A Pendulum Card tutorial

...and back and forth! This giraffe has rhythm!

Yesterday, I shared a little card I made for my daughter’s first birthday celebration.  I promised a little tutorial on how to get the head swinging back and forth, so I am here to deliver on that promise!

This card was actually inspired by another creation I made back in February for my husband.  I tried my hand at making a spinner card, and although I liked the idea of having the little squirrel move back and forth on the branch, I wasn’t entirely happy with the end result.  The mechanism that I had used didn’t really perform consistently, and the movement was more of a spin than a swing.  So, after some technical consultation with my advisory board (aka – hubby!), we redesigned the mechanism.  Voila!

So here is how you can make one too:

Materials needed:

• Paper pieced image that can be divided into two parts – one part that stays stationary and one that will swing back and forth.  This will also work with a stamped image…just stamp the image twine and fussy cut the part you want to swing to layer on top of the other stamped image.
• Foam adhesive squares (at least 5) – size is only important in comparison to the section of your piecing or stamp that you want to swing, and can be no bigger than a penny.
• 1 bingo chip or “tiddlywinks” (as my husband calls them).  You can also substitute the chip for a penny, although your card will become heavier.
• 1 penny
• adhesive

Step 1:

Lay your paper piece down on your background shape to determine placement of the pieces.  Get a sense of your pivot point – where do you want the swing to originate?  In this case, I wanted the swing to be based at the eye level, so the majority of the movement was seen at the noise and chin.

Step 2:

Remove the section of the paper piece that will be doing the swinging action.  Approximate the pivot point that you decided on, and mark this with an “x” on the background paper.

Step 3:

Determine the size of the foam adhesive you will be using, and use an craft knife to cut out a square that is approximately 1/16″ wider on each side.  This will allow the adhesive to swivel once attached.

Step 4:

Trim off the corners of one square of foam adhesive.

Step 5: 

Place the trimmed foam adhesive into the middle of your bingo chip.  Turn over the background piece of paper so the wring side is facing up, and place the foam adhesive/bingo chip through the cut square.  The foam adhesive should now be poking through the hole you have cut with the bingo chip holding it in place.  Place at least four pieces of foam adhesive around the bingo chip.  This will allow for the paper to sit high enough off of your card base to allow the bingo chip to move.

Step 6:

Turn over the background paper making sure that the bingo chip stays in place and adhere to your card base. At this point, just make sure that the foam and bingo chip actually move by using your finger to twist it.  You should have free turning movement, but it should be confined to the square you have cut.

Step 7:

Using the piece of your object that will actually swing (in this case – the giraffe head), turn it over so the wrong side is facing up, and adhere a penny at the bottom, central point.  The weight of the penny will always pull the piece back to it’s original location.  The further away the penny is located from the pivot point, the more of a swinging action you will get.  If you place the penny closer to the pivot point, you will get more of a spin, rather than a swing (in a traditional spinner card, the pennies are actually placed back to back).

Step 8:

...and back and forth...

Turn over the swinging component and adhere it to the foam square.

And that’s it! It’s a really easy and fun way to add an extra interactive element to your card!  If you try it, please let me know!  I would love to see what you come up with!