DIY Pop Up Card: Make Your Own Card With a House That Pops Up!

Greeting cards have brought cheer and have conveyed messages and feelings for several years. Over time, we have found new ways to make them more interesting. One fascinating way to innovate on the design of a greeting card, is to make them “pop out”! Paper Crane Lab presents a way to make a simple pop up card using everyday materials found in your homes! Shall we get started?

Age: 6+ (Blade/Paper cutter to be used with adult supervision) Activity duration: 30 minutes

If you would prefer a video tutorial of this, you can find it below.

• Our template ( Printable template and measurements: http://bit.ly/pcl-pop-up)

• Thick coloured paper/ card stock paper (slightly larger than our template)
• Ruler
• Blade/Paper cutter
• Glue
• Pen and pencils/colour pencils

As this activity involves using a blade/paper cutter, use a thick cutting mat/ cardboard on the table first to ensure the blade does not damage the table. Now place our template on the mat.

In our template, you will notice that there are two types of lines, solid lines and dotted lines.

Use the blade (with adult supervision) to cut along the solid lines as shown below with a ruler to guide you, as shown in the images.

For the dotted lines, lightly score (crease) on the lines(do not cut through) with the blade to allow for easy folding of the lines as shown below. Be careful not to cut through the paper. The scoring is for easy folding of the paper along the lines, as shown in the images.

Now, gently pull out the folded parts of the paper from the cut portion of the paper as shown below. Do this carefully to create the popped up regions of structure, such as the stairs and the room at the top as shown in the images.

Once the pop-up structure is formed, gently place the template behind the colored card stock paper and fold them both together. This ensures that the pop-up structure is sturdy and fully defined as shown in the images.

Now that you have formed the basic layout of your pop up card, go ahead and customize your card to form and cut out different structures on it, such as doors, windows, lights, or whatever else you choose. Make, Innovate, and decorate it however you wish!

Once you have defined your structures, paste the template on the colored card stock paper and close it firmly. Now design the front and back of the card however you wish! Be as creative as you want to be.See if you can use these techniques to create even more rooms and steps if you wish.

Do let us know how you liked it, and show us your version of this card in the comments below.

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