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How to Make Simple Box Pop Up Cards {Throwback Thursday}

It's Throwback Thursday!  I am digging up, dusting off, and updating some posts from the very beginning of Extreme Cards and Papercrafting.

How to Make Pop Up Cards Tutorial
This is Lesson 1 in a series of step by step tutorials on How to Make Pop Ups. 


THE SIMPLE BOX

The simple box pop up, cut symmetrically on the fold of the card, is one of the easiest pop up mechanisms to create. This mechanism is also known as the parallel fold pop up or the step pop up.

How to Make a Simple Box Pop Up

Fold a piece of card stock paper in half.

On the outside of the folded card, draw one or more rectangles of any size, where one side of the rectangle is the center fold of the card. Here I have drawn three of various size.

simple box pop up card draw rectangles

Cut the rectangle sides that are perpendicular to the fold (shown as solid lines).


Score across the top of the rectangle (dotted line).



Create the fold lines by creasing the flap up, then uncreasing.

simple box pop up card crease flaps

Flip the card over and crease the flap up on the other side, then uncrease.



Open the card to 90°. From the back, push the rectangles with your finger to pop them forward.

simple box pop up card boxes popped forward

Side View

simple box pop up card side view

Affix decorative elements to the fronts or tops of the pop up boxes.

Before gluing, try out the placement of your embellishments to make sure they are not too tall or wide--that they will not be visible when the card is closed.

You can create very different effects by varying the size and placement of the pop up rectangles, or by turning the card to open from the side.

simple box pop up card turned on side




Examples of Simple Box Pop Up Cards