Twirly Card

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Hey There!

I have a Twirly Card to share today, I have seen them referred to as a Pop-Up Twirly Card but essentially the motion of opening and closing the card causes a skewer on the inside of the card to twirl, this allows you to attach an element to the skewer which will also twirl. This style of card can look complicated but worry not, I have made a Cut File (at the end of the post) which may tempt you to give it a go 🙂

The picture below shows all of the materials you will need for the card base, you will need:

  • 1 copy of the Twirly Card Cut File cut just smaller than A4 / letter size with your chosen KNK machine, I cut mine with Make the Cut and my Zing.
  • 1 sheet of A4 / letter size Card
  • Strong adhesive tape
  • Twine or similar thread
  • 1 Skewer

Twirly Card 1

Starting with the cut file piece, fold along your dashed lines ensuring that your tabs fold inward, it should look like the picture below:

Twirly Card 2

Feed the skewer through the space for it at the end of the tabs then wind some twine around your skewer a few times. Thread the twine through the holes in the card and attach to the back with some strong tape ensuring that your skewer twirls when your card opens and closes. You may find that the twine won’t let you open the card fully, this is fine as long as there is lots of spin:

Twirly Card 3

Cover all of the edges of your card with glue or tape, you can also see here where I attached the twine:

Twirly Card 4

Glue/tape your card base mechanism onto your folded A4 / letter sized piece of card, one side at a time. The outer layer of card is slightly larger which allows us to trim away the surplus with scissors and have a neat and tidy edge.

Twirly Card 5

To prevent the skewer from slipping through the tabs I used a small strip of adhesive tape on the skewer ends then wrapped some of my twine around it and liberally coated it with some glossy accents and allowed it to harden. You can repeat the process if needed to form a larger stopper.

Twirly Card 6

Your card base and mechanism is now finished and you can decorate your card. I cut some tall letters for the front of my card and popped them up with some 3d foam pads.

Twirly Card 7

You can now add an image or sentiment to the skewer inside of your card, experiment with the size to ensure that it will twirl freely before you attach it permanently. For the best results use 2 copies of your twirly element and sandwich the skewer between them.

As mine is a Birthday Card for my Dad, I layered my letters in different shades of shimmery blue card stock, I hope it will catch the light when he opens the card and it twirls. The letters are also included as a cut file at the end of the post.

Twirly Card 8

I hope you have enjoyed following how I made my Twirly Card, if you would like to see more projects I have created with my Zing and access my free cut files you can find my blog here: www.birdscards.com

Here are the Cut Files for today’s project:

DAD by Bird

DAD Cut File by Bird

Twirly Card by Bird

Twirly Card Cut File by Bird

49 thoughts on “Twirly Card”

  1. How cool is that? I am going to have to try making one of these. My daughter’s birthday is coming up and I think that she would get a kick out of it.

  2. Is there a video of this in action? I’m having trouble visualizing! Thank you for your great files.

  6. This is so clever. I love it. I need a card for my grandson who is turning 17 and this would be good. Not to mushy for a boy. TFS

  7. Great card Bird, beautiful cut file too, I have not seen a card that does that kind of twirl, looks fabulous! I will Pin it here too!

  8. How fun! So many projects …. so little time. You guys are killing me with all these fun things to try. LOL!

  9. This is GREAT!!! I can hardly wait to try it out. I am sure anyone receiving a card like this will be thrilled. Thank you for sharing the files and your detailed instructions.

  15. What a great card! Thanks for the great step-by-step directions and the files. I’m sure to make one of these.

  16. Wow! This is so clever! Love this idea. Thank you very much for sharing your file and the detailed instructions.

  17. Great idea! I can’t wait to try this one.Thanks for the idea and the cut file! You make it so easy to do nice things for others.

  19. haven’t seen one quite like this one, thank you. my dad turn 91 on march 8 and I am traveling to his home for a 4 day visit. might just make one up for him!

  23. I will be trying this as soon as I can get to my machine. What a neat card. I love Halloween and already can think of one or two ways to use this file type with Halloween Cards. Thanks for sharing your files.

  28. What a fantastic card! Love it! Can’t wait to have a go at this one! Thanks so much for the files and demos.

    Love Joan xx

  30. cant wait to try this one i have two cards to make and this will be perfect for them
    rae 7145

  32. (¯`v´¯)
    `*.¸.*´
    ¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
    (¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`• .·:*¨·••·¨*:· Thanks.·:*¨·••·¨*:·for the tutorial and the cutfile.
    I appreciate you being so kind and sharing with us.Bless you, your time, hard work and your amazing talent.Looking forward to seeing more of your awesome work. I hope you have a fantastic day!take care of yourself and stay warm and healty.
    sending hugs across the miles

  37. I love your style! Thank you for the step-by-step photos & instructions. I’m a visual learner;-)

  38. Your creativity is amazing and your thoughtfulness to share your work is so generous.

    Thank you with much appreciation

  39. I love action cards! Thank you so much for sharing the files and the great instructions.

  41. Wow, that’s so very different and unique, thanks for sharing the design and instructions!!

  42. Has anyone made one yet? I was hoping to over the weekend but a migraine put an end to that idea.

  44. Genius! This is an awesome idea for a “man card”!!! Thanks for sharing, Bird 😀

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