Say Happy New Year with a Twist and Pop!

I have always loved these fancy fold cards and recipients really seem to get a kick out of them too!  My family and I spent the Christmas holiday in Las Vegas enjoying all the shows and the beautiful resorts – and celebrated my son’s 30^th birthday!  I made one of these cards for his birthday (which I will show you at the end of this post).  He literally laughed out loud when he opened it!

What better response can you get from your card’s recipient!

It looks so inconspicuous.  And it is easy to open, like any regular card – except it reveals this:

I will warn you about one thing:  several my supplies are retired products.  They weren’t when I made this card a week or so ago – but they are newly retired as of this post.  You may have some of these supplies already, as most of us are “collectors”.  But you may need or want to use supplies that you have.  I will publish another version of this card with current materials in the upcoming weeks, as I really love them!  And our new papers in the January to June mini catalog are just gorgeous!

There are a lot of card cuts for this one and some folding.  But the twist and pop mechanism is SO clever and really straightforward once you have given it a try.

So, as we English majors used to say, please give me your willing suspension of disbelief as I walk you through the steps:

Card base:

The best way to start this card is to complete the card base first.  I adhered all the panels to the Basic Black card base starting with the card face and then working on the top and bottom panels of the inside.

I used the retired dies from Stampin’ Up! called Word Wishes.  When I talk about stamps or dies that are “classics”, this is definitely one of those.  Having the newest and shiniest is always fun.  But it is important to develop a collection of tools that will help you create occasion cards long into the future.  This is one of those “Classics”.

I die cut the Happy New Year sentiments from Real Red cardstock.  Since the panels are so busy, though, I am thinking that I should have die cut another version in Basic White to act as a shadow to highlight the words.  Oh well…it’s all about the creative process, isn’t it?

Pop up message:

With the card base done, I decided to work on the pop-up section.

These panels are as easy as mounting the Crushed Curry mats to the Basic Black base and then adding the Celebrate Everything DSP on top.  I used numbers from a die set that I had in my stash of things from long ago and far away.  However, Stampin’ Up! has a new set with both letters and numbers – Alphabet a la Mode Dies.  These might work well, even if you need to back them with a smaller, solid color mat.  It’s all doable!

Now, this part is where that proverbial rubber hits the road!

Pop up mechanism:

Score the Basic Black panel as follows:

Fold and burnish all the score lines so that they are ready to take on the arrow shape:

To get this shape, pinch the long score line in toward the center as the diagonal scores fold up:

Using the best adhesive that you have, prepare the point of the arrow with the Stampin’ Up! Tear & Tape along with some Multipurpose white glue on both sides.

Place the “arrow” into the center of the card base:

Then fold the top of the card into the mechanism and let the glue dry a bit.  You want to be sure that you have the best adhesives possible since this is the working part of the card, and it will see a lot of use as your recipient opens it a lot!!

Once the glue has set, open the card so that the mechanism opens and flattens on the work surface.

It is now time to place the message panel on the mechanism.

To do that, fold the message panel so that the 2 outside panels are facing in.

I like to mark the mechanism panel lightly with a pencil so that I know where the Stampin’ Up! Tear and Tape is going to be.

Apply the tape and the glue to each end of the mechanism.  BUT only apply it to the top of one side and the lower half of the other.

Set the folded message panel in the middle of the mechanism and open each side to adhere it to the mechanism.

Once the Multipurpose Glue is dry, carefully fold the card for the first time.  It may not go easily but gently coax it closed.  Open and close the mechanism a few times and it will get smoother and smoother.

And then, guess what?

You’re done!  Can you believe it?  It’s soooo cute!  And your recipient is just going to be delighted, like my son was when he got his birthday card:

I promise that I will do another version of this card very soon with all our new products that just came out yesterday!  I usually am lukewarm about new products and papers (remember my transition issues!).  But this catalog is just exquisite – no transition issues for me here!!  Stay tuned!

Oh, and please join us at Creative Creases – where I have the honor of serving as a Guest Designer!! I love challenges and enter them often. But Debbie Mageed’s offer to present a design as part of the challenge to my cardmaking colleagues is wonderful! Please take a look at the Anything Goes with a Fun Fold Challenge!