TLC Designs Dragon Baby Interactive Card with the See You In the Center Interactive Die Set

Welcome to Cards by Kendra! 

Today, I'm super excited to share my first project as a Design Team member for TLC Designs! I am part of the YouTube & Instagram team, so my creations will be posted on the TLC Designs YouTube channel and Instagram accounts.  

My project today features the Dragon Baby Greetings Digital Stamp set.  This little baby dragon is just too adorable!  I wanted to use the See You In the Center die set to make the baby dragon look like he's peeking out of his shell.  Instead of using the frame dies in this set, I decided to use the largest stitched circle from the Aztec Sunshine Die set.  I also used the Perfectly Precious paper pad and the Action Stamps.  

For instructions on how I made this card, watch the YouTube video posted on the TLC Designs YouTube Channel.  

Here's a little clip to see the card in action:

The first time I made this card, I glued two pieces of this heavyweight cardstock together and then die cut it so I wouldn’t have to cut out so many pieces but because it was so thick, my dies didn’t cut all the way through.  This time I decided to die cut the individual pieces out first and then glue them together. It really just depends on how heavyweight your cardstock is. Gluing them together first will definitely save you some time if your cardstock is not too thick.  

Instructions for the Interactive Portion:

So on the instructions on the back of the packaging, step 1 tells you to cut two frames and place one of the slot dies where you desire (which is the long skinny piece) but because I’m not using the frames, I cut two of the aztec circle dies.  Step 2 says to cut out the pieces for the mechanism. Cut 4 of the arms and adhere two together so that you will have a total of two arms. And then you’ll need to cut a total of 8 washers so that you can create 4.  

I wanted that pink to show through the holes on the teal piece so I glued the two circle layers together using some Gina K connect liquid glue. This is a really strong liquid glue and I thought it would be best to use this glue to adhere all of the mechanical pieces together.  I offset the pink piece so that the stitched lines of the pink piece will show through the holes of the teal piece.  And then I glued all of the other pieces together for the mechanism.  You should have a total of 1 dial, 2 arms and 4 washers (each of them being 2 layers thick).  

For the slot die, I wanted to make sure I placed it directly in the middle of my circle so I used my t-ruler to measure the diameter and it’s 3 and ⅞”.  If you divide that in half to find the radius, it’s not exactly easy to find on your ruler. It’s actually 1.938 but it really doesn’t have to be exact - just a little less than 2 inches. I tried to line up the hole of the slot die over my pencil mark & I used some washi tape to hold it down. I would recommend using a low tack tape instead because the washi tape tore my cardstock. Next I used the tiny hole die to cut out a hole between the two slots.

Now we are on step 3 of the instructions. Since we’re not using the frame, this will be a little different for this card. If you use the diagram on the instructions and place the 3rd hole of the dial at the center hole of the circle frame, the dial doesn’t stick out far enough from the edge of the circle for the dial mechanism to work.  You’ll want to make sure you put the dial with the second hole from the top to line up with the center hole of the circle frame. 

The dial gets assembled beneath the frame.  You will need 7 brads for assembly and it’s best to use small brads with flat heads.  You’ll take the dial piece and one of the arm pieces and line up the hole on the arm on the back side of the dial and then run the brad through both holes.  

The head of the brad should be facing down and the wings of the brad facing up with the arm underneath the dial.  I placed the tool on the wings of the brad to give space between the dial and then opened up the wings and flattened them against the tool before sliding the tool out. You want to make sure your arm can move freely.  And then do the same thing with the other arm, just on the other side. 

Skip the second hole on the dial and use the third hole.  The hole between the two is how you’re going to connect the dial to the circle frame.  Line up the hole, push the brad through and then use the tool for spacing and spread the wings. 

Now we’re on step 5 of the instructions where we’re going to use brads 3, 4 & 5 with the washer pieces.  For brad #3, push it through one of the washers, then put it through one of the slots then add another washer on the back and then open the wings. You’ll do the same thing for the other two washers with brad number 4. 

The last part of  step 5 says to put brad number 5 through the frame in the little hole right in the center and then you're going to turn the frame over.  You want to make sure your empty holes on each of the washers are on the outside closest to the edge of the circle and your dial is going to be perpendicular to the slot lines once you have everything attached.  

Line up the empty hole of the arm with the empty holes of the washer through the slot on both ends and have those ready to go. Use the tool for space on that middle brad #5 that’s in that middle hole between the two brads holding the arms and separate the wings.  This is what is attaching the dial to the frame.  

From the front of the frame, you put brad 6 (head first) through the washer, through the slot of the frame and then through the other washer on the other side and the hole of the lower arm.  Then you just do the same thing for the other side you line up all the holes and place the Brad through all four of those pieces. 

Instructions on how to color the baby dragon:

I used a digital image from the Dragon Baby Greetings digital stamp set that I printed onto Neenah solar white 80# cardstock. The size is 2.903" by 1.817". I used copic markers to color it. I started with Cool Gray #1 C-1 and I went along the outside edges of the egg shell and along the crack lines. I wanted to keep the egg white to match the background of the patterned paper, so the cool gray color just gives it a little bit of shadow along the edges. Next I used C-0 which is almost white and I just added that on the inside of the C-1 lines.   

Next, I used YG01 as my lightest shade of green and I colored his entire face first and then added YG03 along the edges for the shadow.  I also added this along the bridge of the nose and along the brow line and just blended it in toward the top of the dragon’s head.  

For the dragon’s horn, I used YR 23 and YR21.  I wanted to pull in a little bit of purple since it’s a complementary color to teal and so I used BV 13 for the spots on the egg.  To make the dragon scales, I used some colored pencils.  I chose to use a reddish brown color called red umber to draw the tiny circles on the darker shades of green and then I used orange crush which looks more like a mustard yellow color for the lighter shades of green.  I went back over the lighter shade with the YG01 again just to tone that down just a bit.  

I used my mini snips to fussy cut him out and then I ran the black copic marker along the edges since he’ll be popped up on top of my card.  

I also printed out the flower that I resized to 1.275” by 1.422” and the little bow I made a little bit bigger to 0.35 by .773.  I colored the flower using RV25 and RV23 and then YR21 for the center I decided to make the leaves a teal green to match the patterned paper so I used BG34 & BG13 and then for the bow I used BV17 & BV13.  And then I fussy cut those out as well. 

For the dial piece, I stamped the arrows from the action stamps set on the dial piece using some memento black ink using an acrylic block. 

Instructions on how to add the dragon to the interactive piece:

I used foam tape to attach the dragon to the interactive piece.  Because the dial on the mechanism needs to move freely, you want to make sure you don’t put any foam pieces in the way of the moving parts. I used the foam rectangles that I bought from the Dollar Tree - they work great - and I placed them around the edges making sure that they wouldn't be in the way of the dial.  

Cut the baby dragon's head from the Egg to make it be in two parts in order for the interactive part to work.   I colored the edges with a black marker again.  So that the baby's head can move out from behind the egg shell, it needs to be the lowest level on the mechanism.  

I used 4 foam squares, 1 on top of each of the brads and then I layered up two foam squares in between the brads so that they were level.  Make sure that you put the shell on the bottom part of the mechanism first so that when you attach the head, it won’t move too far away from the jagged edges at the top of the egg shell piece.  So since they needed to slide together, I had to add an extra layer of foam on the bottom piece so that there was space for the head to move and hide behind the shell.  

So on the bottom washer I initially used 7 foam squares but I end up removing one of the squares that was layered up on the top washer so that the head could slide a little bit further down into the shell.  Along the bottom edges of the egg shell, I added 3 foam squares layered up on each side and I attached it directly to the egg shell. Don't remove the sticky part of the foam square on the one that’s on top facing down. This is mainly to provide stability and you want the mechanism to be able to move.  

Make sure that the dial is all the way open before attaching the baby dragon’s head to the foam squares. You don’t want to stick it down and then the head be too far away from the egg shell. Cover up the exposed foam square at the top with the bow.   

I really hope you enjoyed my interactive card! Please let me know what you think in the comments!

Other Supplies Used:

Recollections Cardstock 110 lb OCEAN https://amzn.to/3hnOieB

Copic Sketch Markers https://shrsl.com/2co9h

Ranger Ink - Stickles Glitter Glue - Crystal https://shrsl.com/2w32o