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red_confetti

Pop-Up Card... featuring Poppies!

Red_Confetti
19 years ago

I made this card for my MIL who (at 91!) is having heart valve replacemnt this week. She's such a trooper!

It is a pop-up card. That means that instead of a flat surface when you open the card, stuff "pops up" (stands away from the inner card surface). These are essentially very easy to make, but if you have lots of pop-ups on the card or they are too big or wide, you can have problems (ask me how I know - LOL!).

Here is a picture of the front and back of card (please excuse the lousy color... I took pictures in bad lighting). The card is really WHITE. I found a pretty watercolor picture of Oriental poppies for the front. On the back is a little image of a poppy along with a note to the recipient.

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Then I found a clip art image of a poppy that I could break apart and manipulate to make three different looking poppy plants (I use CorelDraw, but you can do this in other software). I also made a little image of just a poppy bloom with a couple leaves that I put on the back of the card and on the envelope.

I also found a clip art of a fence with flowers to use to hide the bottom of the pop-ups. I made 3 copies of the fence, then linked them together.

I also made three sign posts by dragging one fencepost out, copying it three times, then making little boxes and putting a get well greeting in each one. Then I 'grouped' each message/box/signpost.

Here is a shot of the parts that will be used as the pop-ups, as well as the inside card surface.

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I cut out all the pieces, leaving a 'stem' on the bottoms of each poppy and signpost to use as the pop-up parts. I made two little creases in each stem, folded them back, put glue of the end and pressed it to the card.

The fence got 'real' pop-up bridges. They are square C shaped pieces of paper, glued to the back of the fence and to the card. You can see the fence C's in this photo. The poppies and signposts have been glued down, but I hadn't yet put the second C on each of them to support their tops.

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The two middle C's for the fence were glued back-to-back and then glued to the card stradling the fold exactly. This placement has to be exact or else the pop-up won't work properly. You also have to take into account the length of the fence and the height of the bridge before you make the card (this is the voice of experience talking here - LOL!). For example, the card I used was 9" across the inside, and the bridge was 1" tall. I made the printed fence exactly 9" long, so after it was glued to the 1" tall bridges, when the card was closed the ends of the fence stuck out!! (Needless to say, I learned my lesson, reprinted the fence, and re-did the bridges.)

I made little C bridges for the tops of the poppies and the fenceposts, and glued them on to hold out their tops. It is a little tricky getting them just right, but the glue I used was clear and forgiving, so after I put on each little C, I would close the card, press where the C was, then re-open the card and make sure the bridge was still hidden and the object still 'popped' up.

Here is the finished card...

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Pop-ups can be very simply one object and still be a surprise for the recipient. For easy pop-ups of a different type, see the Enchanted Learning link below. It is a children's site, so the cards is easy to make. I know, because it was the first pop-up I made. I used their basic instructions, and just put different objects on the risers.

There are lots of good books on how to make pop-up cards. Check at your library. I will post a list of some of them later this week. (I don't have them here with me now.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Enchanted Learning Pop-Up Cards

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