Whatever Wednesday - POP UP ZOO BIRTHDAY CARD

Have you ever made a Pop Up card? It’s fun – try it! For this version of a pop up card, you basically create 2 “cards”, and then you adhere them together. I will refer to these cards as the “outer card” (the front of the finished card) & the “inner card” (this will become the interior of the finished card, and it includes the guts).

You will need:
cs: 2 pieces Whisper White cs, each 5 ½” x 8 ½”, folded in half so they each measure 5 ½” x 4 ¼”
white & Certainly Celery scraps
DSP: Cutie Pie
Inks: Stazon Black, Stampin’ Up Stampin’ Write markers – Rose Red, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Basic Black
Stamp sets: Older & Wiser, Zoofari, A Little Birdie Told Me
Other: Certainly Celery Ribbon, paper trimmer, scissors

Outer Card -
Decorate the front of a card just like any other card. I have used the turtle stamp from Older & Wiser & colored it with markers, then layered it onto Certainly Celery cs. For the pink paper, I have used some Rose Red printed dsp from the Cutie Pie set. Before adhering the Cutie Pie Rose Red printed dsp, I adhered some Certainly Celery ribbon diagonally across the corner. Then I adhered both the Rose Red dsp & turtle piece to the card front. Set the Outer Card aside.

Inner Card –
Create Your Pop Up Image(s):
First, you’ll want to create the animal(s) that you want to pop up. Stamp it, color it, & cut it out. I have stamped some zoo animals from the Zoofari stamp set in Black Stazon ink & colored them with Stampin’ Write markers. When choosing the image, think about size & how it will attach inside the card. You’ll see what I mean as you work through your card.

Create the Mechanical part:
Now that you have your pop up animals ready, let’s create the jutting tabs for them. Cut a pair of equal length slits into the Inner Card's fold with scissors or a paper trimmer. If you want more than one pop up, you’ll need to think about their spacing. The longer your cuts, the more forward your pop up will be to you when you open the card. I've cut 3 sets of jutting tabs below.

Open up this Inner Card & push the little tab through so it is extended in the opposite direction as shown below, guiding the tab as you push, folding where the slits stop. Folding can be done by simply pinching where those slits end. The card stock tends to tear if you don't crease the ends of the slits.

Go over the creases of these jutting tabs well with a bone folder.

Close & then open your card - you can begin to visualize how the jutting tab will work & how you will be adhering a pop up image to the jutting tab. There’s a few things to consider at this point: Apply adhesive ONLY to the front of the jutting tab so the animal will stand straight up when the card is halfway open. Also be careful that your adhesive is applied only to an area where cs will meet cs – if any adhesive extends past where you really need it, it will bond to unwanted places on the card or the animals won’t pop up. The red area here in this photo shows where I have applied the “sticky strip” on this card.

Now press the cut-out image(s) into the adhesive. Be careful to make sure your cut-out images don’t pass the midline of the card when closed – it would bend the images. If this is your first pop up card, take note of how the animal pop ups extend further toward you on the longer jutting tabs – if you vary the jutting tabs, it’ll be more 3-D. Also take note that your tab width shouldn’t be wider than your pop up image, or you’d lose that “floating” effect.

Stamp a message:
Now that you have everything positioned, stamp a message or other designs around your pop ups.

Assembly -
Adhere both 2 cards together! The adhesive only needs to be applied onto the back of card 2 - apply adhesive in all corners & in between the tabs, but not on the tabs. I stand the partially-open Inner Card on a flat surface & line up the Outer Card over the top of the Inner Card, making sure both folds are directly lined up under each other before pressing the cards together. Use a bone folder to crease all of the card’s folds. You may need to do some housekeeping & trim around your card edges if the edges don’t meet up exactly. A scissors works fine for this.

If you don’t have the stamp sets I have used here, substitute! If you want to make a pop up card at one of my upcoming stamp camps, send me an email & I’ll make it happen!

Young children especially enjoy pop up cards – it’ll surely bring a big smile!

Linda