CCC 2024 Day 11: Winter Wonderland Stepper Card

Step 2) Format the score lines

Design Space doesn’t automatically understand that we want to score some of the layers instead of cutting them, so we need to tell it what to do.

If you are making this project with a Cricut Xtra, or if you don’t have a scoring tool, here is a tutorial on how you can still score with those type of machines.

First, make sure the design has loaded in at 10 inches tall and 7 inches wide. If not, resize it to those measurements. It’s ok if the measurements are a tiny bit off of 10×7.

Click the design and press the “Ungroup” button at the top of the layers panel to separate out all the pieces.

Look down the layers panel until you see a little arrow next to the bottom layer. Click the arrow to open up the group.

Click on the layer that looks like horizontal lines and change it to “Score” in the Operations dropdown menu.

Select the main card base layer and the score line (or whole mini group) and press “Attach”.

Attach is what tells the Cricut where to do the scoring.

This has moved the base card to the top of the layers panel so we can’t see anything else on the screen any more.

To move it back press “Arrange > Send to back” and now we can see everything else again.

Step 3) Cut out all the layers

When you’re happy with how the project is looking in Design Space, click “Make” and follow the instructions on-screen to cut out all the pieces.

To change the paper size, go into the dropdowns over on the left side of the screen and choose the paper size that you want to use. You need to change it for every single colour.

To save space on your cardstock, you can move things around by clicking and dragging. Make sure when you’re moving things about that nothing overlaps because otherwise, it won’t cut out properly.

TIP: New to cutting cardstock with a Cricut? Check out this in-depth tutorial which goes through every step of the process, including tips for getting the best quality cuts from your Cricut.

Step 4) Fold the base card

We will be using two different folds for the score lines on our stepper card: a mountain fold and a valley fold.

A mountain fold gets its name from the mountain shape that you will see once you’ve folded along the score line and the folded point is at the top just like a mountain peak.

A valley fold is the opposite: the folded point is at the bottom which creates a valley shape.

Start with the score line at the top of the card. This is a mountain fold so the point needs to go upwards towards you.

Locate the two matching folds in the middle of the card that go all the way to the edges of the card. These will be mountain folds too.

Start the folds by pinching the card inwards on one side and then on the other.

Try not to force the folds as they will come together a little bit better once all the folds have been done.

You will see two score lines left to be folded, in the very middle section of the card. The highest one of the two is a valley fold and the lower one is a mountain fold.

It should look like the image below when you have folded along those score lines.

With all the folds started, hold the card flat and use a brayer or scraper tool along the folds to make your folds crisp. This will also help give stability to your stepper card.

Here’s how the card should look when it’s stood up:

Step 5) Add on the card details

Open the card up flat to make it easier to attach the details to the front and back.

Use 3D foam pads and glue to stick the layers together.

Use this guide to see the order to stick the layers together in.

A printable version of this assembly guide is included in the folder when you download the cut files.

My favourite glues to use on papercraft projects are Bearly Art Glue and Collall All Purpose Glue.

These are great because they don’t “warp” or bend the cardstock like some glues do. You can use as much of it as you want and the card stays perfect – and it dries perfectly clear too!

Bearly Art Glue comes with a tiny nozzle to make it easy to apply glue to small areas of card. The Collall glue doesn’t come with this, so it’s easiest to decant it into needle tip applicator bottles so that you have more control.

The foam pads that I use are from “Dot & Dab”, but any foam squares will work. If yours are big then you may need to cut them smaller with scissors to fit inside the edges of the layers.

Stick all the large pieces to the front of the card first.

Fold up the card and complete the front decorations.

Glue together the pieces for the rectangular central image.

Glue the rectangle into the middle of the card.

Add foam squares to the message panel on the back of card to give some weight to the back.

Glue the other pieces for the back of the card.

Now your stepper card is all finished!

Winter wonderland themed craft projects

I hope you enjoy making this Christmas stepper card! For more stepper cards, visit my SVG shop.

The completed stepper card will fit into a standard 5×7 inch envelope.

If you’d prefer to make one, check out these free envelope SVGs or this presentation box for cards to make the delivery extra special.

I am going to make all my Christmas cards this year with a winter wonderland theme. I like to come up with a new theme every year and then make everyone’s cards match, that way I know that nobody will ever get the same card more than once!

If you’d like to make more cards with this same style of design, here are some other options:

• Winter bunnies layered card
• Winter cottage shadow box
• Winter wonderland popout card
• Blue Christmas scene card

Happy crafting,
Sarah x