Cardmaking: Deck Of Cards Birthday Greetings

Today's card was developed around a young man's 18th birthday. It had to be grown-up, but with a bit of fun. I always like to think up interactive ideas and this card certainly covers that aspect. The deck has to be fanned open to reveal the hidden messages inside. I walk you through the steps to make this card yourself, in today's blog.

I use two odd-sized decks of cards to make today's card from. However, if you can't get your hands on these odd-sized cards, you can simply adjust the scale and make the card from an old deck of normal-sized cards. I use only the 10 and 8 from the small deck of cards, as it is an 18th birthday card. The jumbo deck needs some calculating.  I need one cover card, the joker. I need one card for each of the letters in the birthday boy's name. And then I need a card to at the back to write the birthday message on. In my case, there are three of us who will be writing personal messages on the card, and therefore I included three cards at the back for each person's message. With the name I am working on being ESTIAN, my deck consisted of cover (1), name (6) and messages (3). A total of 10 cards.

I start by punching a hole through the top card of my personally compiled deck. I use this hole as guide to line up the holes in the rest of the cards.

In the end you want the card to be able to fan out on those holes.

I arrange the cards in order, as I would if I were playing cards. I then separate the different parts of the cards; the message cards, the name cards and the cover.

Starting at the back, I measure the space I have inside the card to write the message.

I then crop printer paper to fit inside the measured space of the cards. I need three of these, but you may require more, or even less than I do.

I then use double-sided tape to paste the paper to the cards. I now have a background that I can write on. Most pens would not be able to write on the shiny surface of the actual cards, and the 'pictures' would obscure the writing. This way the message will be legible.

I wrote my message so that it would be clear what my intentions are with these three cards at the back of the birthday card. The other two people will add their messages later.

I then cut small pieces of paper to obscure the card numbers when they are fanned out, sticking double-sided tape to these pieces. This is for the middle section of the cards that will contain the name of the recipient.

I obscure all of the numbers, leaving the suite visible.

I will punch the letters out of black or red paper, depending on the colour of the suite the letter falls on.

Here you can see the name punched out and glued onto the card.

I then punched out the birthday message "Veels geluk" (translated 'congratulations') and stuck this to the card as well. I love how this message can only be read once the card is fanned out like a normal deck of cards. The boy I am going to give this to will have a field day with this.

I can now start on the cover card. I prepare the age for this section of the card. I stick a little piece of double-sided tape to the back of the top card to secure it to the bottom card.

The age is now fixed as a single number.

I then stick 3-D double-sided squares on the back of these cards so that they will stand out from the background a little.

As the Joker card is already a beautifully colourful card, I do not do anything else to the cover card, except to stick the age cards in place.

I then use some tiny screws recovered from my scrapbooking albums to connect the cards. If you can't find these at hobby shops or hardware stores, you can also use split pins, or possibly ribbon, lace, or twine.

Stick the cap through the holes of the cards, making sure they are in the correct order. Then secure the deck with the screw.

You now have a wonderfully interactive card that reveals its hidden messages as it fans open.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy the books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.

Jy kan Kom Ons Teken en Verf Tuinstories hier koop.
Jy kan Kom Ons Kleur Tuinstories In hier koop.
Jy kan Tuinstories hier koop.
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