How to Make a Christmas Slider Card With Santa's Sleigh

Start with a panel of light blue cardstock. Blend a mid blue ink toward the middle, stopping short of the center so a soft glow stays there. Then bring in navy ink around the edges with a second brush. Go back over the join with the lighter blue to soften the line. Work in small circles and build the colour slowly. Dye inks smooth out as they dry, so do not panic about streaks.

Tape the blended panel to the back of a falling snow stencil so nothing shifts. Scoop some white embossing paste onto a palette knife and spread it across the stencil. Nina-Marie leaves it fairly thick for raised snow you can feel. Scrape the extra back into the jar, then lift the stencil straight up. Wash the stencil and knife right away, before the paste dries on them.

The village and the Santa sleigh are stamped on white cardstock, coloured with markers and fussy cut. Dab white glitter drops over the snow on the hillside and along the roofs. Add a touch to the sleigh runners too. Cover the house and church windows with a glossy clear medium so they shine like lit glass. Leave everything flat to dry before you handle it.

Lay the curved track die over the upper part of the sky and tape it down. Keep it high enough that the village will not cover the slot. Run it through your die cutting machine. No die? Cut two parallel lines 1/4 inch apart with a craft knife and a ruler, or follow the edges of two circle dies for a curve. Round the ends with a small hole punch.

Put foam tape on the back of the village scene. Line it up along the bottom of the sky panel, under the slot, and press it down. The foam lifts the houses off the sky so the card has depth. Look at it from the front and make sure no rooftop or tree pokes into the path of the slot.

Cut a small circle from red cardstock with a circle die. A coin or a bottle cap traced with a pencil works fine too. This is the tab you grab to pull the sleigh along. Hold it behind the reindeer to check the size. Nina-Marie wrote the word PULL on it in white so people know what to do.

Turn the panel over. Cut small strips of foam tape and stick them around the slot to make a closed track. These walls stop the pennies sliding out past the ends of the card. Leave 1/4 to 1/2 inch of space between the foam and the slot on every side. That gap lets the pennies glide without rubbing.

Cut two very small pieces of foam tape and press one onto each penny. They must be narrower than the slot so they move freely through it. The penny is wider than the slot, so it can never fall out. Drop each penny into the track from the back, foam side up through the opening.

Glue the red pull tab behind the reindeer with strong double-sided tape. It gets pulled often, so do not skimp. Then flip the panel over and press the sleigh onto the foam on one penny and the reindeer onto the other. Two pennies keep the image level so Santa does not tip over as he travels. Slide it back and forth to test.

Stick the finished panel onto a light blue A2 card base with the foam walls. A blue that matches the sky ties it all together. Add a die-cut Merry Christmas sentiment along the same curve as the track. Then pull the red tab and watch Santa fly across the sky over the village. It is a card people keep playing with.