 Hi everybody, it's Sam at Mixed Up Craft. Thank you for watching my tutorial today. I'm gonna be showing you how to make this block step card as part of my Valentine's series 2019. This is actually the last tutorial for this year's series, but I do have a few extra Valentine's themed projects, but I'm just gonna pop them in with my other tutorials in the coming weeks. But for today, I'm gonna be sharing this card here. Now, this came up when I was going through Pinterest, and I then popped it into YouTube and found the tutorial by Papercrafter45. And I thought I would give it a go. So this is my spin on it. It's a really lovely style. So you can see there how it looks from the side. I've decorated the top here with these flowers. The papers are the free downloadable flowers, papers from the craft blog, along with this little heart there, which I die cut. Die cut all these flowers. I've covered them with my Sparkle Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen. Die cut these little butterflies a few times. And then on the very back here, popped a few more squares there, just decorated, and then I've done the bigger square here for you to write your message. And the nice thing about this is the whole thing folds flat, so you just pop it down like so. And then I've just created this envelope here with the envelope punch board, which I'll share with you at the very end. That should always do it upside down. That way you don't damage any of your embellishments and they don't get caught. And you can see there, it's perfectly inside your envelope. So that's what we're gonna make. So let's just put that one to one side. That was my piece there. So you will need the envelope punch board, but not too later, so I'll pop that out of the way. And I've got everything here. So that's my paper for my envelope later. Some butterflies. So I've done a template for this one just because there's quite a lot of squares on it. So I figured it's always handy to have a template, just got some embellishments that I wanna use. And then all these pieces are here. So keep that one, that one. And these ones here. And this is what I'm using to embellish later. So I've just die cut some butterflies there. I just punched out some flowers. So I just punched out two of each. So there's two there on top of each other. And you just offset the one on top over the one on the bottom, just to get a nice full flower. Just curl them up a bit and we just popped a little bit of sparkle in the middle. And then I've just die cut a lot of these, which I'm gonna be filling in. And then I've just got this here from the Forever Free Paper Pack. This is the eight by eight paper pack. I just fussy cut one of the little cut out pieces there from one of the pages. And that's the papers I'm using as well from Forever Free. You only really have a very small amount of pattern paper. All right, this is the template. That will all make sense to you in a moment. But what you need to make this card is a piece of 12 by four and a half card stock. Bring that down there so you can see. That's better. So yeah, that was 12 by four and a half. And then you want for a hinge, you need a piece that's one inch by four and a half. And then you'll need, I mean, did I have it? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, is that right? Yeah, 11 pieces that are one and a quarter squared. And then 11 pieces that are one inch squared. The one inch ones, I just used my square one inch punch. So it was quite quick to cut all those out. So I could set 11 of each of those sizes. As always, this will all be shared over on my blog. And you can find all that information. Just click below this video and there'll be a little bit that says more. Click on that and it will bring down the direct link to this blog, to the blog post for this tutorial. So all the measurements and stuff. So I do get a lot of people asking for the measurements. They're always shared below. All right. And then this piece here is a piece that is three by three. And that's gonna go on the back for you to write your message. Okay, so with your main piece of card stock here, you are gonna score along the 12 inch side at every one and a half inch. So one and a half, three, four and a half, six, seven and a half, nine, and 10 and a half. Okay, so just go through that again. One and a half, three, four and a half, six, seven and a half, nine, and 10 and a half. Okay. Then rotate it onto the shorter side and you're gonna score again at every one and a half. So it'd be one and a half and three. Okay. Then with your hinge, which is that one by four and a half, along the one inch side, you just wanna score half an inch. So just down through the middle there. Okay, and then you can just burnish that one. And that's all ready to go now when we need to use it. Okay, get rid of your scoreboard. And what I've already done here is I've marked some pencil marks. That's just for me. This is when you'll wanna use this template. So if you wanna, I don't know, take a photo of this screen with your phone or this will again be on my blog, I will take a photo of this so you'll be able to just have that up on your screen as well. So you'll notice you've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight squares in total. You come in two squares from the very top row and the next three, you're gonna cut away and you should have three intact on the other side. When you're second row down, you're gonna come in three squares and the fourth square you're gonna cut away. So you can see that whole section here that we're gonna cut. These bits here are further cut lines but you're just cutting along that line. So there, there, the whole square is still gonna be attached by these lines here. Okay, so again there and there. So first of all, what I would say is get your card stock like I have here and just count in one, two, the third one put across, the fourth one put across and the fifth one put across just like the third, fourth and fifth on the top here and then come down where you've got the three on the second one directly below, you put another cross so you wanna have this shape here. So I've got cross, cross, cross and cross so I know that that's where I need to cut. Then these little pencil marks are basically just me redoing that there. Okay, so turn the whole thing around when you've got your crosses where you want them and we can get this cut out. So what I would say the easiest way to do it first is cut down the first cross, then cut all the way down. So you're cutting down past the first one and going all the way down. So what I've just done there, turn that upside down is I've just cut that one which is this one here and then I've gone and cut all the way down this one here and now I'm just gonna cut that line there and then that next line. Okay, so you can see there. Now it makes it easier for you to come in, sorry that one I was meant to go all the way down. Like so. By coming in and cutting from the top first you can see there, I've got the whole two in the middle then I've got this one and this one, all right. By cutting them first down that way it will make it easy for you to get your scissors in now to cut all of the extra bits. So what you can do is lift this one up, fold it right over. This is how I find you, a much nicer cut and then go in here and cut this one out. Okay, so now I've removed that square, just turn it around and you can see if I lie that down, what I've done. Then come in from this side and you can cut that one. It saves you having to get your scissors under and all that kind of stuff. I just found it much, much easier to cut this out without it kind of messing with your card and just remove that piece there. So now if I lie that down on top of my template you can see what I've removed. So next we just need to remove this piece here but if you burnish that back and back again that way and then I can just grab these scissors here. And I don't wanna go in that way, yeah. And I can get right in there and just get a really nice cut because you are gonna see all of this. So you do wanna make sure that it's nice and neat like so. And then if you've got any bits you wanna just tidy up about I'm just gonna come in with my snips and just remove a few of those score lines. Okay, so again, there's my template. I'll just lie this one on the top and you can see now what we've removed. So now what we need to do is cut these lines here. So this one, this one, this one and this one. And that's where I've got my little pencil mark there, there, there and there. But again, now you've got all of that removed it's much easier to just go in now and just continue cutting. So that's that one there. That's all I need to do is cut and then this one here just cut. That's all you want to do is keep it attached just kind of just take them away from the side there slightly. And then that one and then that one. Okay, I'm just gonna grab my rubber because you can see those pencil marks and just take that out. Once you put this together, all of a sudden you're like, ah, okay, I get it because that's what I was doing when I first done it and then you kind of just wrap it and it comes together. Yeah, it's an odd size and you kind of think, God, how's that gonna make this card? But it is, it's clever, I really like it. There we go. Okay, so now again, you can see now that's it on my template and then you should just lift up those two like that and then those two like that, all right. At the top of this kind of step bit here, so this one here, you just want to burnish your, fold your pieces down either side like so. Now you'll have one longer than the other, that's fine because this is gonna be your base like so. All right, then the ones that you've cut, they are gonna fold towards each other. All right, so that's the two there and then these two folded ones, again, fold towards each other. Okay, you can see there. Now, this bottom one, so this side, you've got one, two, three, four squares. If I turn it over on this side, you've just got three, but you want it so it's this way, so you've got your steps going up that way on the left. So you want your flat side on your left as opposed to that side. You can have it this way, to be honest, it's actually, I just think it visually just seems to work. It just looks better this way. But anyway, that's my own choice. This bottom one, you're gonna fold in. So now you've got both sides the same, okay. And then, because now your join is going under, this is the back here and this is where this hinge is gonna come into play. The ones facing you, you want to fold the ones down below, a bit below, the ones at the back down first and stick them over the top. That way, you get a nice continued piece of cardstock. Whereas if I put that one over the top, you're gonna see the join. So make sure you put them over the back ones like so. You imagine once your hinge is in place, there it all is, it just kind of comes together. Now I like to stick these down first and put my hinge in last, okay. So what should we do at first? You may decide you want to do it differently. So what I'm gonna do first of all is I can still see a little bit of pencil there. Let's just take that one out, there we go. So I'm gonna use my Tombow glue. Again, if you're using a wet glue and it's a tacky glue, just make sure that you don't go really close to the edges. So I'm just going to go really sparingly. I'm not gonna use a lot of tool. I'm just almost pushing around what's now already on the cardstock, like so. And I'm gonna stick that one really nice and neatly, make sure they marry up perfectly because they're both the same size. And just stick them down, okay. And then again, going on the back one first because I want that to go on the bottom. Just again, very, very thin amount. As I said before, you don't glue better when there's not a lot of it. Okay, and again, stick that one really nicely over the top. Okay, so now we've got our base open and this is when I find it just easier to put the hinge in place. So what you're gonna be doing is sticking inside one piece on the bottom and then that will allow you to stick that together. So with your hinge, with it folded so you've got a mountain fold, like so, just take little wedges off because again, you don't want this sticking out the side of your card, like so. I'm just gonna burnish that a little bit better. Okay, again, I'm gonna use wet glue if you want to use your tape, you can. Okay, and then with the bottom one, pop in this inside, right? You're sticking inside it there so just make sure you get that nice and lined up. So you can see there and there it is stuck inside. Okay, and now you want to put glue on this side and then this back piece now is gonna stick on that. And you want it to look like it was one full piece of card stock really so you want to really kind of hide that hinge, like so. Pop it on its side and just go in there and just make sure you flatten both of those hinges down. Just gonna give that a minute to just set. Okay, and there is your step block card. And now what I would do is just start to kind of work that hinge part. So that's how you fold it in the envelope. Just kind of really work in all of those folds now. And then again, it comes back up. Once you've got all your mats and layers on, it will sit much, much better. And just, yeah, just make sure it's all nice and, yeah, it should have a perfect shape. You can see that it's equal on both sides. Sits nicely there, look down that side. Little bit there, needs to just line it up a bit but you can see now there, there it is. A blank canvas, ready to decorate. So like I said, that template will be on my blog. Now I've got all of these here and these are enough to cover all of your front, all of the tops here of the step. And then, so there'd be three, so that's the three for the steps. And then you will have just two for the back, which will go there and there because this piece is gonna go there. And that's for the message. Okay, so I'm gonna go and get all of that stuck down. Okay, and that's all stuck down. What I would say is maybe if you're gonna put a lot of dimension on the front, don't put this one on until you know who you're gonna give it to. But even now you can just lie that down flat and you can still write on the back of that. But already that has become really, really strong and you really get to see the cube or block effect now that you get with that just by adding those mats and layers. So I really, really like it. So now it's just down to the decoration. So I've already, like I said, done all these pieces. This is now a Bethi card. I know it's part of my Valentine's series but I don't need any more Valentine's cards. So I showed you that one at the beginning. But I'm gonna pop that one, I think there and build up flowers around the bottom. Something like that with leaves coming out of the sides. And then I've got these three. I did like that. I'm gonna go on the top of each one there. And then I've got the butterflies. So I'm gonna have this on high speed so you can still watch me do it. But I don't think you need to actually watch me painstakingly at normal speed to do it. So enjoy what I do next. Okay guys, so there's my finished step block card. Block step card. I think it looks really, really nice. These ones here, you might have seen me in the tutorial. They're just more of those flower, the butterflies that I like to buy. And they're the 3D ones. But personally, this is just me. I don't like the holographic behind the trim. I just don't like it. I think for me, it limits me on when I can use them. So I just peel that bit off. And I think it makes them look quite realistic. They look a lot more. And the good thing about these is you can send them in the post and because they're plastic, they can lie flat, but they will automatically pop straight back up again. So you can see the other dimension you get with them. And they just look really, really nice. So I've just got a load of black and white ones. I picked these up from the range. I've got one, two, I've got three packs and they're all different. These are gorgeous. Look at those, absolutely stunning. But for me, just the single layer, I prefer, but they are a sticker. So you just peel off this holographic back there anyway. So yeah, so that's the card. How cute is that? Really, really nice. And obviously you've got the back. You can put more flowers there. And also when you go to fold it flat, bear in mind it's gonna go like that. You can have more kind of overhanging here because you have actually got all this free space in your envelope. But you don't wanna go over this side. So you can see there, I've just made sure I keep my flowers not kind of overhanging too far. But now when that comes out of the envelope, it will stand up on its own perfectly. Love it. Right, envelope time. So to make the envelope for this one, you wanna follow, it's a four and a half by six card size. So just right down here, four and a half by six. So it's telling you you need a piece of eight and a half by eight and a half paper. Your first score line is gonna be at, where I've lost it, three and three quarters. All right, now I have this paper pack which was purchased from Every Crafts a pound and I think it was three pound. And it is a bumper, bumper pack, 100 papers. And they are just that, they are papers. So they're slightly thicker than copy paper but they are perfect for making envelopes. Now this was purchased quite a while ago but it's by Grace Taylor. Paper pad is Bohemi. Yeah, it's not Bohemian is it? It says Bohemi. I'm probably saying that completely wrong. All the normal gum that it says on it but yeah, it's really, really handy. So we'll have a look but they do just lots of prints. Obviously they're great for matting and layering, you know, your cards but they are really, really good for envelopes. So that is what I've used for both of these. So this is from the pack, which is that one there. And then I've got this one now which is this one here. So you get only four of each and there's 25 designs but it's huge and really heavy. Okay, so I've already cut that down to eight and what did I say? It was eight and a half by eight and a half. So I'm gonna pop this in here. And again, my memory is terrible, three and three quarters. So pop it in and then you line up your side here to three and three quarters. I do have a tutorial to how to use this and I will pop that up now so you can always go to that. Score and then I like to flip the whole thing around and do the opposite side. And then I just follow my score line. So that score line I'm now gonna follow with my score guide. I am doing this quick. I'm not teaching this guys because like I said, I do have a tutorial for that. This is just to show you quickly how it all kind of works and that one there. Get rid of the scrap. Just going to round off that one there. And then just, I don't know, I rounded off the wrong one. It's the wrong one I wanna do. Let's do them all. Burnish all of your score lines. Some tape. And just, I always bring it up about half an inch from the actual side there. You don't need much. You don't need to cover it all just enough. And there it is. One envelope already for my card. I think that matches quite nicely. You can see if it's in there perfectly. Like I said, when you go to put them in your envelope, put them in upside down. And then when the person received it, they will know to move it around and kind of position it in place. But I think these aren't really, really good. I wish I'd kind of come across this before because most cards I've kind of seen, but this one, I saw it and I thought, oh yeah, I like it. How cute are they? Really, really fun. And they're nice sized. I think they're a little bit smaller to what I usually do. So they look quite cute. I think that's maybe what I'm kind of drawing in for towards and for. But these would look lovely for a baby's card because obviously you can do the blocks as like building blocks. And also you can do something decorative with them. You could have them reversed. And yeah, I mean, yeah, you know what I mean. See what you can do and share them over on mixed up crafters because I'm sure there's gonna be some lovely versions coming about, but there you have it. So that is it. That is it for this year's Valentine's series. That's obviously the Valentine's themed one. But even that actually, you could probably do as a birthday card. But anyway, I thought I would throw it in for this series. But I do have a couple of others, but like I said, I'm just gonna share them over the next coming weeks with all the other tutorials. But I hope you've enjoyed the series. I've loved seeing all the different versions over on my Facebook page. It's been really, really good. And I've had loads of lovely comments and emails saying that you've been enjoying it. So yeah, that's it for this year. But I will be back again on Sunday with my scrapbook layout and Monday with my normal tutorial. Okay guys, thanks for watching. Bye.