"PANDAstic" Birthday

My card today is a variation of the Double Z-Fold style card I created for my mother in law's birthday in my last post. The inspiration for this one comes from the very talented Bronwyn Eastley, who designs and shares some of the most amazing and fun Double Z-Fold cards on her blog, Addinktive Designs.
 

I believe Bronwyn calls her card a "Double Pop Up Gatefold Box" card, but I will simply refer to this as a variation of a Double Z fold card since its easier for me to remember.

As you can see from this view from the top,  the double z-folds create two "boxes" into which struts and pop up boxes can be added.

I added a strut to the inside of the first "box" and used a strip of clear acetate to adhere a panda with balloons to make him appear to be suspended in the air by his balloons.

A simple pop up box mechanism was glued into the "box" created by the second z fold, where I added a panda with a birthday cake. Paper pieced pandas, cake and gifts are from Marjorie Ann Designs "Panda Love" and "Birthday Girl" cutting files. Stitched balloons were cut using Craft Emporium's "Balloon Galore" die set, and an Elizabeth Craft Designs' die was used to cut the "Happy Birthday" sentiment.

I added my sentiment to the back panel. I really enjoyed putting together this variation of the double Z-fold card and am looking forward to trying another one very soon. This card is almost 15 inches long when stretched open and offers plenty of space to add lots of fun images and embellishments. I was in quite a rush to finish this card in time for our dear friend's birthday, and I see now that my finished card looks a little bare. I probably could have added more pandas, balloon, presents, and maybe some stars and confetti to fill it in and give it a more festive look.