Interactive Cat Pendulum Card

Are you a Cricut user? If so, I have a fun project for you today. One thing I appreciate about Cricut Design Space is that I can often create my own versions of cards I see others doing. By doing so, I can make the card more quickly and always have the pattern file available to easily find and make again. Today’s project is a good example of this. I recently saw a YouTube video from Jennifer McGuire that featured a pendulum interactive card. She made hers with dies, strips of foam tape, a foam dot and a lot of manual manipulation. I saw it and said to myself, “I have a better way!” And thus this project was born. I have made a free file for this card available on Cricut Design Space. Go to the end of this post to find the link to it.

Below is a quick process video that also shows the main steps for card assembly.

To begin the card design, I searched for an image in Design Space that would work well as an image that Could swing side to side and I quickly came across the cat image. It’s easily made with just four cardstock colors – Basis White, Pop Tone Black Licorice, Pop Tone Orange Fizz and Pop Tone Bubble Gum. I wanted mine to be an orange tabby and the Orange Fizz was perfect. You can see the cat pieces on my mat below and also what it looks like when pieced together. You can use any image of your own provided it’s a good fit for the pendulum motion.

I also cut eight white discs from Basis White cardstock. These are stacked on top of each other using glue to attach them and they create a good substitute for a foam dot. The finished disc is solid, slick and moves easier on cardstock than a foam dot. The disc is then connected to a strip of Pop Tone Black Licorice 100# cardstock on one end and a penny is glued to the other end with two sided tape. This creates the pendulum mechanism. Some of the Pop Tone colors are available in both 65# and 100# and Black Licorice is one of these. You’ll want to use a heavy weight cardstock since the pendulum will get a lot of use.

Jennifer created an area for the pendulum mechanism to move freely by layering double sided foam tape around the area where the pendulum would swing. As a substitute, I created a frame in Design Space that is cut out twice from fun foam. Glued together, this creates a firm piece to create a “well” that allows the pendulum to move back and forth. It also provides great support for the panel area surrounding the well.

Above you can see the back of my panel with the foam in place and the pendulum mechanism positioned. Below you can see the front of the panel which has a hole cut out so that the paper disc can peak through. This is what the cat will be attached to. Once attached, the mechanism will swing freely causing the cat to move to the left and the right as the pendulum mechanism swings back and forth.

Below is a close up of how the disk and the pendulum fit into the hole on the back of the card panel.

Once the mechanism is glued to the cat, the panel can then be attached to an A2 card base. This encloses the the back so that the pendulum with the penny can’t escape. The photo below shows the swing from left to right.

Next, I prepared the sentiments by selecting two Spellbinders Glimmer plates. For both I used a rainbow foil so that I could get lots of color. If you don’t have a Glimmer Machine, you can easily stamp your messages or even adjust the pattern in Design Space to be Print Then Cut images that will print the sentiments before the pieces are cut. Pop Tone cardstock goes through my ink jet printer without jamming really well so this is definitely a good option if you don’t have stamps to use.

My favorite cardstock to use for the Glimmer Machine is Pop Tone Whip Cream. It’s bright white and cuts out without leaving indentations from the dies. From top left to bottom right, the steps for using the Glimmer foiling method is as follows: 1) Heat the Glimmer platform. Layer the glimmer plates, the foil with the pretty side down and the cardstock you want to foil. Once fully heated, the Glimmer platform is moved to my Sizzix machine and slowly run through. Peel the excess foil and clean up any extra foiling with a sand eraser. Finally used the dies included with the Glimmer plates to cut out the sentiments. Then you can glue them to the card as shown.

And here is a close up of the cat. I just love the cardstock colors on this. It really resembles the cat I had in my mind when I created the cut file.

You can decorate the card front as desired. I chose to use some jewel bling to add a little sparkle. I think it looks great with the foiled sentiment.

As promised, you can find the Cricut file on my profile in Cricut Design Space. Click on the link to be taken to the file: FREE FILE LINK. Enjoy!