Here's the tutorial for the Iris Folding Valentine Heart.

I call it Iris Folding because that's the technique, but I used Stampin' Up!'s Designer Series patterned paper (DSP), which is a much heavier weight than actual Iris Folding paper, so there are no folds in this tutorial. 

If you were to use regular Iris Folding paper, or regular gift wrapping paper (which is much thinner), you would cut your strips to 3/4", fold them in half, then follow the tutorial below.

This is sort of a crazy tutorial because I drew the Template myself and had to make adjustments along the way, but if you follow exactly as I describe, you'll get the hang of it.

Ready….let's get started.

Supplies you will need (and I'm not kidding, have them all ready before you start…you'll see why):

• Scotch tape, small scissors (Stampin' Up! Paper Snips work great);
• The Hearts A Flutter scalloped heart framelit from SU's Hearts A Flutter Bundle;
• 1 3" X 3" square of card stock; One 3 1/4" square piece of cardstock.
• The Heart Template printed out on a heavier paper if you have it. If not, regular bond paper will be okay;
• Post It Note;
• Big Shot;
• Stampin' Dimensionals;
• Five different paper designs cut into 1/2" wide strips (the length doesn't matter you can always cut more if you need;
• Heart Template. Below:

STEP 1:

Lay out your paper strips as I did in the picture below and label them as follows: Color A, Color B, Color C, Color D and Color E.

STEP 2:

• Place the heart framelit in the center of the 3" X 3" card stock, hold it in place with a post-it note and run it through your Big Shot;

STEP 3

• Now take the 3" X 3" cardstock with your "open heart" in the center and place it right side facing down over the heart template. 
• Secure all four corners with a little piece of tape or post it note to hold it in place over the template. See below. If you look closely at the top left corner, you can see my tape holding the open heart over the template.

STEP 4

Okay, you're ready to "Iris Fold" (but not really fold). Hope you're excited, cause this really is fun!

• Take a look at my chart below. Each 1/2" strip of paper design that you chose earlier, labeled, and laid out ever so neatly, corresponds to the chart.

• So, your Color A corresponds to numbers 1,5,9 and 13 on the template; Color B corresponds to numbers 2,6,10,14 and 17 on the template and so on…
• I'm sure by now you have this figured out…but don't go ahead of me because I had to do some tweaking…you'll see.

STEP 5

• Take your strip of Color A and place it RIGHT SIDE DOWN so that the edge lays over the #1 space and lines up with the template. Tape the strip on one side, then snip off the excess and tape the other side. Use small pieces of tape.
• See below:

• Now fill in numbers 2,3 and 4 with Colors B, C and D respectively. (Tape, snip, tape, snip, tape snip). Your project should look like the picture below:

• Beautiful!  Easy, right…once you get the hang of it, you'll fly through this.

STEP 6

• Okay, but this is where it gets a little tricky, and only because I drew it myself and I'm not an expert, so bear with me. It's beautiful in the end.
• Follow this chart step by step…read and follow across:

Tape in #6 with Color B    Tape in #7 with Color C    Tape in #11 with Color C

Tape in #8 with Color D    Tape in #12 with Color D    Tape in #16 with color D

• Do you see the pattern forming?  Let's keep going…

Tape in #5 with Color A    Tape in #9 with color A    Tape in #13 with color A

• The back of your heart is getting pretty thick with tape now, right? It's OK.

Tape in #10 with Color B    Tape in #14 with Color B    Tape in #17 with Color B

Tape in # 15 with color C    Tape in #18 with Color E    Tape in #19 with Color E

• Okay, you're done! Isn't the large heap of taped paper outrageous? Your template should look like this.

STEP 7

• Now gently remove your 3" X 3" cardstock from the template and turn it right side up. 

BEAUTIFUL!, but very thick. Not to worry…

• Cut another piece of cardstock 3 1/4" X 3 1/4" for a mat, attach four dimensionals to each corner of your heart and set it on the 3 1/4" X 3 l/4" mat.

STEP 8

• You did it! you "Iris Folded", or "Iris Stripped", whatever you feel comfortable calling it.
• You can layer it again and place it on your card front.

Below is the Template again. 

Note that you might have to adjust the size of the template slightly to fit the framelit, (I'm not perfect with pixels, yet) but if it's a little off, it's okay. You can still follow the pattern and it'll work.

Also, if you don't have the Hearts A Flutter framelit, you can create an open heart by printing out two heart templates and cutting out one to trace onto cardstock, then cut out center of cardstock.

Feel free to e-mail me with any questions.

Hope you enjoy, and remember…

"…the only limitation is your imagination!"

Express your creativity,

Debbie    

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