Categories
Craft Origami

Need a little gift box? Make one!

Having had a look in a few shops for little gift boxes to put my handmade chocolates in, I found myself disenchanted with the ones on offer. So of course I decided to make my own!

There are quite a few simple boxes that can be made out of paper/thin card; I opted for this box of triangles. I chose one without a lid, so the chocolates can be on display, looking fancy.

This one really is very simple and also very effective- just a bit different from your average cuboid!

You’ll need three squares of paper/thin card, all the same size. I know this is obvious, but do think about the size of box you need! I used 3″x3″ squares. It turned out too small; I forgot I had 8 chocolates to fit in. 6″x6″ was perfect.

Firstly, fold your first piece of paper in half from corner to corner, creasing firmly with a bone folder/thumb nail/scissor handles/similar.

Next up, fold the two corners in to the centre point. Crease firmly and unfold.

Lastly, fold up the middle point, crease firmly, unfold. You should be left with a triangle with three fold marks, like this:

Repeat with the other two squares, so you have three the same. Then slot them all together…

…and then join them up. At this stage, it should become obvious how it all fits together and the bottom forms.

Ta da!

The perfect way to present my chocolates.

Merry Christmas!

Categories
Craft Origami

Origami candy cane- gift tags

I’ve been busy busy folding and sticking this week.

These origami candy canes are simple to do and I think they look great. You start with a sheet of 2-colour origami paper, blank side up. Fold, crease and uncrease corner to corner, both ways, so you end up with this:

I’m afraid I’m using my old camera; aside from it not being very good, I keep putting it on the wrong settings!

Step 2. Fold the bottom corner up to a little way below the top point, like this:

Next, turn the paper over and fold up from the bottom… like this!

 

Then all you have to do is fold the top bit twice to make the hooky bit at the end:

 

Press the creases reeeeally well, so it sits as flat as possible.

Yippee! Finished.

Categories
Craft Origami

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

Started on the stock for the Christmas craft stall. Cards first!

Categories
Craft Origami

Simple origami Christmas tree tutorial with pictures

These paper trees are incredibly simple and ever so cute. They look great made from patterned or plain paper. Use them to decorate your handmade Xmas cards, or make up some small ones for gift tags.

  • Ok, so to start this off, it’s a bit like making a paper plane. Fold the paper in half, side to side, and unfold.
  • Fold the top corners in to the crease you’ve just made, so the tops forms a triangle.
  • Repeat this step, making a narrower triangle at the top.
  • Fold the bottom up, at the point where the bottom of the edges meet (see bottom middle pic).
  • Unfold.
  • Fold each of the bottom points up to meet the crease you made in the last step.
  • Fold this bottom section up again, along the existing crease.
  • This next and final step creates the ‘trunk’ of the tree – take the section you’ve just folded up and fold the top part of it down.
  • Turn the model over so you can see how much you’d like it to stick out from the bottom of the triangle.
  • You may find it doesn’t lay quite flat, so use a dab of glue to secure if you’re going to be using this in other crafts.

Categories
Origami

Origami for Halloween- Bats

Categories
Inspiration Origami

Weekly Inspiration – an Origami Christmas

Yes, I am aware of how far away Christmas is. But if there are potential craft fairs to be done at the end of November, these things need thinking about now.

I’ve made a few origami crane mobiles now and have got the hang of them. Whilst thinking of things to make for the Christmas craft stall, I had a little lightbulb moment. Christmas  Origami decorations. I want to make garlands of origami stars, little Christmas trees to hang on Christmas trees, pretty paper baubles and so on and so forth.

Origami Resources

I do already have a couple of origami books with suitable projects and ideas in, but I also found some handy websites:

I can’t wait to get started! First up, I need to go paper shopping. I’m thinking red, green, gold, silver, dark blue and white. Second up, I’m going to make lots of these christmas origami lucky stars as I think they look awesome.

Christmas Origami Inspiration

Here are just a few of the things that are inspiring me to have a go at my own versions of Christmas Origami:

Categories
Craft Origami

Upcycled origami

For a while now, along with making notebooks, I’ve been sat happily folding cranes of an evening and turning them into little mobiles. After having a clear out recently and discovering rather a large stash (who knows why) of paper shopping bags, I decided that rather than put them into the recycling bin, I would fashion them into paper crane mobiles. Ta da!

I have found that the little sandwich bags from Prêt A Manger are particularly good.

Categories
Craft Origami

Recent makes- origami gift tags

I was very pleased to have some time to do crafts this weekend. I made some gift tags with origami hearts and fishes on:

I also had time to do some greetings cards: