Extreme Cards and Papercrafting

Christmas in Middle Age Style

2016-12-25T22:21:00.000-05:00

This year's extreme Christmas card theme, the Middle Ages, proved strangely prophetic--we appear to be entering the 21st century version of the Dark Ages. The envelope is decorated with a medieval design, a custom postage stamp (starring my dog), and a "sealing wax" blob (also featuring a dog) on the flap. I found the tutorial for making Photoshop sealing wax here.

Faux Stained Glass Christmas Trees

2016-12-23T16:38:00.003-05:00

Every year I make two sets of Christmas cards. Set one cards, the Extreme Cards, generally involve some sort of "in" joke, so these go relatives and close personal friends. (My mother claims the jokes are so obscure that *I* am the only one who gets them. This may be true.) Set two was originally for my online friends, and now I send them to co-workers and neighbors, too. These beautiful

3D Twisted Origami Tree

2016-12-01T17:10:00.003-05:00

Here's a nifty papercraft, an origami Christmas tree made from a map. The base is square and the folds spiral around, tucking in at the top. I looked through a discarded atlas to find a map with a lot of green. You can boost the color by sponging some green ink on the map if you need to. You will see a tiny bit of the back side of the paper at the very tip of the tree (the beige

Dutch Apple Sliceform

2016-08-29T06:00:00.000-04:00

I posted a lattice version of a sliceform apple years ago, but somehow missed putting up the solid version! Recently I was messing around with map pages making paper roses, and came across the page for the Netherlands, a beautiful green. So, with a wink, I call this the Dutch Apple sliceform papercraft. How to make a solid sliceform apple Make it! Click to download file set: Silhouette

Back to School Papercrafts

2016-08-24T11:08:00.001-04:00

The weather at my house turned cooler yesterday, and it's back to school soon here in the northeast. Here are some school-themed papercrafting projects from the archives. Box of Crayons Pop Up Card This might be my favorite box card of all time! French School Room Fair warning: this school pop up card is challenging and time consuming. Pleated Apple Box There's also a pumpkin version of

New Pop Up Instruction Book

2016-07-27T10:33:00.000-04:00

Oh no! Thanks to a reader from Germany for bringing to my attention that this may be an unauthorized abridgment of Duncan Birmingham's book. (See her comment below). Please buy the real deal instead, Pop-Up Design and Paper Mechanics: How to Make Folding Paper Sculpture Big news! Duncan Birmingham, has written a new "quick start" manual to pop up design. It's a 48 page crash course in

Venice Pop Up Card

2016-07-05T14:52:00.002-04:00

Pop up card using vintage graphics of Venice, Italy on an origamic architecture base card. Hand or machine cut. How to Make a Venice Pop Up Card Make It! Download the graphics The graphic page is from Il Favoloso Mondo Di Carta Di Toto (now defunct). However, its's still accessible through the Internet Archive (yay!) Scale the graphic to 8" wide (height will be approximately

How to Create Neon Letters Effect

2016-06-15T18:03:00.000-04:00

I made this 21st birthday mechanical card recently. I've seen this kind of card variously referred to as a cross fade card, a Venetian blind card, a changing picture card, and a disappearing picture card. Whatever you call it, it uses a push and pull tab to change between two pictures. A version of this card is in my go-to book for mechanical cards, Making Mechanical Cards by Sheila

Stained Glass Card

2016-04-30T13:40:00.005-04:00

Faux stained glass cards created with printable acetate and black card stock. Many thanks to Marie Papadopoulou for the inspiration! I made this flower card for Mother's Day. Suggested for cutting machines although technically possible to hand cut. How to make stained glass effect cards Make it! Materials: Printable acetate, also known as transparency film. This is what

Pi Pie Sliceform

2016-03-14T16:43:00.001-04:00

It's Pi Day! In honor of pi, and pie, I made a sliceform Pi Pie. Here's the PIE. Are you wondering where the PI is? See it? How about now?

Crayon Box Pop Up Card

2016-02-23T21:47:00.002-05:00

Crayon box cut files and printables for a cute and colorful card-in-a-box type of pop up card. It folds flat! This papercraft 3D crayon box can be machine cut or hand cut. Finished size approximately 5" tall. How to make a crayon card-in-a-box Make it! Click to download file set: Silhouette Studio, PDF, SVG (how to use my SVG files in Cricut Design Space). Files download for free. A

Pull Tab Valentine Pop Up Card

2016-01-26T17:02:00.000-05:00

Pull tab in the center of this valentine heart papercraft and the paper stretches apart to reveal your sentiment. Strategic cuts on the pop up card create a net from the concentric hearts, with a surprise message underneath. How to make a pull tab valentine Make it! How to create a pull tab valentine heart pop up card Click to download file set: Silhouette Studio, PDF, DXF,

Skaters and Houses Shadow Box Card

2016-01-11T17:45:00.001-05:00

This papercraft project is sort of a shadow box, sort of a pop up card. It doesn't exactly pop up, although it is possible to ship it flat. It reminds me of a painting of people skating on the canals in the Netherlands. This is what it looks like when back lit. The skaters and houses are slotted through the floor of the shadow box. The backing is snowflake printed vellum paper.

Town and Country Extreme Christmas Card

2015-12-19T12:30:00.000-05:00

This year's extreme Christmas card's theme is Town and Country. I am completely enamored of the Gotham / Got Ham witticism. Daughter #1 lives in New York City, daughter #2 spent the summer working on a sow farm, and we parents live in the suburbs. The envelope is printed, and shows farm, suburbs, and city. The inside. I was going for something smack in the center

Cute Retro Christmas Card

2015-12-15T17:58:00.000-05:00

My Christmas cards are done! I made more than 130 this year. Two of the designs I made used this Etch-a-Sketch base. You can use any suitable black and white line drawing, or stamp a seasonal design. How to make an etch-a-sketch inspired card Make it! How to make this retro card Click to download cutting files: Silhouette Studio, SVG, PDF How to use my files in Cricut Design

Paper Box Gingerbread Advent Calendar Part 3

2015-11-11T17:28:00.003-05:00

Several weeks of work and a LOT of paper later, I have completed my gingerbread advent calendar from paper boxes. The front has a tall door with dimensional snow paint outlining it. The wreath is made from punched branches. I covered the gable end with a triangle of brown paper and scalloped trim. Windows are cut from yellow waxy paper. The candy sticks are made from striped paper rolled

House of Boxes Advent Calendar Part 2

2015-11-02T20:50:00.002-05:00

If you've been following along the last couple weeks, you know I've been working on a gingerbread house advent calendar constructed of boxes. I have finished making 25 boxes and have put them together to build a gingerbread house. Now it's all about the decorations. How to make a gingerbread advent calendar from matchboxes Make it! Instructions for making the boxes were in the previous

Gingerbread House Advent Calendar Part 1

2015-10-27T20:56:00.003-04:00

Yes, you guessed it, the mystery paper craft project is going to be an advent calendar. The design consists of 24 or 25 matchbox type boxes, stacked into a 3D house. Depending on how you stack the boxes, you can make a chalet type gingerbread house (a cube), or a farm house (a rectangular prism). My 25 box gingerbread advent calendar house is still in progress. If you want to work along with

Mystery Project Work in Progress

2015-10-24T09:59:00.002-04:00

About a month ago I put out a call for ideas and got some great suggestions (see the comments on this post). I'm hard at work on this paper craft--can you guess what it might be? If you think you know AND want to play along AND you live near an A.C. Moore you might want to run over and get 25 pieces of 12" x 12" card stock in the color of your choice while it's still on sale (that would

Spider and Web Accordion Garland

2015-10-16T15:54:00.001-04:00

This crisscross spiders and spider web papercraft garland is a mash up of paper chains and cascade cards. Great for Halloween! Hang them vertically in your doorways or swag them on your chandelier. The intricate cutting is best done by machine. Easy to assemble once cut! How to make a spider garland Make it! Click to download file set: Silhouette Studio, DXF, SVG (how to use

Van Pop Up Card Tutorial

2015-10-14T19:35:00.000-04:00

Halloween is coming, so I was inspired to transform a papercraft Mystery Machine van into a pop up card. I used a paper model by mikedaws and this other one by Gary Williams and Craig Griswold for reference. From a technical point of view, this pop up card is a 180° Open Top Box (for the van sides, front, and rear) combined with a Tabletop Floating on Boxes (for the van roof).

Mystery Machine Pop Up Card

2015-10-09T13:27:00.000-04:00

Being of a certain age I fondly recall Saturday morning cartoons, which apparently are no more. In honor of Scooby Doo, I am working on a Mystery Machine pop up card. Strangely enough, the hardest part has been to come up with a sentiment. I really want to use this as a Halloween card, but the best wording I have so far is "Jinkies! You're HOW old??" So maybe it will be a birthday card in

Maple Leaf Card

2015-10-05T20:23:00.002-04:00

Sympathy cards are always tough to make! I like the quiet autumn colors of these papers. The arrangement of the design elements is a common one using the rule of thirds. Once the maple leaves are cut it goes together very quickly. This particular maple leaf is from the Silhouette Store. I did not want the veining, so I cut only the outside edge (from solid colored papers). I created an

Help me, help me!

2015-09-23T15:11:00.003-04:00

I'm in a paper crafting slump (maybe you noticed?) and need some inspiration, so I'm turning to you, my readers, some of the most creative people out there. Is there something you've wanted to make but didn't know how? Do you wish you had a cutting file for some neat-o paper craft? (You know my favorite thing is to figure out how to make something from a picture, right?) Do you have an idea

September Font Bundle

2015-09-14T17:12:00.000-04:00

This month's bundle from the Hungry JPEG includes 49 fonts and 18 bonus fonts for $29. These are commercial licensed fonts, so you can sell what you make with them! As always, be sure to check out the Freebies, like this one.