Of all the greeting cards I make, the ones that have pop-ups are the most popular. There’s something about opening a card and having a three-dimensional shape emerge that makes one all happy and surprised.
So in the spirit of Hanukkah, here’s a card in which a dreidel pops up when you open it. Hanukkah is all about celebrating a miracle, and the miracle of this card is that it’s actually easy to make.
What you’ll need:
Two sheets of cardstock in contrasting colors
Pen
Ruler
Scissors
Double-sided tape
1. Cut two sheets of cardstock in contrasting colors so they measure 10 by 7 inches each. Then fold them in half so you have two cards that are 5 by 7 inches. (You can also cut out 4-by- 6 inch cards.) I used one sheet of blue and one sheet of white cardstock. One card will be the exterior piece, and one card will be the interior piece that pops up.
2. Choose the card that will be your interior piece, and place it in front of you with the folded side down. Using the template in the photo above, cut three vertical slits on the folded side of the card — one that is 1/4 inch high, one that is 1 inch high that’s 1 inch to the right of the first slit, and another that is 1 inch high that’s 1 1/2 inches to the right of the second slit. Then draw a diagonal line from the top of the third vertical slit to the fold, about 1/ 2 inch to the right of that slit. Discard the triangular piece you’ve cut. Don’t cut along the horizontal lines of the template — those are crease lines.
3. Open the card, and push the cut-outs in the opposite direction of the fold so they pop up. Then close the card and press down. Those horizontal lines on the template that weren’t cut are now the vertical edges of the pop-up dreidel, and they will crease when you press down on the card.
4. Apply double-sided tape to the back side of the interior card, and adhere it to the exterior card. If you have trouble lining up the two cards evenly, just do the best you can and trim the card afterward to even out the sides.
Jonathan Fong is the author of “Flowers That Wow” and “Parties That Wow,” and host of “Style With a Smile” on YouTube. You can see more of his do-it-yourself projects at jonathanfongstyle.com.
