Lever Pop up Card tutorial

Lever Pop up card

         I love making pop up cards as its a combination of science and art at work! If you get the science bit wrong [ ie the precision and measuring part] your pop up won't work and if your artistic sense has deserted you even an utterly clever pop up mechanism will fail to impress!!
       Sharing a lever style pop up card which on opening stands on its own and displays several panels you can literally go to town embellishing! Here is the front of the pop up card with a rectangular window embellished with punchcraft flowers.

Circle Flowers

           Here is the link to the super easy to make Circle flower tutorial .The large red flowers are also made from circles but I used the textured center of a Cheery Lynn Sunflower die to make it.[ Here is a tutorial link to another flower made using Cheery Lynn  Sunflower die: Paper flower tutorial ]

Circle flowers

On opening the card, the central rectangular part swings open like a lever to reveal several pop up panels in an accordion style[ of late I am obsessed with making pop up cards with the accordion mechanism!]

Floral Pop up card

Do allow me to show off the embossed golden Cheery Lynn  butterfly [heat embossing is quite new to me!]

Pop up card

Lots of quilled flowers, stamped leaves and tiny golden butterflies in my pop up butterfly garden!

Garden Pop up Card

This photo shows the pop up mechanism and a glimpse of the inner panel to which I added a floral lattice[ Wild orchid die ]

Lever Pop Up Card

How to make a Lever Pop Up Card

I followed a fantastic tutorial by Laura to make my first lever pop up card and loved the mechanism so much I had to try and make "non rectangular" levers , double levers and use a die cutting machine to cut the levers! [ Dont worry you actually dont need the big shot or cuttle bug to make this pop up card ]

Materials Required

• Card stock- 2 Identical pieces of cardstock- size doesnt matter you can experiment away! Since I was making a circle lever card I wanted a squarish shape and used 2 cards measuring 11 x 6 inches
• Adhesive- I use PVA glue fevicol MR
• Something to mark out a Circle - If you are going to hand cut use a lid/ saucer etc which fits well within your card leaving approximately a 1 inch border .If you are die cutting use a shaped die
• To Cut - if you are going to cut by hand you need a craft knife and a cutting mat / kitchen board. If you want to be lazy or feel good you are exercising your fancy machine [like me!!]- do bring out your big shot/cuttlebug/grand calibur and your shaped dies [avoid ones with fancy edges-plain  circles, squares ,ovals and rectangles are the best]!
• Optional - Scoring board- I use the scor pal

Lever Pop up card tutorial 

To decrease page load time I have displayed the tutorial photos small. Just click on the photo to see a particular pictorial photo in a larger view. 

Fold the two 11 x 6 inch cards in half and cut out a circular aperture [ you can try other shapes too!] on the front of one folded card.

Pop up card tutorial 

Insert the open end of one folded card inside the card with the aperture and mark a semicircle onto the inside card along the edges of your aperture. You need not obsess about measuring- just eyeball it and mark lightly.

Pop up card tutorial 

On the inner card with the semicircle [ the red marks demonstrate my photo editing and not my drawing skills!!] drop down scorelines from the center of the marked half of the card  to meet the semicircle.

Pop up card tutorial 

The next step is only if you want to use your die cutting machine! 

For hand cutting folks- its easy- just cut the marked semicircle till the center!

Pop up card tutorial 

        Align  your die bang on the semicircle and apply tape to temporarily secure your die to the cardstock. Place your die + paper sandwich on your platform-cutting plate and place your top cutting plate over the marked semicircle half of your card to just reach the halfway mark [ see pic above].Roll your handle and you will get a cleanly cut  semicircle  still attached to your card.

Pop up card tutorial 

Fold over the edge of the card to meet the center as shown in the pictorial photo above

Pop up card tutorial 

Fold over the other edge to meet the center and your pop up lever mechanism is nearly ready. I experimented and made thing more complicated by cutting apertures and making a lever on the other side too [will share that later!!]

Pop up card tutorial 

The picture above shows how the 2 cards are going to fit together to make a lever pop up card.

Pop up card tutorial 

This step needs a bit of care to get your pop up to work. Insert your semicircle into the aperture of your front card and apply glue on the folded inner panel as shown above. While sticking down dont align the outer edges but focus on aligning the edges of the semicircle as shown below!

Pop up card tutorial 

Apply glue on the other folded panel as shown .

Pop up card tutorial 

To make sure your pop up will work wonderfully, fold over as shown in the picture  above and stick to the outer card.

Pop up card tutorial 

Your lever pop up card is done. A little complicated ? Yeah I agree but so rewarding when you can conquer it !!I do urge you to try this lever pop up card!

Lever Pop up card

Supplies : Pattern Paper -DCWV, Dies - Cheery Lynn Butterflies, Cheery Lynn Sunflower,Provo Craft butterfly,Spellbinder Classic Leaf  .Stamps- Heartfelt creations leaf