An Out of this World 6th Birthday Card

My grandnephew James is turning 6 this weekend - and I always make special cards for the grands - so the pressure was on to create something fun.   I've been wanting to make a pop up box card for quite a while -  there is a great tutorial over at Splitcoaststampers that I printed out a year or so ago - and I finally got it out to try it for James' special card.

This is how it looks when you fold it flat for delivery.  Very unassuming and you'd never guess the surprise it holds inside!

and then you just push on the two sides and it opens into a box 

 (the purple base looks black in this photo for some reason?!)

and when you fold down the front and side panels you get your surprise!  

I used my brandy new Make it Market Mini  kit - Out of this World for all of the space decorations.  I used one of the patterned papers and the dies in the kit to cut out all the outer space pieces.

You start out with a 12"x12" piece of card stock, cut it and score it according to the tutorial, cut patterned papers to fit the sides inside and out and add tabbed pieces inside to adhere the pop ups to.  They also include instructions for a smaller card that will fit an A2 envelope. 

My pop up box measures 5 1/2" x 6 1/2" when folded up. (as in the first photo above) 

Here's a close up showing the dividing pieces inside the box where you attach your pop ups.  I put the planet and space ship on strips of acetate so they stand up and shake a bit when you move the box.  I adhered the lighter blue planet in the front directly to the dividing piece.

here are close ups of the side panels.  All the pieces on the panels are up on foam dots.

I used a PTI By the Numbers die for the 6. 

close up of the pop ups and the acetate strips

So, I'm glad I finally tried a Pop Up Box Card - it takes a little longer to cut, score and decorate, but isn't difficult at all to put together - and I think James will love his little outer space birthday card!

I'm linking James' birthday card to:

Seize the Birthday

 The Male Room

Muse Challenge #217

To use Kim's card as inspiration

Stamps:  Make it Market Mini Kit - Out of this World - Papertrey Ink, Happy Birthday from A Beary Good Year - The Cat's Pajamas.
Paper:  Purple cardstock from stash, black dot patterned paper from Modern Metallic paper pack - DCWV,  White, Acetate - Papertrey Ink, Space ship patterned paper From Mini Kit - PTI
Ink:  True Black - PTI, Versamark
Accessories:  dies from Make it Market Mini Kit - Out of this world and By the Numbers Die - Papertrey Ink, Word Window Punch - SU, Scortape, foam dots, white embossing powder, heat tool,  Pop Up Box Card Tutorial - Splitcoaststampers.