Tutorial - Stair Step Fold

Stair step cards open to reveal a set of pop-out "stairs" that are perfect for holding little embellishments, letters, pretty papers or whatever decoration you prefer.  The instructions that I've written will create a card with five steps, but you can adjust the measurements to get as many as you require for your project.

TEMPLATE (WORKING ON THE WRONG SIDE)

1.  Start with two pieces of cardstock measuring 10" x 5".

2.  Lay one piece of cardstock on your score board horizontally and score at 5".  Fold in half and press the crease firmly.  This will be your card front.

3.  Decorate your card front as desired.

We will be working on the WRONG SIDE of the second piece of cardstock.  If you are using a piece of patterned cardboard, then flip it over so that the WRONG SIDE is facing up.  

4.  Place the second piece of cardstock horizontally, and face down, on your scoreboard and score at 6".

5.  Use a pencil and ruler to draw feint horizontal lines from the LHS of your card to the score line.  The first line is 1" from the top of the card, the second is 1" below the first and so on down the card.   You should end up with four horizontal lines, 1" apart as shown in the photo below.

6.  Using a pencil and ruler, draw in some vertical lines starting 2" from the LHS of the card.   Draw the first line at 2", then 21/2", 3", 31/2", 4", 41/2" and 5".  You should have a total of seven vertical lines, each 1/2" apart.

7.  To make sure I cut in the right place, I mark little crosses at the beginning and end of each cut I need to make.  Referring to the template at the top of this post and to the photo below, use a craft knife to cut along the horizontal lines.

LINE ONE: start cut at 31/2" - end cut at 5"

LINE TWO: start cut at 3" - end cut at 41/2"

LINE THREE: start cut at 21/2" - end cut at 4"

LINE FOUR: start cut at 2" - end cut at 31/2"

8.  Place the piece of cardstock back on the score board and score on the vertical lines as indicated on the template.  Each vertical score line is only 1" long.

SECTION ONE: score at 4" and at 5"

SECTION TWO: score at 31/2" and 41/2"

SECTION THREE: score at 3" and 4"

SECTION FOUR: score at 21/2" and 31/2"

SECTION FIVE: score at 2" and 3"

9.  Now turn the cardstock over.  Your card should resemble the photo below.

10.  To fold, I found it easiest to anchor the RHS of the card with my right hand and then push on the LHS with my left hand.  The card should bend along the score lines you created.

11.  To decorate the stair side of the card, start with a piece of patterned paper measuring 6" wide and 5" high.

12.  Turn it over so that the WRONG SIDE is facing up.  Now mark the grid in the same way as you did in steps 5 and 6.

13.  Use scissors or a craft knife to cut "steps" in your paper.  Starting at the top, make the first vertical cut at 4" from the LHS.  Cut down 1", then cut 1/2" toward the LHS.  Repeat this process until you have two pieces of patterned paper separated by the "steps".  These should fit perfectly along the two sides of the stairs.

14.  You can now add additional patterned paper to the LHS of the card and to the face of each little step.  The small squares measure 1" and the large area on the LHS measures 4" x 5".

As you can see from the photo below, I trimmed all my patterned paper a little smaller so that I was left with a border around each piece.  I also inked the folds and edges of the card and patterned paper.

15.  You can decorate the steps with letters or other embellishments if you wish.

16.  When you're happy with the decoration, flip the card over again and apply adhesive to the areas as shown in the photo below.  Don't add any adhesive over the folds or the steps as you want them to pop up when the card is open.

17.  Adhere the "stairs" to the inside of the card front that you created earlier, and you're done!