A flashback to grade school

Were you like me in grade school . . . always folding up paper and seeing what you could shape it into? I'm not sure if all girls are fascinated with origami (even before we knew what it was called) or if it was just those of us destined to be papercrafters some day.

I designed this card to be a make and take at Saturday's Scrap for Alexis. I knew many of the ladies there would love learning such a fun and easy new technique. In this post I'm including a step-by-step tutorial on hold to fold the branches of the tree. I know this is going to set a record for longest blog entry ever so it's important to note that when you get to the bottom of the blog, look for a spot that says "Older Posts" and click on that; otherwise, you'll miss some of the other great stuff I've posted lately!



You'll need to fold a total of five squares to make the tree. The paper sizes I used were 2 1/2" x 2 1/2", 2 1/4" x 2 1/4", 2" x 2", 1 3/4" x 1 3/4", and 1 1/2" x 1 1/2". Realistically you can use any size squares you'd like to make them fit on your project.

Start with the square flat, as shown.

Keeping the pattern you want to show on the outside, fold your paper corner to corner so you have a triangle.



Unfold the paper and fold again, other corner to other corner. When you unfold the paper you should have a tent-like structure.

Next fold the paper in half as shown.

When you unfold it it should look like this . . .

Stand it up in the tent-like position again. On the sides that have the fold going through the middle, push the ends together so the paper bends at that seam. It's hard to explain but I think you should be able to understand from the next two photos.

Do the same on the other side so that you end up with another triangle.

Set the triangle down flat on the table.

Take one of the bottom corners of your triangle and fold that whole flat toward the center as shown.

Make a crease when your pieces looks as follows:

Do the same with the other corner of the triangle. When you are finished, it should look like this:

And that's it . . .one of the "branches" of your tree. Repeat this process with all five squares and then start layering them together to create the tree. I hope this made sense. Good luck!

Tanya