Pop-up Greeting Cards

Materials

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Tools

• Metal ruler
• Pencil
• Craft knife
• Cutting mat
• A bone folder, or the ruler, to burnish the fold

Steps

1. 1Steps 1: Cut the sheet and fold it in half

   Cut cardstock to 20 × 14 cm. Score and valley-fold at 10 cm so the closed card is 10 × 14 cm. Burnish the fold with the ruler until it lies flat. Trim to 20 × 14 cm before you mark the slits. A crooked fold makes the two slits miss each other.

2. 2Steps 2: Mark two slits centered on the fold

   Open the card flat. The panel is 4 cm wide and 3 cm tall, so the slits are 4 cm long and 3 cm apart. The margin from the top of the 14 cm sheet is (14 − 3) / 2 = 5.5 cm. Draw each slit from 8 cm to 12 cm, which is 2 cm each side of the fold at 10 cm. The lines sit 5.5 cm and 8.5 cm from the top.

   

3. 3Steps 3: Cut the slits through the fold

   Cut both lines with a craft knife, through the card, and stop at 4 cm. You are cutting the fold itself. Close the card and push the strip between the cuts inward. It creases the other way and stands up as the card opens.

4. 4Steps 4: Crease the pop-up the opposite way

   Pinch the 3 cm strip so its crease is opposite the main fold. Open the card to about 90 degrees. The strip should stand. If it flops, the new creases are not parallel to the center fold. Recrease them against the ruler. When the card is shut, the strip stays inside: 2 cm of reach against a 10 cm half leaves 8 cm of card around it.

5. 5Steps 5: Glue a paper flag, and nothing thicker

   Cut colored paper 3 × 2 cm and glue it on the pop-up, centered. The panel is 4 × 3 cm, so the flag has 0.5 cm of card at each side and 0.5 cm above and below. Use a thin layer of glue. A button or a gem will stop the card closing. Paper on paper is the limit for this mechanism.

6. 6Steps 6: Letter the front, clear of the fold

   Close the card and check that it lies flat. Put the message on the front half, at least 1 cm away from the center fold, so the fold still flexes. Let the glue dry open for a few minutes, then close the card under a book. If it springs open, something is glued across the fold. Lift that piece off.

7. 7Steps 7: Repeat the same cuts for a second card

   Use the same 20 × 14 cm sheet, the 10 cm fold, 4 cm slits, 3 cm gap, and 5.5 cm margins. Change the flag color, not the cuts. A second mechanism on the same card needs a new set of measurements so the panels do not meet. This project stops at one panel that works.

Final result

A 10 × 14 cm card that opens to 20 × 14 cm, with one pop-up 4 cm wide and 3 cm tall. The slits cross the fold by 2 cm each way. A 3 × 2 cm paper flag sits on the panel, and the card closes flat.

Safety

• Use a craft knife for the slits. Scissors crush the fold, and the panel will not crease cleanly.
• Cut on a mat. Keep the other hand behind the ruler.
• Cap the knife when you stop to glue.
• PVA is for the paper flag. Wipe it off skin. Do not use a hot glue gun on a card that has to fold flat.

Tips and common mistakes

• Measure the 5.5 cm margins from the top edge, not from the fold. The fold only centers the slits left to right.
• Cut the slits while the card is open and flat. Cutting a closed card shifts the two layers.
• Common mistake: slits that stop short of the fold. The strip never pops.
• Common mistake: slits longer than 4 cm on this sheet. The panel gets floppy, and the 3 × 2 cm flag no longer matches the face.
• Let the glue dry before you close the card on it.