Saturday, January 24, 2009

Pop-up Box

001

I got the idea for this box from some junk main one of my co-workers received.  If you push down on it, it flattens out so that you can put it in an envelope, but when you take it out of the envelope it springs into a box shape.  I thought it was just about the coolest thing I'd ever seen, so of course, I had to figure out how it was done.  The secret is that it has a rubber band inside.

The box my co-worker received was hexagon shaped, but I thought it would be easier to start out with a square.  Here's mine flattened out in my scanner:

my cards 001

I used Kaleidoscope Kreator 3 to print the graphics for the sides.  Next time, I will make sure that the flowers on the top half of the box sides are right side up.  Oops!

For the top, I punched out a square with my scalloped square punch, stamped Happy birthday and added some punch flowers.

And here's another view of it popped up:

011

You can download a copy of the box template and instructions from my website at:

http://www.handcraftedgreetings.com/miscprojects.php

5 comments:

  1. This is very, very cool and I'm going to HAVE to give it a try. Thanks so much for taking the time to make instructions and sharing.

    You made a fantastic job of yours. ....and I'd never have noticed that the flowers were upside down if you hadn't mentioned it, lol.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for drawing this up. I didn't notice the flowers were the wrong way either :)


    Comparing this to Mark Hiner's designs (see his book, Up Pops, if you can find it, it's out of print)I see he cuts his hooks so they are more closed--like a square with a circle cut out of the center and just a side slit from the center to the outside. It's harder to attach the rubber band, but it doesn't come loose as easily either. It's probably wise to use a double layer of cardstock on the hooks, too, for rip-resistance. Oh, and you can attach one end of the rubber band before gluing the card and then you only have to use a crochet hook to fish the other end.

    Nice work!

    Carol
    Extreme Cards and Papercrafting
    http://extremecards.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. I will most definitely be trying this. It's a wonderful project. I'm going to link to it from my scrappingbydesign.com blog.

    ReplyDelete
  4. JUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDDDDDDDDDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!
    It's me! It's me! It's me!!!!
    I was looking for the 6-sided box and I ran across your 4 sided box! LOVE IT!
    I'm trying to figure out how to make the pattern into an .svg file so I can cut on my Cricut! Whee!!
    Glad to see you are still creating! Would love to catch up with you!!!
    xoxoooxoxo
    Susan Chong
    aka Beegs
    beegsmachine@yahoo.com
    www.theartfulmama.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete