pop-out happiness cards :)

I've gotten a few questions about how I made the cute little pop out flower cards with my kids, so I thought I'd write a quick post to show ya!

I got the idea off Pinterest (of course), and first watched this video. (for the love... mute it!)

If you want to skip the video and have a decent sense of crafting, here are some "fast forward" pics if you can follow. :)

1. fold like this (I used 3x3 squares of construction paper):

2. follow these steps (x7):

*make sure you're cutting the OPEN parts off, not the folds in that first purple flower step.

*the glue goes on the stripes. :)

Now this is the part where I pulled up a different tutorial (I think I like pics better than video) to learn how to make the bouquet. You can find the gluing instructions with pictures here. She'll show you how to put it all together in the card.

Just make sure when you glue, that you only glue the top of the flower petal like this, and don't let it drip down to the center of the flower, or it won't pop open...

HELPFUL HINT: do your writing on the front and inside the card BEFORE you glue it! It's pretty hard after the flowers are in there! :)

A few thoughts:

-I used construction paper. It was easy to fold but kind of "soft" so a couple ripped ever-so-slightly upon pulling the card open. So, maybe if you have better paper use that. But I'm sure the recipient won't mind either way. :)

-I just glued my leaves to the card after the flowers were glued in. I didn't bother with gluing them to the bottoms of the flowers. I just stuck 'em right under there and called it good.

-I used hot glue because we ran out of glue sticks and I wasn't in the mood to look for white glue. Not sure I recommend hot glue but it works in a pinch. :) This is how the Hydeens roll. We make it work. :)

-These are easy to make a bunch at a time! Set up a little process with your kids for who does what, and you can crank these babies out! Most of ours are headed to the local nursing home, but a few of them are getting mailed to VIPs. :)

Don't look too close at our artwork... :)

They're far from perfect but I'd say they're good enough! :)

Have fun creating!