Kite Card Tutorial

This kite card tutorial takes you through all the steps needed to make this kite card. You’ll have your kite flying in no time when you follow my instructions.

Supplies Needed

Cardstock and Designer Paper

• Card base 4¼ x 11″, scored at 5½”
• Card Mat 4 x 5¼”
• Designer Series Paper (DSP) Mat 3 7/8 x 5 1/8″
• Card stock for kite, 4 x 11″
• Whisper White (WW) card stock for inside of kite, 3½ x 5″
• Mat for kite front, I used foiled card stock. 2 each 3¼ x 1¾” and 1¾ x 1½”
• DSP for kite front, 2 each 1 3/8 x 2 7/8 and 1 3/8 x 1 1/8″

Tail

• Bakers twine or 1/8″ ribbon
• 3/8″ ribbon for bows
• hot glue gun

Making the Kite

Scoring and cutting

Take the 4 x 11″ sheet and make a mark at the 2″ point on both short sides. Next make a mark on both long sides at the 3¾ spot. Turn your card stock 180 degrees and do this again on the other end. Score the long side at 5½”. The next step is to score diagonally between one 3¾ mark and the other on the opposite side of the sheet. Do this for both sets of marks. You should have a scored “X” crossing your 5½” score line. Lastly, cut from the 2″ mark to the 3¾” mark on all 4 sides. See the image below.

Folding and burnishing

First, fold the two diagonal lines. Once you’ve completed this, fold the middle scored area in both directions. This will train it to fold into your kite as you fold it in. The two diagonal lines will mountain fold and the vertical line will valley fold. Fold your kite together and burnish all the score lines well.

Mats for Front of Kite

To cut the mats properly, you need to cut mirror images of each other. This will give you enough mats for 2 kites. You need to cut the mats on a diagonal. If you cut the first one from upper left to lower right, cut the second one from upper right to lower left. And visa versa. If you leave the first mat on your trimmer after you cut it, you have a visual of how to cut the second one. Cut both sizes of both the foil and DSP in the same manner.

Once you have your kite pieces cut, put one set aside for another project. Layer the other set on each other and then adhere them to the front of your kite.

Making a Tail for Your Kite

Baker’s twine is a bit flimsy, so I took 2 strands of it and braided them together to get a 4″ piece I could tape to the back of my kite. If you don’t want to use baker’s twine, you can use a 1/8″ piece of ribbon. Either will work. Tape the tail to the back of the kite. You won’t see this as you’ll be adhering this to the front of the card. Make 3 small bows from 3/8″ ribbon. This should be a ribbon that makes bows easily. A silky or satiny ribbon works best. With your hot glue gun, adhere the bows to the tail.

Build your card base by adhering the 3 7/8 x 5 1/8 DSP to the 4 x 5½” mat and then adhering those to the front of the card base. Glue the kite onto the card base.

The last step is to make an insert for the kite. All you should have left is the 3½ x 5″ piece of WW card stock. With this, you make a mark on both 3½” sides at 1¾”. Then from one end, mark both sides at 1½. Cut between all marks. This should give you a kite shape slightly smaller than your kite. Adhere this to the inside of the kite. If you want to decorate the front of the kite, here is where you would also do that. You can see in the pictures above, one I decorated with the medium and large daisy punches, the other I stamped a sentiment on. You can find these supplies and much more in our current catalog.

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