How to make a cupcake pop-up card
Cupcake Pop-Up Card: try all 12 steps in the 3D player. Turn and replay every move. Print the complete diagram sheet or save it as PDF.
Cut a cupcake with a rounded frosting top, a scalloped icing edge and a tapered paper case. Small V-fold tabs lift the complete cupcake above the card when it opens. An Origami Tutor design.
- You need
- A 14 × 20 cm sheet of thin card, a 12 × 9 cm rectangle of pink paper, a tan paper trapezoid 7.6 cm across the top, 6 cm across the bottom and 3 cm tall, pencil, ruler, protractor, scissors and glue stick.
- Start
- Lay the card coloured side up, with a short edge at the top. Set the pink rectangle beside it, white side up, with a 12 cm edge at the top. Put the tan trapezoid farther right, white side up, with its wider edge at the top.
Your model is ready
Let the tabs dry, then open and close the card. Add sprinkles to the frosting and draw pleat lines down the case; the rounded topping and tapered case are already cut into the raised paper. A complete cupcake with domed frosting, scalloped icing and a tapered case, raised above its card.
Step-by-step diagrams
Steps 1–7
- 1
Crease the card
Fold the card in half, bottom edge to top edge, press the spine and open the card flat again.
- 2
Lay the case on the cupcake paper
Lift the pink rectangle and place the tan trapezoid beneath it, tan side facing down. Centre it across the pink paper with the wide edge 3.8 cm below the top and the narrow edge 6.8 cm below the top. It covers the coloured face of the cupcake case, leaving the frosting pink.
- 3
Glue the case in place
Glue the centre of the tan case to the pink paper. Smooth the two layers together and let them dry before folding.
- 4
Fold the cupcake paper in half
Fold the smaller rectangle from left to right. Keep its 12 cm edges at the top and bottom; the folded piece is 6 cm wide and 9 cm tall.
- 5
Cut the cupcake and tabs
Draw half a cupcake against the folded edge, with a rounded dome at the top, three small scallops along the icing's lower edge and a case that narrows toward its flat bottom. The dome is about 9 cm wide when opened; the case is about 7.6 cm wide at its top. Leave the small stem and angled glue tabs below the case as shown. Cut through both layers and lift away the surrounding scrap.
- 6
Fold the front glue tab
From the bottom of the middle fold, draw a line 60 degrees from the fold toward the right. Fold only the front tab up along this line.
- 7
Fold the back glue tab
Fold the other tab behind on the same line. The tabs point in opposite directions; the cut shape stays between them.
Steps 8–12
- 8
Position the cupcake
Set the folded piece on the upper half of the open card. Put its foot on the spine, 5 cm from the left edge. Its middle fold leans 10 degrees left of upright; keep the whole cutout inside the card.
- 9
Glue the lower tab
Glue only the lower tab to the card. Leave the outline, the other tab and every fold free.
- 10
Close the card onto the upper tab
Put glue on the upper tab. Fold the bottom half of the card up over it and press gently.
- 11
Secure the upper tab
Press the card against the upper tab and let the glue set before opening it.
- 12
Open the card
Open the card slowly to 150 degrees. The tabs lift the complete cupcake into a shallow V above the spine.
- ✓
Finish
Let the tabs dry, then open and close the card. Add sprinkles to the frosting and draw pleat lines down the case; the rounded topping and tapered case are already cut into the raised paper. A complete cupcake with domed frosting, scalloped icing and a tapered case, raised above its card.
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