Theater Fold Meerkat Birthday Card with Video

Hello and welcome! Today I’ve made an interactive card featuring Meerkats on the Lookout from Gerda Steiner Designs.  I don’t usually make Halloween cards but wanted to do a fall colours card so this is what I came up with.  

I’ve made a video of how to construct this card and it’s probably the easiest way to figure it out.  If you would like to see the video in HD, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Here’s a list of the pieces of cardstock used and a diagram of where to crease the curtains.

I started by assembling the front first.  I die cut a rectangle from two of the white 4 1/4 x 5 1/2” pieces of cardstock as well as a black piece and then glued these together.  I cut a notch out of the side edges, using a small circle die and partial cutting.  I white heat embossed the sentiment and added the three dots with a white gel pen.  I folded and creased the two sleeve pieces so they fit along the side edges and glued them in place on the back, making sure they weren’t too tight.  I trimmed the sleeves around the notches so it would be easier to grasp the curtains.

For the back and curtains, I ink blended using Distress Oxide inks in Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon, and Candied Apple.  I used a die from Find IT Media called Amy Designs Wild Animals Outback, and partially die cut this from black cardstock to fit along the lengths of all 3 pieces of cardstock.  

I trimmed the two curtains just slightly along the 5 1/2” edge so they would slide more easily through the sleeves on the front.  Then I creased and folded the curtains at 2 3/4” and 4 1/8” for the left curtain, and at 1 3/8” and 2 3/4” for the right one.  Finally, I glued the black die-cut silhouette pieces to the curtains and back and creased along the fold lines.  

I used glue to attach the curtains to the back piece, being careful to only apply glue to the first folded area on the curtains and to try to keep the center fold of the curtains together. Really, the glued area of the curtains should line up along the side edges of the back, but I found it more important for the folded curtains to match in the center. 

I cut a second platform piece from black cardstock and glued the two pieces together.  I cut slits in both curtains at the same distance, wide enough for the platform piece to pull through.  I made stoppers by using pieces of narrow scrap cardstock and gluing these to the ends of the platform so it couldn’t pull through.  Next, I stamped the inside sentiment and clear heat embossed it.

To assemble the card, slide the left curtain through the sleeve on the back of the front piece, and the right curtain through the other sleeve.  I added pull tabs to the curtains by folding a small strip of black cardstock and used the same circle die to cut them out.  Now all that’s left is to just add your images.  Oh, and to play repeatedly with opening and closing the curtains!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day!

*Video* MFT Birthday Buds Inside Pop Up Card

Hello everyone, I hope you’re having a great day!  I’m really excited to share with you this inside panel pop up card technique. It adds such a fun element to any card and you don’t need any special dies for it.  Basically, you’re adding a third page, or partial page to the inside of your card.  I first saw this done on a video by Jennifer McGuire and you can see her video here.

Inside pop up panel

If you would like to see an HD video of this card on YouTube you can FIND IT HERE or watch it below.

I made this card by first stamping and colouring in the images from MFT’S Birthday Buds stamp set and then cutting them out. I also cut 2 panels of light blue cardstock that were 4.25” x 4”, as well as 2 green hill shapes and a grassy border. I also die cut 2 matching cloud borders.

On the blue sky panels, I creased them 1/4” from one end on each of them ( these creases will line up with the fold on the card and once adhered, become the mechanism that will hold the panel upright).

Next, I adhered the hills to both the front and back sky panels and the the grassy border on the front panel. Finally, I adhered the cloud die cuts, making sure they did not extend past the top of the card. It is best to unfold the creased bottom of the sky panel and line it up with the fold on the card base to help with positioning of the cloud piece to be sure you don’t extend past the top of the card.

Then I arranged my coloured images where I wanted them to go on the panel and adhered them with glue. I did not duplicate the image on the back panel but you could certainly do this.  I also find it easier to stamp the inside sentiment now before attaching the pop up panel.

The next step is to glue together just the top portion of the panels.  You don’t want the bottom glued together because it needs to be able to splay out and hold the panel upright when the card is opened.

Glue just the top edges of the panels together

I put a double sided adhesive tape along the opened out, creased folds on the bottom of both the front and back panels. After removing the backing paper, I lined the edges of these panels up with the fold on the inside of the card. Once I had them in position, I held them in place and closed the card so that the tape would adhere along the fold. Now the pop up panel is finished!

Line up the creased ends along the inside fold of the card base

Fold up the card base keeping the panel in position

The completed pop up mechanism

Front of the card

For the front of the card, I decided to mask off a diagonal line and ink blended above it in blue inks to make a sky. I used a piece of green cardstock from Sunny Studios and a grassy border that I had in my stash, to make a grassy bottom half of my card front.  After trimming this down to fit the card, I adhered a white frame made from 3 layers of Hero Art’s Wood Frame die set. Finally, I attached my images and sentiment. I think the front of the card can be quite simple, leaving the wow factor for the inside.

I hope that you will give these pop up cards a try - they are just so much fun to open up and perfect for all ages and seasons!!