HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! pop-up card

This is a beautiful, hand-made card with a sweet bouquet of paper flowers that pop-up when opened.  Its a perfect Mother's Day card that probably should not be attempted by 3 year old boys but 6 year old girls could do it with a little help...even though it looks complicated, its actually pretty simple to make.

I have found a couple different directions and versions and I have combined the best to make this as easy as possible for you, ahem--your 6 year old...to make!

It all started with Martha (but doesn't it always.)

Start with her directions here.

First off, I really like origami paper for this, but I like origami paper for just about all paper folding/cutting projects--you can use any lighter weight paper for the flowers...but not card stock--too heavy.  I found the paper folding instructions to be a bit tricky...do it right and you end up with an intact flower shape cut-out..do it wrong: you end up with a bunch of bits...Follow Martha's direction for steps, but follow my photos to ensure you are folding it the RIGHT way...

Notice open flaps at TOP of folding.

If you want it to be perfect...cut out the petal template
that Martha offers in her instructions and make all the cuts as
exactly the same as possible.  I am not a HUGE fan of perfect,
so I didn't make it a big deal.  If not exact, the flowers won't
match up perfectly, but that was ok with me.

Once you've finished your 7 cut-out flowers, you can continue to follow to MS's instructions, but honestly, I found them to be about as clear as mud...I found a MUCH better set of very clear diagrams...

HERE!

Scroll down to the illustrated diagrams showing where to place which flower where...very step-by-step

with numbers and very easy...I used glue dots.  I LOVE glue dots...and don't for get to add the leaves.

It is really pretty and special and will make a very lovely Mother's Day card for me on Sunday!!

: )