Pop-Up Flowers For You - My First Tutorial

I loved making these flowers! I found the directions at http://extremecards.blogspot.com/ and they were easy to follow once I re-read them a couple of times to make sure of the sequence. The flowers are very time consuming but the end result is well worth the effort. I hope that you enjoy my tutorial on how I made these flowers and if you have any questions, I will be happy to answer them.

So lets begin. In the directions from Extreme Cards a flower was cut from plain paper, but I used a flower stamp to form my pattern because I wanted a stamped image to color. The flower needs to have 7 petals. This flower is from SU's Playful Petals stamp set and I stamped the image on SU's Whisper White card stock. To color the flowers I used SU's new In Color markers - they are from top to bottom, Bermuda Bay, Dusty Durango, Soft Suede and Crushed Curry.

Stamp the flower image 7 times as you will need 7 individual flowers.

Color each individual flower the same and then cut them out.

When you have all 7 flowers cut out, you have the option of coloring the backs of the flowers or leaving them white. I colored the backs as I wanted the solid color look.

Now fold each individual flower in half and press flat. Fold them so that 3 solid petals are across the center and the petals on the ends will be folded in half. Repeat folding around the flower - a total of 4 folds - so that each petal will have been folded in half and has a fold line down the center.

When you have finished folding the flower it will look like this, with a crease down the center of each petal.

Cut out one of the 7 petals and discard, leaving 6 remaining petals.

Now glue the bottom petal to the left of the cut out piece to the bottom petal on the right. This will cause the flower to form into a cup shape. It will look like this. Press the double layer petal flat.

Glue each of the 7 flowers into a cup shape. When the flowers are completed, you are ready to assemble them together to make a bouquet.

Fold each of the 7 cupped flowers in half so that you have 3 petals in a double layer and lay them out in the following order. I numbered the 7 sections to make it easier to follow the remaining steps.

The first step is to glue the back of the left petal of section 3 to the top of the right petal of section 1 using glue dots. (You can see how the glue dots are stuck to the top of the petals of section 1.) You can use a glue stick also, but be sure the finished bouquet is dry before you glue it into your card.

With the first section in place, now glue the back of the right petal of section 2 to the top of the left petal of section 1. This will leave the middle petal of section 1 in the center between sections 2 (on the left) and 3 (on the right).

The next step is to glue the bottom of the middle petal of section 4 to the top of the middle petal of section 1.

This is how it looks if you lift the top petals.

The next step is to glue section 5 and 6 to section 4 the same way as you glued section 2 and 3 to section 1.

The last step is to glue section 7 unto section 4 just as you glued section 4 to section 1. Your pop-up flower bouquet is now complete and ready to glue inside your card. Press it flat.

I'm sorry I don't have a photo of the next step, which is to glue the flower bouquet inside the card. Leaving it folded flat, line it up with the center fold line in your card - with the cut out space next to the fold line as it will open up from the top. Glue it to one side of the card, press flat and glue to the other side of the card. Press the card closed.

This is how it will look as you are opening the card.

This is the inside of card when completely opened. I hope that you enjoyed this project!

I will post the card when it is completed. Thank you for looking at my first tutorial!