Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Tutorial: 3D Pop up Balloon card



I was recently directed to a blog titled Valita's Fresh Folds.  She has a cute balloon card she got from another source.  I thought I'd make a smaller version to fit in a standard 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" envelope and share it with you!

 First, let me show you what I came up with for the outside of the card.  I cut strips of leftover paper using the same colors as the balloons on the inside of the card.  (I love using up scraps!)  The colored strips were mounted with foam tape to add visual interest.  A simple stamp from the "Card Chatter--Birthday" stamp set, inked in black, finished the front.  But let's get to the card base and the inside----the really fun part!

Begin with a 5 1/2" x 10 1/2" piece of cardstock.  Score at 4 1/4", 4 3/4", 5 1/4", 5 3/4", and 6 1/4".

Fold  your cardstock: Mountain, valley, mountain, valley, mountain.  Notice how the folds stack together in your hand, as if you were starting to make a paper fan from your childhood.  Lay the paper back out on the table and add a strip of Tacky Tape to the inside of the last two score lines.  Remove the pink backing and refold the card base.



Flip the card open to the inside.  You will see that two folded strips have formed in the middle.  Add a strip of Tacky Tape to the inside of both strips like this.

Remove the pink backing.  Add your balloons, cutting the acetate at varying lengths to make some balloons appear higher than other ones.  After adding your balloons, pinch the two folds together to sandwich the balloons neatly in between.

Note:

I used my Cricut cartridge "Celebrations" to cut out the balloons, using paper from the local Michael's.  Why not CTMH paper?  I had twenty cards worth of balloons to create and decided to make good use of paper from my pre-CTMH days.

1/8" strips of acetate were sandwiched between two balloon cutouts to create one clean-looking balloon.  (If you don't have acetate, re-purpose food packaging to achieve the same look.)
 
Photos & directions shared by Brenda F. another talented CTMH consultant. Thanks for the awesome idea!

19 comments:

  1. What a cute and creative blog Tabatha. You're definitely a girl after my own heart. You may really enjoy the following links if you haven't seen them before. I was playing around with making them a lot yesterday and had a lot of fun.
    http://blog.robertscrafts.com/2011/03/birthday-cards-that-flip-move-slide.html
    or
    http://simplykellyb.blogspot.com/p/studio-5.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Carolyn for the links. I will check them out.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love this, I'm going to try it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. what did you use for the balloon string?

    ReplyDelete
  5. what did you use for the balloon string?

    ReplyDelete
  6. The 'string' is acetate paper. Also known as an overhead projector paper. Most copy stores sell it by the sheet. Otherwise, office supply stores like Staples carry packages of it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Such a very amazing and outstanding blog i really love it because all the 3D popup Cards in your blog and site are very interesting.
    3D popup Cards

    ReplyDelete
  8. I like your blog and all the information are really very fantastic and i love it.
    3D popup Cards

    ReplyDelete
  9. Really neat card! I saw it on Pinterest & had to come take a closer look. Thank you so much for the tutorial! I plan on making a card like this for a friend's birthday next month. It should be easy with your clear directions. :) ~ Andrea

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love this card you did an awesome job. Can you tell me at what size you cut your balloons?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The balloons were created using a craft punch. Unfortunately, I no longer have it so I can only guess on the size. I suspect they are 1". Your local scrapbook or craft store may have a balloon shaped punch or using a product such as Cricut personal cutting systems may offer a solution for you. Good luck!

      Delete
  11. Love this card. I made it but my balloons will not stand up, they flop over. How did you get them to stand? I did use acetate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Try using thicker acetate, like deli containers or the packing from Spellbinders cutting dies or other craft supplies. It needs to be pretty stiff. Hope you see this or have already figured it out, because this is a cool card. I spell out the child's name on the balloons.

      Delete
  12. Dont have a die cutter YET,so I will have to cut by hand but its very do-able. Thank so much for sharing this tutorial. Even without all the fancy equipment I think I can do it with this.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hello, thank you so much for sharing this!!! 😍 I created a card after this great tutorial, ofc I adapted it to my own personality, but I couldn't be more grateful! I've linked your article to my IG post, to give you credit <3 (the IG is PomazheBog, if you wanna take a look at it. I always credit people i get inspo from). All the best, and again, thank you very much!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Is that a paper? Is the balloon going to stand? I think it will fall. Isn't it??

    ReplyDelete