by Allie Hernandez
Intro:
Pop up cards are so fun and look so impressive but can be very simple to make! Today we will make additive V-fold pop ups with tabs. Additive because we are adding material with glue, V-fold because this is the shape of the pop up on the page, and tabs are the little pieces of paper that will connect our pop up element to the base. Let’s get started!
You will Need:
Paper for card base - best to use paper thicker than computer paper if possible
Paper for pop ups - I like to use colors and patterns on my paper but you can draw your own designs too
Scissors
Glue stick
Instructions:
Choose a paper for your card base and for your first pop up element. For the pop up, you want to use a scrap of paper smaller than half of your base paper.
Fold your pop up paper in half widthwise, like a mini card. Unfold this and then fold a line, lengthwise a half inch from the bottom. Unfold and you should get something like this:
The half inch line we folded will be the guide for our tabs. We are going to cut the small line in between our two tabs and then cut triangle notches to make our tabs more flexible.
Now we have the basis for our tabbed pop up element!
Apply glue to the side of the tab that will attach to the base card.
Now we will place the pop up element on to the base card. We want the centerfold of our pop up to be along the centerfold of the base and we want the two tabs to be symmetrical (mirror images). Now we see the “V” in V-fold.
Press firmly on the tabs for at least 30 seconds to make sure the pop up is secure.
Give it a test! Try opening and closing the card to make sure the pop up works. If it’s not quite working, make sure your pop up is aligned on the centerfold and the two sides of your v fold are symmetrical.
Time to get creative! Try adding words or shapes to personalize your pop up.
Instead of leaving the pop up element a rectangle, experiment with other shapes. Here I drew a bush.
Here I made the pop up element a house with cut out windows.
Making and sending cards is a great way to stay connected! Share your pop ups with us too!