Pop-up note dispenser

I'm doing this post for a friend who requested directions for pop-up notes. I guess I made these for someone (an RA) for a special event (RA appreciation day) a couple of years ago and I'd completely forgotten about them until she mentioned them to me the other day.

For anyone interested in making these, this takes maybe all of 10 minutes to do and is super easy, and super fun to make. All you need is a sheet of paper (letter size, or bigger), scissors, and whatever you have on hand to decorate with.

I've never written directions for random crafty things before so here's my best shot. The pictures might be a bit blurry and not quite centered. Heh.

OK, so essentially, all you're doing is crafting a container for your personal pop-up messages. You probably should make all of your notes before starting your box.

Once you have that, just grab a sheet of paper out of your printer and fold it like so.

You *should* end up with 9 little sections. I usually just put the post it note in the middle as a guide. It doesn't really have to be perfect or anything.

This is now the trixiest part. I like to cut the corners on the paper so it looks a bit nicer, but it's not necessary. If you want to leave the corners on and just tape it up, that's perfectly fine.

The next part needs to be a little more exact. You may want to use an exacto for this like I did, or just use scissors if you don't have a blade around the house.

Essentially, we're making the hole for the popup notes. It's basically a large slit so that the note can pop up through it. You know, like a tissue dispenser.

So mark about a half centimeter slit on the center of the middle section (of the 9 rectangles).

And then cut it.

If you want a bit more strength on the hole part, you can put tape on top of where the hole is going to go (like a laminate). I suggest doing that if you're making this for a clumsy friend or kids. I didn't because I'm lazy.

OK, then back to your notes, you want to stick them together but do it so the sticky side alternates back and forth on the bottom (i.e. half of your notes will be upside down).

Then just lay the whole stack down, and pull the first note through the slit so it's ready to go.

That's basically it. You can now just turn it around, fold up the sides, tape it up or put a sticker to hold it together, and then decorate it however you want.

As you can see, I didn't do very much.

Now everytime you pull up a note, another one should pop up.

At this point, you can call it a day or you can glue the pop-up note dispenser onto a present or your face, or whatever tickles your fancy!