Hello, hello! Rainy season has arrived in southwest Florida, but that also means flowers everywhere! That inspired me to combine flowers and rain gear for a happy birthday card. It made me think of a flower stand at the farmer’s market! I made this after seeing one on a video from Sam on mixedupcrafts- she called it a “floating pop-up box”. Her version was 6×6 inches, but since that size costs more to send, I thought I’d give it a try in the 5.5×4.25 inch version. This is what I came up with:

The card lays flat in the envelope, but pops into a 3D square tube which stands up. The cool thing is that the sentiment appears to float in front of the tube. Here are pics of the card lying flat, from the top, and from the side:

I made it in two sections of 5.5x 4.5 inches, although you could start with a piece that measures 5.5×9. I felt it was easier to work with the front and back separately. Each piece was scored from the 4.5 inch side at 2 and 1/8 inches, and 4.25 inches (which gives you a quarter- inch flap to adhere the pieces together and make the box. I used stitched rectangle dies to cut the opening in the front, centered on the 2 and 1/8 inch score mark, and to make a frame, which is optional. You can use any shape, but the rectangle allowed for more of the pretty paper to show from the inside. I used double-sided tape to adhere a 1 x 4 and 1/8 inch piece of acetate across the middle of the inside of the opening, and decorated as desired (tip: the paper used for the umbrella was thin, so I backed it with thick white cardstock before adhering with dimensional foam). I saved the sentiment for attachment later. After you have the front of your card as you want it, run a line of double-sided tape along the front of the “flap”, fold it back, and line it up with the back of the card on the edge that does not have a flap.

I chose to decorate the inside of the card with two panels, which I made with cardstock measuring 1 and 7/8 by 5.25 inches, and printed paper measuring 1 and 5/8 by 5 inches. You could certainly use one piece of printed paper. Glue these together with an even border all around, and adhere the first one so that it just overlaps and hides the flap join just made. In order to hide the final join, you will have to place double-sided tape on the back of the remaining flap, fold it forward, and adhere it to the front edge of the card, and THEN insert the final back panel to the inside- a little fiddly, but not too hard. Finally, make your sentiment as desired and stick a piece of double-sided tape VERTICALLY to the acetate to adhere it. This will allow the sentiment to project further forward and enhance the floating effect. The back of the box has space for writing, but if you use dark cardstock you may want to adhere a piece of white to the back.

I hope you enjoyed this card, and if you give it a try, I would love to see your creation in the comments! Most of the products used are listed below, and are available from my shop (click Visit My Site above). Thank you so much for stopping by for another cardmaking adventure!

Happy stamping,

Michelle