  The floppiness is inherent in the card type, so there's no getting rid of that entirely, just making it less obvious.  Still, that's something I would expect to read in a 'tips' section of the book (most helpfully on the page with the card itself).

Supplies:
cardstock: Recollections, dollar store (black embossed paper)
stamps: Inkadinkado Wedding, Martha Stewart Hearts stamp and ink set
punch: Martha Stewart Arch Lattice
dollar store: jewel, ribbon

Interactive Cards: Neverending Card

Only a few more cards to go with my Interactive Cards review.  The book is edited by Tanya Fox and includes instructions on how to make a variety of interactive cards, like the Neverending card.  The idea behind this card is that you can keep turning the papers to get to another bit of card in a neverending loop.

The instructions for this card were pretty challenging, one step being the difference between a card that works and one that doesn't.  You have to lay the cut papers in the correct order with glue tape in the correct spots or your card won't work.  While the book had photos for each step, I for one could have used more guidance.  I had to read the instructions over several times and make sure I was doing things correctly before I trusted myself to do this card.

The final instruction, after your card is together, was to decorate.  No tips were given for this rather important last step.  As it was, I'd seen a video on making a neverending card (embedded below), which warned me to be careful how I placed certain decorations (as they're visible from the other side), and I still managed to mess the card up.  Ah well, live and learn.  This is a card where having a real life sample will probably help with future decorating attempts.  I'm also not sure my card was put together properly.  I did follow the book's instructions, but you have to stop and turn the card over to continue looking at all the sides, which seems wrong to me.  According to the video below, I should be able to magically get from one side to the other...

Anyway, here's my card.  For the 'back' I turned the card on its side to decorate, which I don't think I was supposed to do (I was trying to remember the decorating advice on the video, but as it had been a month since I'd seen it...).

I turned the bottom image so it would face upright, but left the inside shot to show that I'd messed up the orientation of the card stamps by turning the card when I applied those images.

(After rewatching the video it's clear that I put tape in the wrong spots, putting it all over the corner squares instead of just the extreme corners.  This prevents my card from doing the flip from one side to the other as a neverending card should do.)

This neverending card video is by two gentlemen who fill orders over at CustomCrops.com (I ordered from them earlier this year and had no problems getting my stuff in a timely manner).

 

Supplies: 

cardstock: Recollections

stamps: Close to my Heart Happy Camper

ink: Memento dew drop

markers: Crayola

punches: Punch Bunch small flower, Studio G mini flower

glitter glue: Studio G (used on the fire and lamp)

sequins were from my stash

Interactive Cards: Swing Cards

The next card up for review is the Swing card.  Again, this is from the book Interactive Cards edited by Tanya Fox.  The card I worked from is on the right.  The idea behind the swing card is that there's an element that swings freely, suspended on thread or wire.

This card brought up the first... challenge with using this book.  With the other cards I'd done, following the directions was easy and didn't require tools I didn't have (the only things they needed were a knife/cutting board, score board and a circle punch - the last of which I didn't use having modified the card so I didn't need it).  This card's directions required taking the ... second largest (or largest, I can't remember which, as I don't have these) circle die from a set (Spellbinders, etc.)  Since I do my die cutting with my Silhouette, this required that I find out what size the largest/second largest die in the set was.  That was easy, I just went to the Spellbinders website where the die dimensions are given.  I'm surprised the book didn't simply say, use the 2 1/2" (or whatever it was) circle die.  Anyway, got my circles cut, which was a challenge as I needed the circle in the middle of my cardstock and I'm used to just doing edge cuts for applied pieces.  I had some trouble with the fleur de lis paper.  The crests were supposed to point up, but measuring that carefully on a Silhouette is hard (generally since you have to also be aware of where the wheels that feed the paper into the machine fit in your measurements.  If you're off there, it doesn't matter how carefully you placed your paper.  I didn't consider this when I cut that sheet, so it was a bit off and I had to trim it down around the other edges and turn it on its side to make it fit the card backing).

Here's my card:

I also discovered that heat embossing a detailed image is tough if you don't want bits of powder in the center of your image (and trying to wipe those away by hitting the back of the card only gets rid of too much powder so you have to reink the image and start again).  I tried the paintbrush method of getting rid of excess bits of powder, but it was too heavy handed.  Perhaps I'll try a better quality or smaller brush next time.  The cameo is suspended by a piece of jewelry cord (so you can see it, but it's small and clear).

Supplies:
cardstock: Recollections, DCWV Mariposa Matstack
stamp: Close to my Heart Sweet Moments
ink: versamark
embossing powder: gold
pearls, tape runner, jewelry cord - dollar store

Interactive Cards: Sliders 2

Still working from the book edited by Tanya Fox, Interactive Cards, the second card I made was also a slider card, but this time it used cut slits and brads for the slider.  The card I was 'supposed' to make, looked like this:
[Again, I'm purposefully photographing the project photo badly as I'm trying to review the book, not plagiarize it.]

It's basically a cake with a flower/button at the top used to pull the cake from a closed to open state.

I originally planned to do a white wedding cake, with cake toppers for the pull, but kept seeing brightly coloured papers when I looked at the model project.  So... I did a birthday card.  Shaped like a cake, but no cake I'd be able to decorate.  :)  Here's my card in the closed and open states:

One thing the book doesn't warn you about, and something you can't really stop without making the slits in the back really narrow (and I'm not sure that would help), is the... flimsy nature of the card.  It can pull straight up or it can bend in fun ways:

And a close up of the glitter glue I used on the candles.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Recollections
Papers: from my stash (sorry, don't know what company they are)
Glitter Glue: Studio G
Glitter Pen: Sakura Gel Pen (hand written sentiment)

Interactive Cards: Sliders 1

I spent a fair amount of time the last 2 weeks making interactive cards for the purpose of reviewing Interactive Cards, edited by Tanya Fox.  I'll be showing the cards I made and when I'm done that, posting my thoughts on the book.

There are several types of sliders taught in the book, and I did two of them. Today I'll show the first.  To the right is the card I worked from.

My idea with this review was to learn the techniques, but also to see how easy the ideas are to modify so as to let the card crafter's own inspiration shine through, rather than to simply reproduce the cards in the book.

This is the card I made.  I won't explain the technique (that's what the book is for).  I found making this card pretty easy, it works well, looks great and, I imagine, would be a lot of fun to receive.  The slider is the bug, activated by pulling the ribbon up and down.

I didn't have a bug stamp so I drew one, coloured it in and fussy cut it out.  There is red glitter glue on the 'hair' ends, and mod podge over the eyes.

Supplies:
cream cardstock
white doily, coloured black
peel-off border sticker
dollar store candle sticker
dollar store ribbon
gold pen
markers, mod podge, glitter glue