With Christmas coming up, I've been reflecting on what making your own Christmas cards means. To me, they are an expression of love in terms of the time you put into them - and I always treasure the hand-made cards I receive. One of the ways in which I love to make cards is to create a pop up. This is what I decided to do last year - and it turned into quite a production line of snowy owl Christmas Cards!
What I love about designing pop ups is the element of surprise. Above, you can see that the front is a calm, moonlit snow-scene - but as soon as you open it up, a snowy owl in flight bursts out the card. These cards are a lot of work - I lost count of how many owl inserts I made. You can see a photo of the inserts I had to cut out, and some cards drying off below. But making these cards is not only satisfying; it also shows the recipient that you want to make something that is special and hand-made for them.
If you would like to have a go at making these snowy owl cards, you can download it from Craftsy. It makes use of a simple angle fold pop up, which is easy to construct, yet has real impact. If you want to see it in action, watch the film below!