Origami Christmas Card

 Hi Crafters

Well today is a tale of woe and triumph. I belong to a craft club and on Monday night we had decided to make some origami Christmas cards. One of our members had brought the card in to share and with the card (which she had made on a cruise) was a spare pack, which I diligently looked over and decided i knew how to fold the tree pieces and so we would all have a go this week. We all took the appropriate card and paper and I started with instructions for the sizes of papers required to make the tree.

Then we got to the trickier part of origami folds, but I reassured the others that there were only a few folds so not too difficult, after all some of us had taken part in folding 1000 cranes for Hiroshima, so this should be quite simple. We folded the first piece and then realised that there were no down folds for the branches and unfolded. Undeterred we unfolded the piece from the spare pack and the initial folds appeared correct but the end result was not right. So we hummed and ha’d over the various combinations, still not right. By now I was feeling a combination of embarrassment (having assured everyone it was straight forward) and determination not to be beaten. No YouTube where we have craft club so we just had to keep trying. 

Lyn, the owner of the original card gave us permission to take the bottom section off and see the folds, it was a start and we continued to puzzle over it. About 30 mins before the end of club time, between myself and two of the other ladies we had finally worked it out. Once we had checked out the folds we set too using them on the five sections to make the tree. Some had lost the will by this time but a few of us continued and had quite a laugh about it in the end. 

So here is my card from the evening

 The camera work here is not great but you get the gist.

Having thought I knew what I was doing I had sorted out 6 cards and envelopes from an old C & C Christmas kit, to make on the night. Alas I made just the one, but I did make the other 6 up at home and here they are.

Tidying up my Christmas stash I found an 8 x 8 book of Origami Christmas papers that did the job perfectly. I also made a video of me folding the trees so I could make them next year and be reminded of the folds should I forget or not be able to replicate the sample I put in the pad. I can’t seem to post it as it is too big a file. Instead of the star I added to the first card, as the other 6 are larger cards, I added a robin to the top of the tree. 

To make the card select a base card, like I said previously I took the opportunity to use some base cards from a kit ( I had bought the kit for the card stock and had fun using up the cards making boxes and other items) these were 5” x 7” whereas the original card I made was a standard A6.The 5 squares of paper for 5 x 7 card are 13cm, 11.5cm, 10cm,8.5cm and 7cm.

Each piece is folded in half both sides and then diagonally both sides. Lay the square down and fold in the sides to form a triangle  

Lastly fold the sides to the centre lining up with the centre line 

Layer  the base card you can emboss this layer if you want added dimension

Place the largest of the folded squares on the bottom of card and slip the next size over the top lining up. Keep glueing the back of the bottom part of the triangle and the tails and slip over the top of the one already on the card to form a tree shape.

Here we have the finished card

Another design in the repertoire 

I have been tidying the Christmas boxes and found several unfinished projects and decided to finish and donate them. 

I will show you the projects in the next post.

Dee