Christmas Pop-Up Box Card Tutorial

Categories: All

Posted On: September 5, 2018

Posted By: webmaster

Christmas Pop-up Box Cards are perfect to make and give because they double as thoughtful handmade gifts! They’re an easy Christmas craft and look beautiful on a mantle or craft desk. They can also be folded flat and mailed in an envelope to a loved one! We know they look a little complicated to make, but the dimensions are simple. And the card design is suitable to create all-occasion cards. So use this design over and over! However you will need a scoreboard to get accurate scoring lines for your folds. We love the Hunkydory Adorable Scoreboard because it has both centimeter and inch measuring guides (one on each side). To start you’ll need a 12x12 piece of cardstock. Unfortunately you can’t use A4 card for the base because it's simply not long enough. Also try to use some paper that’s heavier weighted like 250gsm and up. First, trim your card stock to 8.5 inches x 12 inches. Place your card horizontally on your scoreboard and score at the following measurements: 2.75 inches, 5.5, 8.25, and at 11 inches.

Turn your scored paper vertically and trim to 2 inches x 12 inches and set aside. This scored strip will act as the inside strips of the box which hold your pop-up stamped images and elements.

Bring back your scored box card base to your scoreboard and place it vertically on the scoreboard. Score at 2.75 inches. This scored line delineates the upper, open flaps of your box and the lower part of your box.

Cut each of the 4 perpendicular scorelines up to the 2.75 inch score line. Cut diagonally from the point where the 2.75 inch score line meets the 11 inch score line to the edge of your card. (Cut lines shown in blue below.) This will create a tab that acts as the box closure.

This is what your box card case should look like at this point:

Now it's time to cut your mats for each panel. Depending on which colour or patterned paper you use will depend how many panels of a certain colour or pattern you need. Here's what we needed for our box:

Outside of Box: -1 teal back panel mat measuring 3.5in x 6.25in -3 teal mats measuring 2.5in x 3.5 in. -3 teal mats measuring 2.5in. x 2.5 in. Glue the mats as shown below with adhesive of your choice (we used Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Glue).

Inside of Box: -1 purple inside panel mat measure 3.5in x 6.25 in -3 purple mats measuring 2.5in x 3.5 in. -3 purple mats measuring 2.5in. x 2.5 in. Glue the mats as shown below with adhesive of your choice.

-Fold the decorated card on the 5.5” score line, and attach the tab inside with adhesive.

Now that your box is assembled it's time to add the strips that will allow you to attach your stamped images and elements. Bring back the strip of 2in x 12in paper from earlier and trim it to 4.75in as shown below:

Then trim your piece down the centre. So you're left with 2 scored strips that measure 1in x 4.75in.

Apply adhesive to the ends of the strips, and glue them down to the inside of the opened box, but don't glue them too far down into the box. Leave them close to the top.

Do a "flat check test" and collapse and close the card to ensure you're able to flatten it throughout this process. Especially when you're adding your stamped images. It should collapse and close easily.

Finally attach your stamp images and other elements to strips of acetate and then glue those to the white strips in the box, plus you can glue things directly to the back inside panel. These are so fun to decorate! We suggest angle your elements to add interest to your card.

Also it's helpful to do "flat checks" to make sure you can still collapse and close your pop-up box card easily.