TC-Floral "Flower Cart" - Tutorial

This pop up style box card will fold flat to fit in an 8 x 8 inch square envelope and is my entry into the Trimcraft TC - Floral challenge for the month of February, found on the Trimcraft Blog site.

I will most likely be adding a personal sentiment to this card to send to my Mum for Mother's Day. Being a keen gardener, she will love it!!

I used 270gm weight card in green and black for the main structure and 160gm weight in brown, yellow and green for the flowers, pots and foliage.

The wood-look panels and the bunting were cut from a First Edition Sweet Nothings paper pad.

It is entirely my own design and this is what I did to make it. ............... ......

1.   Cut 2 pieces of green card (15.5cms x 5.5cms) score at 4.5cm and 14cm. Fold at the score lines and glue both pieces together to form an oblong box shape.

2.  Cut 2 more pieces of green card (12.5cms x 5cms). Score at 1.5cms in from each end. Fold the score lines to form tabs and glue both struts evenly inside the oblong box as shown in the photo.  (Make sure the box will fold down flat and still open back up again). It is this mechanism which allows you to slide the box into an envelope.

3.  Cut 2 pieces of green card (13cms x 1.5cms) and shape one end to form the "handles" for the cart (see photo above).

4.  Decorate each panel of the oblong box with wood effect paper. I used the Sweet Nothings paper pad and cut 2 pieces (7.5cms x 3.5cms) for front and back. Then 2 pieces (3cms x 3.5cms) for the sides.

5.  Cut 3 layered circles (twice). Glue the layered circles together to form 2 wheels for the flower cart (refer to photo above).

6.  Glue the wheels and handles to the oblong box with foam dimensional tape. Check the wheels and handles don't go too far outside the oblong box, so that the cart will still fit into the envelope.

7.  Cut 2 long craft sticks (14cms) in half down the length and 1 shorter craft stick (11cms) in half across the width. (Refer to photo above). Colour the sticks to match the flower cart. I used a felt tip pen, but you could use paints.

8.  Glue the 4 longer craft sticks a little way in from each corner of the cart (so that it will still fold reasonably flat). I recommend using a white paper/wood glue and waiting until everything is thoroughly dried and well stuck down. I left mine overnight at this stage, after gluing in all the craft sticks (including the "feet") .

9.   Glue the 2 shorter pieces of craft stick to create the "feet" of the flower cart at an even height, as shown in the photo above. Use the glue recommended and ensure they are left to completely dry, so that they are stuck down securely.

10.  Create whatever pots of flowers you want to fill the flower cart with. I used a daisy punch and glued 2 daisies together and then snipped the petals finer. Dotted the inside with a felt tip to make them look like sunflowers and used an embossing ball to shape them. I used a craft knife to cut the foliage. They were then glued "inside" 2  flower pot shapes.


TO FINISH... ...

Glue the flower pots into the flower cart. I arranged 2 of them to face the other way at the "back" of the cart. As shown in the photo below.

Attach 2 pieces of twine to the top of the cart and glue on triangle shapes to make the bunting. I used a double sided paper from the Sweet Nothings pad and alternated the pattern.

As a side note: because the craft sticks are thicker than the card they have a tendency to twist very slightly, which is why it is better to glue the twine on with a little bit of slack rather than tautly, to allow a little bit of maneuverability when the card is flattened down. If I were to have made the card to look like it had a flat wooden structure across the top, then I would use 270gm card for the corner struts rather than craft sticks.

The photos below show the card folded flat on top of the envelope and that it slides inside the envelope quite comfortably. However, you could make a box for it if you preferred.