Birthday Surprise

It's our friends' son's birthday today and he loves cake and martial arts so I came up with a fun card for him!

I used Top It Off from Concord and 9th  and I stamped a chocolate cake using Espresso and Mocha inks from Altenew's Coffee Break set and then set about hiding a ninja inside - well where else would a ninja hide on your birthday????

There are 3 layers to the card to make it all work.  The cake is stamped and fussy cut and will eventually be stuck to the front of the card with foam tape in 5 places only.  I added foam to the edges of the bottom two layers, and the left hand side only of the 3rd - the right hand of that layer and both edges of the top layer are free of foam to allow the ninja free movement up and down.

I started with the middle layer first through as this is the layer where the pull mechanism goes so I cut a white card the same size as my base card and stamped the sentiment from MFT's Twice the Wishes at the top - it seemed appropriate to go with the surprise hidden inside the cake!

I placed the cake in place and drew a pencil line so I knew where to stamp the candles as they need to be underneath the ninja or you wouldn't see him when he pops out.  I stamped them shorter than the stamp but any excess is hidden by the cake anyhow.

Then comes the die cutting - centralise the double slider loop slot die from MFT and underneath cut a notch (I just grabbed a handy oval die but any shape would do, you just need space to see and grab the pull tab).  I stamped the pull and arrow onto a strip of kraft (matching my chocolate cake theme) using the mini interactive labels stamp set and then stamped and fussy cut the ninja (you could die cut him but the dies are currently out of stock) then with the addition of a 1cm wide strip of plastic we have all we need to make the mechanism slide.

1. Thread your plastic strip through the slots and secure behind (I use redline tape as it holds strong.)
2. Secure your pull tab BEHIND the stamped panel lining it up so it is level with the bottom - this will be the default position.
3. Line up your tab so it pulls down as far as it will go - hold your cake in position and then line up your ninja and secure his bottom foot to the front of the plastic.
4. Check it all works!   This is really important as it's hard to undo once you stick it all together and discover it's stuck (ask me how I know lol!)
5. Secure the cake in place over the ninja.
6. Secure the stamped panel to your base card with more foam tape ensuring none gets in the way of the slider mechanism.

You don't have to use a ninja obviously - you can have anything you like pop out of your cake - a present, a punch of flowers, a cocktail or bottle, or even an animal - whatever is most appropriate to surprise your intended recipient - why not give it a go!   As an extra incentive - from now through the weekend - the cake stamp set and it's co-ordinating die is on sale so you can grab one at a discounted price to make your own pop-up surprise!  (no code required)

Catch you Sunday

Tara