Crazicards Crafty Blog

The accordion card is a fun card to make and makes a very special gift for someone special.

The beauty of the accordion card is that you can make it as big or as small as you like and as long or short as you like. The choice is entirely yours.

What you will need:

2 pieces of grey board or 2 pieces of card cut from a cereal box or similar. Measuring 4" x 4".
2 pieces of pretty backing paper or designer paper measuring 4 1/2" x 4 1/2"
2 pieces of coordinating card stock measuring 3 3/4" x 3 3/4".
1 piece of White or Cream card stock measuring 3 1/2" x 7"
1 piece of White or Cream card stock measuring 3 1/2" x 10 1/2".
Some scraps of plain or coordinating card stock for decorating and matting your pages
Ribbon for the cover and decorating..
Glue - Photo Glue or 3D Glue Gel
Ink pads of your choice
Stamps of your choice
Spellbinders Cutting Dies or cuttlebug dies - optional

Getting started.

Step 1. Take a sheet of A4 White or Cream card stock and measure and cut 1 piece measuring 3 1/2" x 7". And another piece measuring 3 1/2" x 10 1/2".

Step 2. Take your White card panels and score each one at 3 1/2" intervals using you Hougie Board or similar. Making mountains and valleys to create the accordion effect.



Step 3. At this stage you can cut out an aperture using a Spellbinder Die or similar to add a little interest to your card. Here I used the Spellbinders Labels Set and die S4-168 Large Labels.

Step 4. Next I cut out a layer of coordinating card stock for the inside of my aperture using the Small labels set S4-169 from the Labels Set.



Step 5.  Now we need to make the covers for our Accordion Card.

Take the 2 pieces of 4" x 4" Grey board or cereal box and cover them with your backing paper or designer papers, making sure not to leave any gaps in the corners. This can be done by cutting across the corners.

Once you have secured the backing paper cover the inside with your coordinating card stock.

Tip: As an alternative you could also cover your grey board with fabric instead of designer papers.

Step 6. Now for the fun part of decorating your card. You can do this however you like.

Remember: You will only have to decorate one panel of your 2 section card panel as the other one is the backing for your aperture and is where the card sections are joined together. You can also leave the backs blank if you want to, to save time.


I chose to ink my page backgrounds using Distressed Ink this one was Scattered Straw. And then I over stamped it using my chosen stamps British Wild Flowers and Meadow Flora using Shabby Shutters and Scattered Straw distressed ink. And I stamped the dragonflies in Chocolate Chip dye based ink.

Next I stamped a couple of butterflies using Sepia Versafine Ink and they were coloured in using Promarkers and Sakura Glitter gel pens. I made some antennas from craft wire with a couple of  beads.

After the butterflies I took the scrap label made when cutting out my aperture and created a little sky scene using my Promarkers.   This was then attached to the back of  my aperture before the card was put together. As an alternative you can ink up and stamp an image into the centre of the panel that goes behind your aperture. I used the label so that the ink didn't bleed through onto the back of the card.

Once you have finished decorating your card you need to put it all together and add the finishing touches by adding tags or sentiments.

Now you will need to stamp another image for your front cover,  this also helps to secure the ribbon to the card for closing.

A little tip here to ensure you have enough ribbon to make a pretty bow is to run the ribbon the whole length of your card. Once the card is closed you will have plenty of ribbon for tying your bow. I forgot to do this hence the smaller bow.

Here is the front of my finished card, and at the top of the tutorial is the completed card. I hope you enjoyed making yours as much as I did making mine.

Don't forget to send me your photos, for inclusion in this blog and in my website gallery, to support at crazicards.co.uk along with a little description of what products you used and of course your name.

Until next time Happy Crafting xx