Today we are diving in on how to make a light up card – the super easy way!

If you know me at all, I love clean and simple and I love EASY!

No one makes easier light up supplies than Amanda with Pear Blossom Press.  I had the pleasure of meeting her in person a few months ago and had the honor of being a guest designer for her this month.  

In addition to lights, she has some other amazing products that I will talk about later.

For the mechanics of a light up card, you need an LED light, a battery (some call it a coin cell battery), a battery holder, and your power source button – that's pretty much the basics.  I'm not an engineer, so don't come at me with anything, just a card maker sharing what I know. 

Pear Blossom Press sells all kinds of lights, but today we are starting simple with her One Light.  It's so appropriately named because it has one light and even comes with the batteries.  You can buy them in different quantities, but her lights come with everything you need, at no extra cost – not all companies do.  Which makes her my favorite!

Today we are using the One Light on some Christmas cards.  

For the card making supplies, you need your card basics :

• Thick card base (it has to hold the weight of your card elements and the battery, so don't skimp on this one)
• Foam adhesive
• Your stamps, inks, patterned paper, etc.

For my card, I used the awesome Winter Stacked Books stamp set – perfect for book lovers at Christmas time!  It has a star on top, so that's where I decided I wanted my light to shine.  

The Card

So we talked about the mechanics behind it, but let's take a sneak peak at the project…

So cute, right?

This card layout came from my Card Sketch of the Month program, it's in Volume 3.  I used that card template to design the layout for this card.  

I love the stamped stamped books, they are easy to color in. I used my beloved OLO Markers to do my coloring and I only used 7 markers!

The sentiment for this card is spot on! How perfect is it? I just love look of the font, the sentiment, all of it.

Adding the Lights

What you need to be thinking of is how to cover the battery area, as no one really wants to see it, and not cover your light too much, as everyone really wants to see that.  

Slide the battery into the battery slot.  The positive side of the battery has a + mark on it and the battery slot also has a + side on it.  Make sure both + marks are facing up, slide in your battery and you should be in business.  Test it by pressing on the power button.  

I started by using my tree as my guide to get my placement for both the light and the battery on my red card stock.  Once I knew that part, I simply used clear tape on the back side of the light.  The back side is the side with her logo.  Put the adhesive side down on your card stock and then you want to cover the battery section.  For mine, the placement worked near the right corner of that red card stock, but it may be in a very different place depending on your card and your design.  

For my card, I used strips of patterned paper from Catherine Pooler Designs to cover the battery section. I was initially planning to use a hole punch in my patterned paper (especially since her paper is so nice and sturdy) for that light to really shine behind the star of my tree.  

But as I was making it, I was pleasantly surprised at just how bright that light bulb really is, so I didn't feel the need to punch a hole.  If you need to, simply make a pencil mark where your light is going to shine and use a small handheld punch for that.  

The strips of patterned paper covered my battery completely. By crumpling up the patterned paper, that helped “hide” the thickness of the battery. Then all I had to do was to add my image and sentiment before doing the most important step to this card.

If you don't tell anyone that these are interactive cards, they won't know.  Pear Blossom Press thought of that too and created a cute little stamp set and die combo to help solve this exact problem.  I chose the word “push” and stamped it onto some white card stock/white paper, punched it out, and placed it with a glue dot right over the power button on the front of the card.

You will be able to feel that button as long as you haven't loaded you card up with a million layers.  If you did do that, make sure to mark each layer with a small pencil mark so that when you get to the very top you know where it is.  

Now when the card recipient opens their card and sees that “push” and hopefully they can follow instructions, they will have a light-up card!

The Supplies

See something irresistible? Click the product below to shop — because life’s too short to run out of cute craft supplies, and you deserve happy mail! 💌

Quick glitter-covered PSA: some links are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a tiny commission (at absolutely zero extra cost to you). Using them is basically the crafty equivalent of saying, “Girl, I got you.” It helps me keep creating fun content for you and keeps me on the VIP list with the brands we love. Thanks for being fabulous and supporting this creative party! 🎉

Ready to See the Video?

I hope so, because I've got one ready for you! If you want to see how to make a light up card, this is the full length video walking you through it all.

Shipping Concerns?

Worried about shipping and the button being pressed in transit?  That same stamp set from Pear Blossom Press has a stamp that “pull”. Slide a narrow strip of card stock under the battery (under the negative side of the battery), stamp “pull on the end”, then when they pull out the card stock, the battery has connection again and then they can press the button!  

Share The Love

Thank you so much for being here today, checking out the card, and watching the video. I was delighted to be asked to be a guest designer for Pear Blossom Press with this card today. It was an honor using some of my favorite supplies and lighting them up!

If you like this card, let me know – the best way is to leave a comment. If you want to see me use some of the other lights and products from Pear Blossom Press, let me know that too.

Now that you know how to make a light up card, it's your turn! Use the links above to order your lights – make sure you also get her stamp/die bundle to go along with them. Until next time, XOXO, Meg