3D Twisted Origami Tree

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 part on my tree).

The finished size of the tree depends  of course, on the size square you start with.  I used a 9" square of atlas page and ended up with a 3" tall tree.

The origami tree fold was designed by Jannie van Schuylenburg.
Link to folding directions by Leyla Torres.

I've made a bunch of other projects from one discarded atlas--the Dutch apple sliceform, and this rolled rose wreath.  (THAT took forever to assemble, but I love it.)

Back to School Papercrafts

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 this little container.

Sliceform Apple
Surprisingly easy to put together.

Little Red Schoolhouse
Put a tealight in this little house and set it on your shelf.

Lantern with Petal Swirls

This intricately cut paper lantern with filigree swirl petals and flowers is another version of a bomboniere favor box someone posted on a Silhouette Facebook group I belong to.

Small, it's a candy holder; large it's a pretty table decoration or centerpiece for a wedding or party.

See this previous post for a Christian version with a cross in the center panel of the lantern.

The bottom folds closed and stays closed without adhesive. The top is closed with a ribbon threaded through slots.

Mine is much larger (just under 4" on a side) than the sample I saw for sale, which was laser cut. I cut mine with my Silhouette Cameo at a size that was easy to weed!

I lined mine with vellum (template not included in the file set, you'll have to wing it) and lit it with a battery operated tea light.

How to make the petal lantern

Download file set: Silhouette Studio, PDF, SVG (how to use my SVG files in Cricut Design Space). Files download for free; pay what you wish for the tutorial and to support this site. Suggested contribution for this project is $1.99.

Cut on black lines, score on red lines.

If you are using Cricut Design Space:
-- Resize to 8" wide.
--On each page, once you have ungrouped the pieces, set the top two pieces in your layers menu to score.  (Change the color of the large (black) outer edge cut to white so you can see everything.  That piece is down near the bottom of the layers menu.)

Assembly is pretty much self-evident.  This is the order of assembly I used.

If you're planning to use vellum backing squares, adhere them now.

Crease all score lines.

Adhere the lantern pieces together, using the long vertical tabs.

Close the bottom as shown on the daisy tea light lantern post.

Thread a piece of ribbon through the slots at the top and tie a bow.

Hint: When you turn your tea light on and off it is easier to open the bottom than to untie the top!

Filigree and Cross Lantern

This fancy paper lantern with a cross on each panel is my version of a bomboniere favor box someone posted on a Silhouette Facebook group I belong to.  It would make a pretty table decoration for a christening, Communion, or Easter celebration.

You could also use it for a candy box or treat box, with or without lining the panels.

The bottom folds closed and stays closed without adhesive. The top is closed with a ribbon threaded through slots.

Mine is much larger (just under 4" on a side) than the sample I saw for sale, which was laser cut.  I don't know whether the Silhouette Cameo could cut the design that tiny, but I do know I did not want to try to weed it!  If you cut it successfully at a smaller size I'd love to know.

I lined mine with vellum (template not included in the file set, you'll have to wing it) and lit it with a battery operated tea light.

How to make the cross lantern

Download file set: Silhouette Studio, PDF, SVG (how to use my SVG files in Cricut Design Space). Files download for free; pay what you wish for the tutorial and to support this site. Suggested contribution for this project is $1.99.

Cut on black lines, score on red lines.

If you are using Cricut Design Space:
-- Resize to 8" wide.
--On each page, once you have ungrouped the pieces, set the top two pieces in your layers menu to score.  (Change the color of the large (black) outer edge cut to white so you can see everything.  That piece is down near the bottom of the layers menu.)

Assembly is pretty much self-evident.  This is the order of assembly I used.

If you're planning to use vellum backing squares, adhere them now.

Crease all score lines.

Adhere the lantern pieces together, using the long vertical tabs.

Close the bottom as shown on the daisy tea light lantern post.

Thread a piece of ribbon through the slots at the top and tie a bow.

Hint: When you turn your tea light on and off it is easier to open the bottom than to untie the top!

Quick Christmas and Winter Projects

Quick Christmas and winter cards and paper projects for machine cutting, that is. Some are fast and easy for hand cutting, too!

Ornament Window Card

Window style pop up card made from dingbat font shapes.



Five Pointed Origami Star

This origami star is one of my most popular projects ever. It's lovely made from sheet music or book pages. Very little cutting required.



Pop Up Snowflake Cards

Four different snowflake cards cut on one page and have only a couple creases each.



Twist Top Snowflake or Holly Box

Two fun little boxes for packaging a little treat.






Gingerbread Man Pop Up Card

Cute and a bit retro 8-bit gingerbread man card.



Star Box

Depending how fast you can do print-and-cut you may choose to hand cut this star-shaped box.



Incire Christmas Tree
Simple and stunning paper tree that's probably easier to hand cut than machine cut, if you're using thin origami paper.




Extreme Cards and Papercrafting: pop up cards, movable and mechanical cards, digital crafts and unusual papercrafts.

Pleated Apple or Pumpkin Box Tutorial

Last week I made this in red as an apple box. In orange, it makes a pumpkin box. You may remember the similar six sided acorn box, from last year.


How to construct a pleated, eight sided round box with a lid

Apples

Back to School! I made three apple projects this week.

My pleated apple box with a lid is a cousin of the acorn box.

The apple box has 8 sides rather than 6.

Apple box templates and tutorial are up!

I made a solid version and a lattice version of an apple sliceform.




If you've made my sliceform pumpkins, solid or lattice , you will have no trouble with the sliceform apples.
Files for the lattice apple are here.






Time to vote!

Which tutorial do you want to see first?

Extreme Cards and Papercrafting: pop up cards, movable and mechanical cards, digital crafts and unusual papercrafts.

Twist Top Holly Box Tutorial

How to make a twist top holly treat box or candy box

Download files PDF or DXF or SVG or Studio
How to use my SVG files in Cricut Design Space

Files download for free; contribute what you wish.  Suggested amount for this design: $1.99.

Cut and score.



Mountain fold horizontal and vertical creases. Valley fold diagonal creases.

Curl box around and glue together at the vertical join. Do not glue the bottom yet.





Crease all holly leaves firmly in half.


Close the box by collapsing each section, working around in a circle. If you are having trouble, check that your diagonal creases are still valley folded and your vertical creases are still mountain folded. I find that the folds on the last section tends to want to reverse as I work my way around collapsing the top.





Unfold each holly leaf.

Glue box bottom to bottom tabs.


Extreme Cards and Papercrafting: pop up cards, movable and mechanical cards, digital crafts and unusual papercrafts.

Twist Top Holly Box

Since my snowflake box is seeing a lot of traffic this week, I made another little box.

Coming soon: how to make a six sided, holly-topped twist top box.

It's all about Christmas cards right now, so not much time to get the files made for this little box.



Extreme Cards and Papercrafting: pop up cards, movable and mechanical cards, digital crafts and unusual papercrafts.

Sand Bucket with Candy Rocks and Shells

Here's a fun little treat bucket. It's the perfect size to fill with candy rocks or candy sea shells or how about some gummy sharks and sea turtles?

The candy pebbles and sea shells shown come from Candy Galaxy, who recently sent me a complimentary sample.
Can you believe how realistic this stone is?


The candy sea shells are chocolate with a hard shell coating. The pebbles are a variety of insides--nuts, mints, liquid centers--all with chocolate. My family and I have been nibbling our way through them and rarely find two alike. They are not your usual flavors. I feel very European eating them.
Wouldn't these be cute favors for a beach wedding or a dinosaur birthday party?
The treat container is constructed like the bottom of the acorn box.
How to make a beach pail treat box
Download the template PDF or DXF or SVG


Construct the bucket, following directions for the acorn box.
Cut a small strip of card stock for a handle, width and length to your preference. Fasten handle to bucket with brads (paper fasteners). Because my fasteners had long legs, I used needle-nose pliers to curl them up and get them out of the way.
I decorated my bucket with Elmer's Designer Masking Tape.


Fill with candy!

Disclosure: Candy Galaxy is an advertiser on this site and provided free samples of candy pebbles and candy shells.
Extreme Cards and Papercrafting: pop up cards, movable and mechanical cards, digital crafts and unusual papercrafts.