Pop-up flower birthday card: a step-by-step tutorial

  • A simple pop-up birthday card (would also be wonderful for a get well, thank you or Mothers’ day card).  Great way to use up scrappy bits of wrapping paper!

You will need:

  • a small blank card and envelope (a square one looks best)
  • a square of leftover wrapping paper, or any nice coloured or patterned paper. PaperCrafty explains how to make a true square.
  • a pencil
  • scissors
  • glue (or double-sided sticky tape)

https://www.instagram.com/p/bPMYXDmet5/

COST: under £1
AGE: 6+ (with help)
TIME: 10 minutes

How-to:
Although this is very simple once you’ve done it a couple of times (I promise!), I would recommend using scrap paper for your first attempt.

Steps 1-4

  • Take your square of wrapping paper (pretty side up) and fold it in half from left to right
  • Open it out and fold it in half again from top to bottom
  • Open it out once more and turn the paper over (pretty side down), then fold one corner to the opposite corner, making a triangle shape
  • Open the paper again and fold it using the creases you’ve just made, so that all the points meet (with the pretty side inside – bottom right pic) in a diamond shape

https://www.instagram.com/p/bPMePlmeuK/

Steps 5-8

  • If you open your paper a little, it should look like the first picture below (the un-creased ‘side’ diamonds to left and right, the creased ‘pop-up’ bits to top and bottom)
  • Fold your paper back up again, with the flappy points closest to you and the folded corner farthest away.  Now sketch out your flower design  It should be more or less symmetrical and the top two petals must overlap the edges of the paper, as if you were making a garland of paper dolls.  The point where the top two petals meet must fall along the centre line (you should be able to feel where the inner creases meet each other through the paper).  Once you are happy with your design, cut it out, making sure to leave the top two petals joining the creases.
  • Keeping the design folded, place it onto the right-hand inside of the card, with the two ‘joined’ petals towards, but a little away from the centre crease.  Check that your flowers will pop-up correctly before you stick the underside into place.  Then apply glue (or double-sided sticky tape) to the upper side and close the card on top.  This is the easiest way to make sure that your card will open and close smoothly, with the creases in the correct places.
  • I finished this card by adding a single flower to the front.

https://www.instagram.com/p/bPQYBoGekc/

Have you tried this tutorial?  Were the instructions clear and easy to follow?
Did I miss out a step?  I really appreciate your feedback!

https://www.instagram.com/p/bPWpOHGeuV/

(Visited 237 times, 1 visits today)

2 thoughts on “Pop-up flower birthday card: a step-by-step tutorial

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.