Tutorial - Surprise Pop Up Card 2.0

I created my first Surprise Pop-Up card several years ago, but thought I could tweak it a little to simplify the mechanism. I also decided to make the card into a single layer, but if you'd prefer, you can mount it onto a card front for a more traditional style.

TEMPLATE:

1. Cut a sheet of A4 cardstock in half vertically so that you end up with a piece that measures 10.5cm x 29.7cm. Score in the centre and fold in half as though you were making a tent fold card. Use a craft knife or trimmer to cut a flap in the front of the card that is 3/4" from the centre fold and 3/4" from either side. Refer to the template above for correct placement.

2. Open the card out and lay horizontally on your score board. Score 3/4" from the bottom edge, between the two cut lines (at the base of the flap you cut in step 1). Score again at 23/4" between the two cut lines, and then one more time at 43/4". Fold along the score lines. (All the score lines will be on the flap you cut in step 1. Refer to the template if necessary).

3. Turn the card around so that the centre fold is facing you (it will look upside down). Stamp a sentiment in the section indicated below. Don't add any embellishments here as you want the cardstock to slide easily.

4. Cut a large tag measuring 3" x 51/2" and round the four corners. Stamp or write the word "pull" at the top, or if you'd prefer, you could add a little pull tab.

5. Decorate the front of the card with patterned paper or more stamping.

6. Now we're going to secure our large pull tag to the narrow section at the end of the flap. I've added a series of photos below to show you how it's done...

Place a ruler or straight edge about 1/4" from the cut edge of the flap.

Use the edge as a guide for keep the large tag straight.

Add glue to the narrow strip at the end of the flap.

Line up the bottom edge of the large pull tag with the edge of the flap,

and line up the side with the ruler to keep it straight.

Turn your card over.

The easel section should retract when the tag is pulled.

7. Open the card again and place glue on the card base, around the large tag, to form a pocket (see photo below). Close the card to secure in place.

8. Time to decorate!

Add one of the long sentiments to the bottom of the card, just over the cut line.

Keep the adhesive on the frame, around the bottom and side edges as shown below.

The easel should slide easily behind the sentiment panel.

I find it easiest to glue my images together first, then secure them to the easel.

Birthday Pug

Does your furry family member celebrate their birthday? With so many fantastic pet treats and toys on the market, it’s hard not to spoil them. You can even bake your own dog- or cat-friendly cakes and biscuits using one of the great recipes available online. And of course, no pet celebration is complete without adorable stamps and card-making kits!😉

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Card Kit Class - Dog Gone It Left-Overs

I don't know about everyone else, but oftentimes when I purchase a pack of items I'm left with lots of bits and pieces that didn't make it onto the original project. After creating a few cards with the Dog Gone It kit, I noticed I had multiple sentiment strips left over, which got me thinking...

CUTTING GUIDE

The intention of this tutorial is for you to use whatever images you have "left-over" after creating your other projects. You can substitute scraps of patterned paper for some of the sentiment strips and you can swap the images to whatever you have available.

I have also included a cutting guide for those who would simply like to recreate these two cute cards.

SUPPLY LIST

• Dog Gone It card making kit
• Two white, A5 card bases (I prefer tent folds, but standard folds will work too)
• 10cm x 14.3cm kraft cardstock (you can substitute any colour)
• Scissors for fussy cutting
• Paper trimmer
• Adhesives - liquid glue, double sided tape, foam tape
• Shimmer pen (if desired)

CARD A

1. Collect all your "left-over" sentiment strips. It doesn't matter which ones you use, although we will be doing some strategic placement to ensure the visible words match the occasions we're creating for (more about that later). Do a rough check to make sure the sentiments will cover your piece of kraft cardstock. A few gaps are okay as we'll be using the offcuts, and covering part of the design with our images. 

2. Start securing the sentiments to the piece of cardstock. Trim any excess, reserving the off cuts. Don't worry about lining things up exactly, but do try to keep gaps fairly consistent in size.

3. I mentioned earlier about trying to ensure your sentiments match the intended occasion. I'm making a birthday card, so I don't really want the entire "Ruff Day" sentiment. Rather than waste it, I'm placing it so that the phrase gets cut in half, leaving two non-sensical parts that can fill some gaps!

4. I don't need to fill this area as my images are going to sit over the top. However, I want it to appear as though the entire background is filled with the word strips. When I put the dogs in position, I can see that I need to fill the areas at the bottom and right side of the cardstock.

5. Place some sentiment strips over the edges, again being mindful of what words will be visible. Trim any excess.

6. Secure the Old English sheepdog on the lower, right hand side of the cardstock, about 1cm from the bottom edge.

7. Use foam tape to secure the pug slight lower and to the left of the first dog.

8. Use liquid glue or double sided tape to secure the kraft cardstock to your card base, leaving a small border around all four edges. 

9. If you have left-over embellishments, secure them to your card. I added the striped ball and the small blue ball at the left side of the pug. Keep the blue ball slightly lower than the striped one to show depth. Give each of the dogs a party hat, securing the pug's hat with a little foam tape to keep it on the same level. Add the small gift and the birthday cake, keeping the cake slightly lower. 

CARD B

1. Use a trimmer or small pair of scissors to cut down two of the sentiments, removing the references to dogs and "ruff days". I also removed the punctuation from the end of "another birthday".

2. Trim the plaid paper to 10cm x 5cm and 10cm x 3cm. Adhere the larger piece to the top section of your card blank, leaving a small, even border at the top and two sides. Adhere the small piece to the bottom section of your card blank, leaving a small border at the bottom and two sides.

3. Centre the sentiments over the edge of each piece of paper so that they read: 
"heard you had"

"another birthday"

4. Secure the spotted ball to the left hand side of the card and the blue gift to the right hand side of the card.

5. Adhere the large gift slightly over, and a little lower than the ball. It should not reach as low as the sentiment.

6. Adhere the red ribbon gift over the other two gifts, and just slightly above the sentiment. It's okay if the image touches the sentiment panel as long as it doesn't completely obscure the words.

7. Secure the blue ball between the spotted ball and the yellow-ribboned gift, and add the party hat over the top of the blue gift.

8. If desired, add some sparkle to the balls, ribbons, sentiments, and the party hat.

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