Big Hugs Snowman Surprise

I am loving how this card turned out and will be sharing it with the classes I teach in my home soon. Why you ask? Just wait until you see the inside. The snowflake belly band was created with a Martha Stewart punch and the "Big Hugs" was made with a brand new die by Neat and Tangled and orange dotted dp. Slide off the belly band and this is what pops up:

I was totally inspired by a tutorial here by MayMay to try a pop up snowman using the popular twist and pop mechanism that has been shown so much lately on Pinterest and blogs. I recently purchased a new mitten die from Impression Obsession and it was smaller than the one MayMay used, so I cut down the sides of the pop up apparatus to accommodate them. The buttons were created with a die from Tonic Studios and "love" is a new die from Impression Obsession. I punched the eyes, hand cut the carrot nose and used a pennant die from My Creative Time on the scarf. Here is a close up of the pop up mechanism: 

I used the directions from Jen Evers video here to make the pop up mechanism but cut down the side panels to accomodate the size of the mittens. 

I am entering this card in the New Something challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. The mitten and love dies are brand new and the pop up snowman idea is also new to me.