World Card Making Day Pop Up Surprise Balloon Card Tutorial

Today, October 5th, is World Card Making Day and what would World Card Making Day be without a card tutorial?  Most people are starting on their holiday cards already, but I decided to make this card for a friends birthday instead.  This card was a lot of fun to make and everyone loved taking turns flipping the card open to see the surprise inside!  I love unexpected elements in cards…

Here’s how you can make this surprise balloon pop up card…

I started out with a 12″x5 1/2″ sheet of dark gray card stock.  I scored my card at the 5″, 5.5″, 6″, 6.5″ and 7″ mark using my Martha Stewart Score Board.  I LOVE this score board… it has consistent score lines which makes it easy to score any project you are working on, plus it has storage for the pieces it comes with- which is great because I am always loosing my bone folder otherwise.

Once you have scored all your lines, accordion fold your paper up into an M shape.  Run a line of adhesive  down the inside of the M and stick the sides together to make a V shape. I used my Glue Glider Pro with Permatac for this step.

Next I cut out a bunch of balloons in all different colors using my Silhouette Cameo.  You could also use a balloon shape from a Cricut Cartridge, a balloon shaped punch or some other method to make balloon shapes – any method works- just make sure to cut out at least 2 of each color so you can have a front and a back to your balloon.

Next I cut a bunch of thin strips of the dark gray cardstock to serve as my balloon strings and used adhesive to attach a front and back to the balloons making little “balloon pops.”

Once I had a bunch of balloon pops I started to arbitrarily trim them down to fit into my card.  Run a strip of adhesive down the inside back of your V and stick the balloon pops to it as you go.  Trim the stems of the balloon pops so they vary in height, you will have to use your best judgement as to what length to make them. I made mine overlap, but feel free to do whatever you think looks best.  Keep adding to your balloon pile until you have a nice cluster.

Once you have all your balloon pops stuck to the inside of your card, run another strip of adhesive down the inside front of your V and stick the V closed, this will hold everything in place.  To finish off the inside of my card, I stamped a sentiment on black card stock using white stamp pad and heat embossed with gold embossing powder.  I then covered the outside of my V with a strip of 1/2″ scrapbook paper that matched the front of my card and attached the sentiment to it.  To finish off the balloons, I used a white gel pen to draw little “light reflective lines” on, and spritzed the balloons with some Tsukineko Psst! Shimmer Spritz to give them a little something extra. Isn’t it fun that they stand straight up when the card is open?

For the outside of my card, I cut a piece of scapbook paper to fit and adhered it using my Glue Glider Pro once again.  Make sure to get adhesive around all the sides of the card and some extra in the middle to get a good seal.  I used my trusty bone folder to give a nice crease to the card (it is kind of thick in the middle, so the extra press with the bone folder helps it sit up when closed).

To finish this card front off, I stamped a balloon and some pennants from my Artiste Cricut Cartridge using Megan Elizabeth’s Ink Edgerz on white card stock.  I then heat embossed with clear embossing powder to give them a little oompf.  The Ink Edgerz are great for embossing…they are so juicy that they hold the embossing powder in place perfectly and they have such vibrant colors that you don’t need colored embossing powder to get a great effect, just clear will get you the desired results here!  I trimmed all my embossed shapes out with a pair of scissors and then attached them to the front of my card.  Finally, I used my Crop-a-Dile Corner Chomper to round out the bottom edges of my card.

This card is a lot of fun.  When you flip the card open, the balloons pop up!  The kids (and adults) just loved to flip the card open and closed to watch the balloons flap up!

I hope you enjoyed this card tutorial!  If you’re officially starting to work on your Holiday Cards, make sure you check out our card making sale that is going on until the 21st of October!  Stock up on all you need to make cards and more!

Happy Crafting!
Kala