Have you seen the latest crafting craze called pop up card box or card-in-a-box? If you are on Pinterest, then you have probably seen a number of different card-in-a-box designs. It is a super cool card that has a variety of fun images tucked into the box which pop up when you open it. Plus…the card folds down nicely to fit into an envelope for mailing! There are some great tutorials out there on how to make these adorable little pop up cards…so just Google card in a box and you find a bunch! The pop up cards are fun to put together but it does take a bit of time to cut, score, stamp and put everything together.
I finally decided to take the time to put one together thanks to instructions from one of my team members, Debbie Jorns. However, I decided to change up the instructions a bit so that I could make a beautiful fenced-in flower garden. So here is how I did it…I made mine a little bit smaller by cutting a piece of soft suede cardstock down to 5 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches. I stamped the hardwood image across both sides of the cardstock using early espresso ink. Next, I scored the 10 1/2 inch side every 2 1/2 inches (at 2 1/2, 5, 7 1/2 and 10). There will be a little 1/2 inch flap left that you will use to hold your box together.
Next, you will cut down the fence so half of it measures 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 and the other half measures 3 x 5 1/2 (see pic). Use your score lines as a guide to cut down the fence to 3 inches high. Be sure to also cut down the little 1/2 inch flap to 3 inches so that you can secure the box together. Take a triangle punch and snip out little pieces on the top of the fence, as shown, to achieve the dog eared fence look. Fold on your score lines and secure that little flap to the inside of the box using a strong tape such as sticky tape.
Cut 2 pieces of the soft suede cardstock to 1/2 x 3 (you can use the 1 /2 piece left over from when you initially cut down the 8 1/2 x 11 piece of cardstock. You will score these 2 pieces 1/4 inch on each end and fold to form a z pattern…secure them to the inside of the card box as you will be attaching your images to them. I cut a few 2 1/2 x 2 inch pieces of old olive cardstock and sniped the ends with my fringe scissors to make it looks like grass. I secured these pieces throughout the inside of the box. Next, I stamped a bunch of tulips and cut them out by hand…securing them to the little z fold pieces on the inside of the box. I also cut out a few butterflies, secured them to clear window sheet pieces and then attached them to the z fold pieces inside the box. For the final touches I embellished the box with a bit of ribbon and a nice little mother’s day sentiment.
Just a little tip…as you are securing pieces to the inside of the box, make sure that your box will fold down nicely. I also recommend that you check out a few video tutorials on pop up card boxes so that you get a feel for how everything fits together. Enjoy!