UPRIGHT DIAMOND FOLD

A few months ago, my sweet friend, Laura, was working on a tutorial for SCS and asked me to follow her written instructions to see if I could end up with a card that she named the Upright Diamond Fold (see the now-published tutorial HERE).  I'm almost always up for the challenge of learning a new "fun fold" technique, and it was exciting that Laura had shared instructions and a photo of her completed card.  If you've ever worked with "text only" instructions, then you know that they can be a real doozy, especially for a very impatient someone who is eager to see how the finished card will turn out and has trouble focusing on all of the details in between.  Ha!  I would never claim to be the smartest cracker in the box; however, when I first started stamping, the internet was NOT abundant with photo and video tutorials like it is today, so I had to learn to follow written instructions if I wanted to learn new techniques and fun folds for cards, boxes, etc.  Many times, it came down to me, a paper trimmer, a project photo, and the desire to figure out how something was made.  While I prefer photo and video tutorials today, I have a great appreciation for having to back my way into many, many projects in the past.  I think of it now as digging a learning and training "well" from which I still draw to help me understand a lot of tutorials today that either barely exist or aren't as explicit as they could be.  Laura's written instructions were very good, but things can get confusing (almost scary) when anything diagonal is thrown into the mix.  Circles and diagonals always make me cringe.  I bumped into a few stumbling blocks and do-overs, but I think my card turned out okay.  Actually, I like it a LOT!  Once I sat back and studied the finished card, I thought that it would make such a nice photo card with all of those fun pop-out, expanding panels but, since there were no photos on my card and the busy center didn't have a specific purpose, I decided to turn it into a gift card holder. 

Even though those fun triangular sections on my card are still blank, I am sure this would make a perfect birthday (or graduation) card--complete with a gift card--to send to someone and include photos of them at various stages in life.  Or a retirement card.  Maybe an anniversary.  Maybe just about any occasion!  Laura has a fantastic tutorial, complete with photos (woohoo!!!!), so give it a whirl!