Pop-up Paper Bouquet Homemade Greeting Card

Over the years communication has become less personalized, and more instant. Rather than send a quick text or buying a pre-made card, take the time to make something more special! Taking the time to craft a homemade card for someone you love is a great way to show you care.

When personal contact is not an option, take the time to make something personalized! In this instruction set, you will be crafting a card that opens to create a pop-up bouquet. It is great for Mother’s Day, birthdays, or just to show you care.

Skill Level: Beginner / Intermediate, individuals 10 years of age and older

Time required: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Safety Information:

Warning: Using scissors requires steady hands and careful concentration. Not carefully following the directions could lead to minor/ major injury to hands and/or extremities. This project is recommended for ages 10 and older because it requires small, precise cuts.

• Felt tip pens or markers, two or more colors (washable markers work great and don’t bleed through)
• Scissors (any variety)
• Clear drying glue (I recommend Elmer’s glue sticks because it dries quickly)
• Pencil
• Heavy book
• 8 pieces of 3”x3” origami paper (can be white or colored)
• 1 8.5”x11” sheet of colored cardstock (construction paper works as well)
• Optional: 2 sheets of white copy paper
• Optional: 12” ruler

Note: If you do not have origami paper, you can cut copy paper into 3”x3” squares. This requires 2 pieces of copy paper and a ruler.

a. Make the first fold diagonally, so that you are left with a triangle as in Figure 2.1.

b. Now, fold the triangle in half, tip to tip, once again. It should look similar to Figure 2.2.

c. Make one last fold by folding the triangle in half, shown in Figure 2.3. Be sure to press the creases firmly so that the triangles hold their shape.

d. Repeat this step until all 8 pieces of origami paper have been folded. You should have 8 triangles after completing this step.

Cut all 8 folded origami papers into an ice cream cone shape. Be sure to hold the triangle so that the fold is on the left-hand side before cutting (see figure 3.1).

Note: To make it easier, you may use a pencil to outline the shape you want to cut before using your scissors. See Figure 3.4.

CAUTION! Using scissors incorrectly can cause minor/ major injury. Take your time and watch the scissors as you cut.

a. Unfold all of the origami flowers. Shown in Figure 4.2.

b. Color each flower using the markers/pens. Be sure to leave 2 petals on each flower, side by side, blank (see Figure 4.4). The flowers may all have the same design, or all different designs.

Note: 1 flower, of the total 8, should be completely decorated. This is for the front of the card. Set this one aside until step 13.

After this step you should have 1 completely decorated flower and 7 partially decorated flowers (2 petals left blank on each).

To cut off 1 of the blank petals, cut along the crease of 1 entire petal. This will create a gap in the flower.

Note: Complete this step with only 7 of the 8 flowers.

Your flower should look like a ⅞ pie chart. See Figure 5.1.

In this step, you will be gluing the flower so that the gap created in step 5 will be closed.

a. Add glue to the entire remaining blank petal on the flower.

b. Align the blank petal with the back of the colored petal on the other side of the gap.

c. Press the petals together for 5 seconds.

d. Repeat with the other flowers to create a total of 7 cup-shape flowers.

Note: This will create a “cup” shaped flower. See Figure 6.2 for an example.

a. Lay all the flowers flat and folded in half. Make sure the petal tips face to the right as show in Figure 7.2.

b. Place one in front of you. This will be the first flower of the “bouquet.”

c. On your first bouquet flower, add a dot of glue to the top part (the half-circle) of the top-most petal (shown in Figure 7.3).

d. On the same flower, add a dot of glue to the top part (the half-circle) of the bottom-most petal (shown in Figure 7.3).

After this step, the first flower of the bouquet should have two spots with glue on them. The center petal of the first flower should not have any glue on it.

a. Grab another flower from your pile. This flower (flower 2) will be glued to the top dot of glue, as shown in Figure 8.1. Align the flowers by matching the curves in the petals.

b. Press flower 2 to the bouquet for 5 seconds, or until mostly dry.

c. On the bottom dot of glue, add another flower (flower 3). Align the flowers by matching the curves in the petals.

d. Press flower 3 to the bouquet for 5 seconds, or until mostly dry.

After this step, the bouquet should have 7 petals lying flat. The shape of the bouquet should look similar to the result of step 5, a 7/8 pie chart.

Note: From this point forward, the petals will be referred to by numbers 1-7 as shown in Figure 8.3.

a. Add dots of glue to petals 3, 4 and 5 of the bouquet. Again, be careful to only glue the top (the half-circle) of each petal. See Figure 9.1 for an example.

b. Align one flower to the petals 3, 4, and 5, keeping the seams on the same side.

c. Press the flower to the bouquet for 5 seconds. If the flower does not stay glued, press for an additional 10 seconds.

Expert tip: To add a pop of color in the center of your pop-up bouquet, make this flower more colorful than all of the other flowers. This can be done by using a distinctly different color than the other flowers, or by adding more color to the petals of this flower before gluing.

a. On the bouquet, add glue to petals 2, 3, 5, and 6. Only apply glue to the top part (the half-circle) of each petal. See Figure 10.1 for an example.

b. Align flower 5 (grabbed from the pile) with petals 1, 2, and 3 as shown in Figure 10.2.

c. Press the flower to the bouquet for 5 seconds using the palm of your hand. Again, if it does not stay glued, press for an additional 10 seconds.

d. Repeat with another flower (flower 6) on petals 5, 6, and 7, as shown in Figure 10.2.

a. Add glue to petals 3, 4, and 5. Only apply glue to the top part (the half-circle) of each petal. See Figure 11.1 for an example.

b. Align the final flower’s petals to the bouquet in the places you have applied glue, as shown in Figure 11.2.

c. Press the flower to the bouquet for 10 seconds, or until mostly dry.

Place the bouquet underneath a heavy book for 15 minutes to ensure the glue dries completely.

a. While you are waiting for the glue on the bouquet to dry, fold your sheet of cardstock in half (hamburger style) to form a rectangle. Shown in Figure 12.1.

b. Glue the completely colored in flower, which you had set aside earlier, to the front of the card (the side that puts the fold on the left). Hold the glue for 5 seconds using your entire palm. The placement is up to your discretion.

Expert tip: Using scrap paper, cut out leaves and color them green to glue underneath the front flower.

c. Using the markers, you can write your message on the front of the card (the side that puts the fold on the left).

Options include, but are not limited to:

• “Happy Birthday!”
• “Miss you”
• “Thinking of You”

a. Open the card.

b. Place the bouquet on the right half of the card’s crease as show in Figure 14.1. Align the seam of the bouquet with the crease in the cardstock.

c. On the bottom side of the bouquet, add glue to petal 4, the center-most petal. Only apply glue to the top part (the half-circle) of the petal. See Figure 14.2 for an example.

d. Press the bouquet to the right half of the card according to how you previously aligned it. Hold for 5 seconds.

e. On the top side of the bouquet, add glue to petal 4, the center-most petal. Only apply glue to the top part (the half-circle) of the petal.

f. Fold the card shut, pressing down the cardstock to the newly applied glue.

Place the completed card underneath a heavy book for 15 minutes to ensure it dries completely before opening.

Now that the glue has dried, open the card and reveal your pop-up bouquet! Add your message using a pen on the bottom right side of the interior (fine tip works best).

Congratulations! You have completed your pop-up bouquet card. When you open your card, the bouquet should unfold, creating a “pop-up” illusion (shown in Figure 17.2).

You can now mail the card to someone special to show how much you care.

Troubleshooting

If the bouquet does not open, but the card opens: One half of the bouquet did not glue all of the way. Reapply glue to the side that is no longer attached to the cardstock.

If the card/ bouquet only partially opens: There is too much glue attaching the 2 center petals to the cardstock. You can gently pull up part of the glue, or completely remove the bouquet and glue again. When reapplying the glue be sure to only glue the top half of the petal, not the entire petal.

If the card is still only partially opening: Check other petals to see if the glue spread. There should only be 2 petals attached to the cardstock. Gently lift up any accidentally glued petals.