Cherry Blossom Fun Fold Card

I recently started Level 3 of the Altenew Educator Certification Program (AECP), and my first level 3 class is one of my favorites of all the 21 classes I've now taken: 3D Floral Focus with Therese Calvird as the instructor. I love Therese, and I love 3D floral die sets, so this was really the perfect class for me!

My homework was to apply one of the lessons from the class to create a card. I wanted to make a fun fold card since those are my favorite type to create, and I wanted to use papers from Your Paper Insider's Box 13 which releases today to the general public. As a member of the YPI Design Team, I received Box 13 a little while ago and have been having a great time playing with all the beautiful papers! This card uses only YPI papers, and all of them are from Box 13 except the woodgrain paper I used for the cherry blossom branch. That one is Wood Kogagami, and it's from Box 12 (which you can now purchase separately from the subscription box on the website). These are the papers from Box 13 that I used: Key Lime Colormates Cardstock, Sicily Colorwheel Spellbinders, Red Wagon Mirri Sparkle, Marigold Thai Unryu, and Pumpkin Colormates Cardstock.

I started by trimming a piece of Sicily Colorwheel Spellbinders to measure 4 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches. That's my card base. Then for the fun fold I adhered to the card base, I trimmed a piece of Key Lime Colormates Cardstock to 5 1/2 by 7 1/4 inches.  I scored it at 1 5/8, 2 7/8, 4 11/16, and 5 13/16. Then I trimmed pieces of Sicily Colorwheel Spellbinders and Key Lime Pie to 7/8 by 5 1/4 (2 of each color) and embossed them using Altenew's Garden Harmony 3D embossing folder. I trimmed 2 pieces of Red Wagon Mirri Sparkle to 1 1/4 by 5 1/4 and adhered them to the larger panels of the pop-out center section. I adhered the narrow pieces to the card base and the inside side sections of the pop out. For the center of the card, I trimmed a piece of Marigold Thai Unryu adhered to Pumpkin Colormates Cardstock to 2 by 5 1/4 inches. 

For the inside of the pop out section, I die cut a piece of Woodgrain Kogogami using Altenew's Ornate Nesting Die set. Then I die cut several layers of the word "Hugs" from the coordinating dies for Altenew's Watercolor Roses Stencil Art set so that they would have some dimension. I added one of the flowers from the Cherry Blossom set to decorate the inside panel. 

Next, I created a belly band for the card using the same Marigold Thai Unryu adhered to Pumpkin Colormates Cardstock that I used for the center panel on the inside of the card. I trimmed the belly band to 2 by 11 inches and bent it around the card, gluing it shut in the back of the card.

To decorate the belly band, I die cut the pieces from Altenew's Craft-Your-Life: Cherry Blossom set. This is a beautiful set that requires some time to do it justice, but it's worth the effort! I used the coordinating papers for the flowers that I used for the card base and pop out section. It's hard to see, but I even used the Marigold Thai Unryu papers for the middle parts of some of the flowers. Once I assembled my cherry blossom branch, I was careful to add glue only the parts that have the belly band behind them. Once I adhered the branch to the belly band, I die cut the phrase "sending love" and its shadow using the coordinating dies from Altenew's Strong Oak Stencil Art set and adhered that to the belly band. I then added 3 of Altenew's Emerald City Gem Sparkles to the belly band to finish the card. 

If you'd like to learn how to subscribe to Your Paper Insider's quarterly box of specialty papers, I'd be so grateful if you shopped with my affiliate link. I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you: Your Paper Insider.  And if you're interested in shopping at Altenew, I'd love it if you used my affiliate link here: Carrie's Altenew Link. Again, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Altenew carries many lovely 3D floral die sets like the one I used here that are easy to assemble using Altenew's patented keyhole system. 

Challenges I'm entering: 

Creative Creases Challenge: I'm on the DT so just linking up for fun

little red wagon: Captain's Log (faux wood: I used woodgrain paper for the branch of my cherry blossom die set) (1/3; ends 10/22/25)

Triple B: ATG with birds, blooms, and/or butterflies (2/3; ends at the end of the month)

Word Art Wednesday: ATG (1/5 for the week; 3/10 for the challenge; ends 10/22/25)

Heart's Quest for Shaped Cards and Tags: ATG with shaped cards or tags (3/5; ends at the end of the month)

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: ATG with flowers as the focus

613 Avenue Create: ATG with optional twist: Think Pink (3/8; ends at the end of the month)

A Place To Start: ATG with optional twist of pumpkins (5/8; ends at the end of the month)

The Paper Funday Challenges: ATG with option of Cute or Creepy (I think my flowers are cute!) (6/6; ends at the end of the month)

Crafty Catz: ATG (3/3; ends 10/23/25)

A Perfect Time To Craft Open Challenge: ATG (unlimited entries; ends at the end of the month)

This card is my AECP homework for the class 3D Floral Focus: Lesson 1: Create a project with 3D floral dies and Lesson 5: use design paper with 3D floral dies (I used Marigold Thai Unryu and Red Wagon Mirri Sparkle specialty papers for my flowers)

I'd like to leave a blessing for all the lovely visitors to my blog: 

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you;

The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.

--Numbers 6: 22-26