Free Standing Pop-up Card Tutorial

This is the closed version of the card – it will fit in a standard A2 envelope!

A couple of months ago, I shared a free standing pop-up card on the CropChocolate discussion board.  One of the ladies was really excited by the design, so I promised I would share the tutorial with her!  Now that Spring is here, I thought this fun, interactive card would be a great base for a card all about “things springing up”!  So Blue, this one is for you!

 Materials:  (all papers used for the example project are Echo Park Springtime)

-         Base: one piece of paper cut to 11″ X 4 1/4″

-         Pull Tag: one piece of paper cut to 5″ X 2 1/2″

-         Mat for Pull Tag: one piece of paper cut to 5 ¼” x 2 ¾”

-         Optional – wings: one piece of paper cut to 3” x 7 ½”

-         Fibre/twine for pull tab and embellishment (I used Stella and Rose)

Instructions:

Base:

1. Using the 11″ X 4 1/4″ piece of paper, score at the 1”, 2 ¾”, 3 ¾”, 5 ½”, 7 ¼”, 8 ¼”, and 10”
2. On the middle score line (5 ½”), mark the middle at 2 1/8” and measure out 1 ½” both ways.  You should now have a centered line along the score line that is 3” long.  This will be the slot in which the pull tag sides in and out.
3. Using a craft knife, cut along the 3” line.  Note: depending on the number of layers you plan to include on the pull tab, you may need to make you slit wider.  If so, simply run your craft knife approx. 1/8” beside the line you have already cut.

Pull Tag:

1. Place the paper you cut for your pull tag on the piece cut for the matting.

 Putting the pieces together:

1. With your base card right side up, apply adhesive to the bottom of edge of  one end along the 4 ¼” side.
2. On the other end of the same piece, apply adhesive approximately ¾” from the bottom edge (right below your first score line)
3. Slide the pull tag through the slit in the middle of the base
4. Fold UP the bottom 1” of the base on both ends (the ones that have adhesive), forming a sandwich with the pull tag in between in the center,
5. 

   The “wings” helps to keep this design open and standing.

   Optional – Although your card will now stand on its own when you pull up on the pull tag, I have added “wings” to help keep the card open.   Pull the tag up, so your card is in the open position.  Run adhesive along the back of the pull tag along the edge that meets the base of the card, and approximately 2 ½” up from this edge.  Line up your wing paper along the back of the pull tag, and adhere.  Fold the pieces that stick out over top of the pull tag across the front.  You now have two wings that can be opened when the pull tag is in the upright position. 

6. Embellish the card on any visible section.

Although there isn’t a huge amount of space to write a message, this is a fun greeting that you can share or send to add a bit of whimsy to someone’s desk!  I love the clean lines and spots to add embellishments and fibres that really make this card fun for the recipient!

After all, who wouldn’t want a card like this smiling back at them all day!  Thanks for stopping by!

I’ve had some time for a few challenges lately…

Inspired by the lastest MME card sketch challenge and made with their fantastic Good Day Sunshine collection. The larger circle folds in so that the upright component can slide back down and into the card.

And it’s been a lot ot fun!  With a couple of design team commitments lately, I have been up to my eyeballs in deadlines, videos, photographs and blog posts.  So it has been so much fun to just have some time again to create and craft without too much pressure!  I thought I would share one of my fun projects with you today!

One of the nephews in my husband’s family turned 18 this last week, and I have to admit that I was a little bit stumped when trying to come up with some ideas for his card.  Then, I came across the latest card sketch challenge over at the My Mind’s Eye blog, and voila – I was set to go.  The sketch reminded me of a fun stand-alone pop up card that I tried recently, so I thought I would give that another go.  With my Good Day Sunshine paper in hand (this paper is fantastic for masculine cards) and the tutorial from SplitCoaststampers to help, this little creation took shape.

This is the cosed view - the way it would look straight out of the envelope.

Now, let me just say that I love this interactive card for a couple of reasons – the first is that, well, it’s interactive, and you all know I love any card that pops, pulls or twists.  The second reason is that this fun card shape is the perfect size for a small card envelope, so there is no fuss when I needed to find an envelope. I also think it is great that you can play around with the two different views of the card – closed and open.  It’s almost like planning the coordination of the inside and outside of a card, but with the need for more planning and consideration as the outside is part of the inside view and the inside is part of the outside view (how’s that for a brain teaser this fine Saturday eveining).

Recycled for toy packaging the girls received at Christmas, this twine seemed like the perfect texture to compliment the paper.

But I also have to admit that it challenged me quite a bit.  I love adding multiple layers and fibres to cards, even when I know it will cost me extra for postage. But you just can’t do it with this design – too may layers and the slide out component just simple won’t come out (or go back in for that matter). So the trick was to try to create the illusion of a lot of layers without doing too much overlapping.  So what do you think – does it look to plain without layers of paper, buttons and fibres?

August CropChocolate Project – SPLASH! A pop-up layout

Top view of Splash Layout

So it was “Something You Have Never Done Before” month for the Crop Chocolate Design team.  We had to try out something new and then put together a video to help you figure it out too!  Although I have made pop-up cards before, I have never tried to incorporate a pop-up into a layout, so I thought I would give that a try!  And since I just recently received the super cute Echo Park Spalsh paper from Crop Chocolate, I thought they would make a good combination!  So, here’s what I came up with:

Hidden underneath the photo on the layout...a SPLASH!

This little pop-up component actually splashes up and outwards behind the little photo I cut out.  It took a bit of cutting to figure out just how to get it to work, so here’s a little video to make it easier for you:

Now, having said all of that, I have a little secret to share with you – there is actually a bit of MME paper in there too!  I made the splashes on the pop-up out of a piece of Surf’s Up paper I received in a cardstock grab bag I purchased through CropChocolate.  It went so well, I just had to use it up on this layout.  The only problem was…

Splash Popup Layout - Closeup of embellishments

I need to learn to put my pages away quickly after I have created them.  This one suffered a tragic accident (namely split bubbles) the day after I shot the video I had to redo the background page, but was lucky enough to be able to save the pop-up (although I guess I could have just watched my own video to figure out how to make a new one! )  I wonder how many more pages I will see suffer an untimely demise in my days scrapping at the kitchen table!

Give it a try!  It really is a neat project, and not nearly as challenging as it appears!  And how fun will it be to have people interact with the pages you create?!

Welcome All CCers and Friends!

Good morning everyone!  Welcome to our first OFFICIAL CropChocolate blog hop!

If you arrived here from DeeDee’s blog – yahoo (that’s Calgarian for “welcome”)!  If not, I am sending you away and all the way back to CropChocolate to start there!  It’s not because I don’t want you here – it is just because I want you to have a chance to win the great blog candy that CC is offering as part of this hop!  To do that, you need to visit each of the blogs and leave a comment.  So, get going, or keep reading!

Celebrating you...

How did I get luck enough to be a part of this hop?  I made the 2011-2012 CropChocolate design team!  It’s my first time on a design team, and I couldn’t be happier that it is for CropChocolate!  It’s a great company, and I am happy to be able to use the products they sell to create fun projects to share with you all!  And here’s the first one (oh, and this project is actually a bit a sneak peak for the one I created for the August monthly challenge, but you will have to wait until the 24th for that reveal):

Can I just say that I love making cards?! I’ve been making them for family members since I was little, and although sometimes I am creating at the very last minute, it really is a labour of love!  There really is just so much inspiration that you can pull from your relationships- from nicknames for those you love, to funny sayings or situations!  For this one, I pulled out the super cute Echo Park Little Girl paper and created a pop-up card for my little girl who just turned two (my DH and I are both pop-up book fans)!  The little llama on the front was inspired by a cut on the Cricut Birthday Bash cartridge.  It isn’t the actual cutout because I am sad to say that my Expression suffered an untimely death.  But I couldn’t go without this image on her card (we call her “Tama Llama DingDong!”), so I had to count on my own drawing skills this time.  Oh, and you might notice that I did a bit of distressing on the edge of the llama thanks to DeeDee’s helpful instructions on the the Crop this last week (click here to check it out if you missed it)!

...Because you're two (or 2222222)

On the inside, I played around a bit with a super easy “box” pop-up and numbers with tabs.  Right now, Tama calls anything more than one, “two”… so I thought it would be really fun to put a bunch of “2s” inside.  I hope the joy and fun I had making this card comes through for her as she looks back at this card in years to come!

Oh, and if you are feeling inspired to make a pop-up card of your own, don’t be intimidated by it!  They look far more complicated than they are!  Check out this handy little tutorial on how to create the box pop-up on Extreme Cards!

So, Happy Birthday my Little Miss!  And thank-you to the rest of you for stopping by!  Now don’t forget to leave a message below so you can be entered into our chance at some great blog candy provided by CropChocolate (I know I am going to comment so I can try to win that Slice…it might help me get over the Bug’s passing)!  And then, it’s off to Jenn’s blog - http://moon-scraps.blogspot.com/  See you all again soon!