The Magic of Christmas

There is a new challenge this week over at The Shabby Tea Room:  create a project using pink, gold, neutrals, flowers and snowflakes.  We were given the theme "The Magic of Christmas" and this inspiration photo:

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There is also a challenge over at Stuck On U Sketches to create a project with a Christmas Tree using die cuts.  I decided to combine the challenges and came up with this card:

Cardstock:  Recollections  Paper:  K&Company  Spellbinders Dies: Classic Scalloped Squares, Fleur de Lis Rectangles, and Create A Flake One

But wait, where are the die cuts?  Well, the tree is made by folding die cut squares...in this case scalloped squares because I wanted the fancy edges!

But weren't there supposed to be flowers?  Yes...and my flowers may be a little hard to see...but they are there!  The cardstock I made the tree from was embossed with the Provo Craft Floral Fantasy embossing folder:


In my last post I promised you a tutorial on how to create this tree, so let's go!

To start with you need to cut (5) graduated squares from cardstock or paper. The largest square in this tree is 3.75" and then they decrease in size by .5" down to the smallest square which is 1.5" square.  I cut my squares using my Spellbinders Nestibilities Classic Scalloped Squares, which made this fast and easy!

First, fold the square in half and give it a nice crease with your bone folder:

Open the square...

...and fold it on the diagonal.  Again give it a nice crease with the bone folder.

Open the square again, rotate it 90 degrees...

...and fold it on the other diagonal. Don't forget to crease it!

Open the square back up, and collapse in the sides as shown in this picture...

...so that it folds into a flat triangle shape!

Fold the right side of the triangle (top layer only) to the center and crease the fold.
*Tip: use the grid lines on your cutting mat to postition the triangle to make this fold precise.*

Now repeat with the left side, making sure you crease the folds with your bone folder.  Your square should now look like this:

This is where I opened up the square and ran it through the embossing folder.

When it comes out, you can still see the original fold lines...

...so you can refold along those lines.  Your square is now a triangle and it will look like this:

Now - repeat the same steps with all of your squares.
Once they are all folded,  put adhesive on the back and stack the triangles to create the tree:

Almost done!  I just need to add one last layer!

Because I used cardstock and embossed it, the folds in this tree tends to want to "open up". I fix that by putting some glue spots inside the layers of the folds to hold the flaps and folds in place. I have also made this out of paper and it stays folded much better.

I have one more idea of something to create with this origami folded tree.  If I don't have it posted on Friday, I will definitely have it up on Monday.