Grandmother's Flower Garden Surprise Pop-up ATC

I designed this ATC for The Craft Shack's monthly ATC Club.  A couple of the girls had seen another surprise pop-up ATC I had done several years ago, Scary Halloween & wanted to do the technique so I decided to do it in May before everyone got busy with summer activities.  I had originally found instructions for a Surprise Pop-Up Card  on Splitcoaststampers in their tutorials & I watched Beate's video tutorial at the bottom.  I was going to size it down for an ATC but discovered in the comment section Cyndi Evans had already written them but I did make a few changes which are listed below.

When the ATC is closed & laying flat it doesn't look like anything special but...















Once you pull the twine you see a surprise message!














From the side you can see how it works a little better.












Here are the measurements I used:

• Base CS – 3 1/2" X 2 1/2"

• Slider base CS - 3 3/8" X 2 3/8"

• DSP – 3 1/4 " X 2 1/4"

• White (for message) CS  - 3" X 2"

• White slider CS– 3" X 2" (I used heavier weight CS)

• Stabilizer - 6" X 1/4" copier paper

You'll also need a paper trimmer with scoring blade, adhesive runner, 1/8" double sided tape, 3/8" circle punch, an eyelet eyelet, Crop-a-dile, corner rounder, twine or ribbon, stamps, ink and embellishments of your choice.  The Sweet 'n Sassy stamps I used are listed at the end.

I would recommend watching Beate's video (link above) for the complete instructions on how to put it together but below are a few things that worked best for me when I made the ATC size:

1.  I used a lot of mono adhesive when I put the DSP on the slider base because of cutting it.

2.  When I made my cuts, I cut with the DSP up for smoother edges. I also gently ran my blade up & down a few times before picking the blade up since it's a little thick.
3.  The vertical cuts on the slider base started 3/8"' from the slider base top (before putting on the main base) & in 1/4" on each side.  I cut down  2 3/4".  (See photo below right)

4.  I used the score blade on my trimmer since it's thick.  I had problems staying in the groove when I tried using my score board.  My glue tab is 1/4" wide.

5.   Before I punched the half circle, I adhered the stabilizer as close to the score line as I could. When punching make sure you don't punch all the way through the stabilizer (see photo below left).

6.  Your cuts may not be precise so I would make sure the slider is the right length before adhering to the 1/4" glue tab.  It should cover the glue tab & not be able to be seen at the top when not pulled up.

7.  I stamped the surprise message before adhering anything.  Then I laid it on the base & held the slider base over it before adhering to make sure the message showed where I wanted it..  I had to trim the message piece a little.
8.  In the video Beats tells you not to put embellishments on the glue tab.  I did only because the piece of grass CS was a little flexible. 

I hope you give this a try & if the first one doesn't work don't give up!  As you can see from the one pictured above, I made a few prototypes before I was happy!  TFL!!

Supplies:  SU Certainly Celery CS, Whisper White CS, Springtime Vintage DSP, copy paper, Fiskars Paper Trimmer, Scrapbook EZ Runner Adhesive, 1/8" Scor Tape, Tombow Glue Pen, We R Memory Keepers Crop-a-dile Hole Punch & Eyelet Setter, Lawn Fawn Grassy Border Die, Memory Box Wrought Iron Fence, Sweet 'n Sassy Flowers in Bloom Stamp Set, Sweet 'n Sassy Flowers in Bloom Die, Sweet 'n Sassy Everyday Miracles Stamp Set (sentiment), Copics (R81, R85, YG61, YG63, B21, B32, B34, E27), Clear Wink of Stella Brush (butterfly), Gold Wink of Stella Brush (flower centers), Versafine Onyx Black Ink, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink