Welcome back to the craft room and today’s Create a Beautiful Fault Line Card post. This card design has been on my to-try list for a while now, and I’m excited to finally share it with you! At first glance, the fault line technique looks a little tricky, but it’s actually quite simple once you break it down. And the result? Absolutely striking. In today’s post, I’ll walk you through the steps, show you how I used a scrap from a previous project, and even share an unexpected second card that came together during cleanup.
Fault Line Card Supplies
The supplies for today’s card are minimal—my favorite kind of project! For the card base, I used a piece of Recollections 110lb cream-colored cardstock, cut to 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ and scored in the middle at 4 1/4″. From the same brand, I also used 65lb cream and black cardstock, along with a scrap from the Habitat patterned paper pack. The pop of red comes from a piece of cardstock in the Bazzill Basics We the People 4″ x 6″ paper pack. Other than that, you’ll just need the usual supplies: a paper trimmer, scoring board, bone folder, and your favorite adhesives.
The Sentiment
Starting with the sentiment might seem like an odd choice for a card tutorial, but I promise there’s a reason. Most of the cards I’ve made over the years use either stamped or die-cut sentiments—both of which would work beautifully on this design. But sometimes, no matter how many sentiment stamps you own, you just can’t find the right words to match the occasion or the paper. That was exactly the situation today.
So, I decided to think outside the craft room and print the perfect sentiment from my computer. It’s a great option when you want something specific—but for me, it does come with a small nuisance. In the image below, you’ll notice a faint black line at the top of the cardstock. That line comes from the rollers of my HP printer. It might be a quirk of top-loading printers, but it drives me a little batty nonetheless.
Thankfully, it’s an easy fix. I use a white rubber eraser to gently remove those lines. After printing, you’ll usually see them mirrored on both the top and bottom edges. In the photo below, you can see how well the one on the right erased away.
The Fault Line Card Front
Front Panel
The reason I brought up the sentiment at the beginning of this tutorial is because that panel will be trimmed down right away. Since it plays a role in the early construction of the card, it made sense to address it first.
To create the front of our fault line card, start by cutting two pieces of coordinating cardstock to 3 1/8″ x 3″. Then, stack them together and tear diagonally across from one corner to the other—left to right or right to left, whichever you prefer. This ripped edge forms the “fault line” that gives the card its name.
To adhere the layers together, I’m using a combination of Scor-Tape and Art Glitter Glue. Because the cream and red layers will be slightly offset, we’ll need to be a bit strategic with our adhesive placement. I added a strip of Scor-Tape to the top edge of the cream cardstock and another to the bottom edge of the red cardstock. This setup ensures that the two pieces will stick securely where they overlap.
On the back of the cream layer, I also added more Scor-Tape—but not all the way to the bottom. To give myself a little wiggle room while positioning the pieces, I applied a thin line of Art Glitter Glue over the tape. That extra bit of glide time really helps line things up perfectly.
Card Mat
Next, let’s build the card mat. I cut a piece of Recollections 65lb black cardstock down to 4″ x 5 1/4″. In the center of that panel, I adhered a scrap of Habitat patterned paper, trimmed to 3 7/8″ x 3 7/8″. If you’d like to see more ways I’ve used the Habitat paper pack, click here to browse those projects.
Putting it together
To finish the card front, apply adhesive to the back of your fault line panels and carefully place them over the patterned square. Be sure to line them up with the sides of the pattern paper, leaving an even margin at the top and bottom. As you can see in the image below, the finished look is eye-catching—and surprisingly easy to pull off!
Bonus Fault Line Card
While cleaning up my craft desk after finishing today’s project, I came across a piece of ink-smooshed watercolor cardstock from the Ink Smooshing with 3 Unexpected Colors post that hadn’t quite worked out. I’d held onto it—just in case—and today, it turned out to be the perfect addition to another fault line card.
I kept this version simple with a classic black and white color scheme, letting the inky panel provide the pop of color. All of the cardstock is from Recollections, with a 110lb base and 65lb layers for the card front. The sentiment comes from the Cosmos stamp set by Technique Tuesday, stamped with GinaK Amalgam ink.
To finish the card, I added a little sparkle using a few pieces of Rock Candy Confetti from Trinity Stamps. Just a subtle touch, but it really catches the light and ties everything together.
The Finished Fault Line Cards
Thank you for joining me for today’s Create a Beautiful Fault Line Card post. I hope this project has inspired you to give the fault line card design a try—it’s a surprisingly simple technique that delivers a big visual impact. Whether you go bold with patterned paper or keep it soft and artsy with a watercolor background, there are so many ways to make this style your own.
Have you ever created a fault line card before? I’d love to hear about your experience! And if this is your first time seeing the technique, which version of today’s card do you prefer—the one with patterned paper or the one featuring the watercolor panel? Let me know in the comments below! Thanks again for stopping by the craft room today. I’ll see you soon with another creative project!
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