How Do You Make Homemade Paper Trees?

Make a fir tree in origami.

Card making and scrapbooking are increasingly popular crafts. Three-dimensional decorations are a good way to add interest to cards and pages, but store-bought embellishments are expensive. You can fold a forest of homemade origami trees for a winter scene. This fold, from Origami USA, works well for paper that has a different color on each side. The tree will be one color and the trunk will be another color. You can vary the height and proportions of your trees and give your scene a natural look.

Things You'll Need

• Two-sided square paper

Instructions

1. Place the paper on your work surface with the "trunk color" up and a point at the top.

2. Fold the paper in half diagonally by folding the right corner to the left corner. Crease the fold and unfold.

3. Fold the left and right lower edges, or sides, up to meet the fold in the center fold. Crease these folds.

4. Turn the paper over, keeping the "trunk color" triangle facing away from you on the underside.

5. Fold both upper top edges, or upper sides, down to meet the middle fold. Crease these folds. You will have a diamond shape.

6. Fold the top of the diamond down. This is where you can vary the placement of the fold to have different tree trunk sizes. When you like the placement, crease this fold. Try one-third of the way down the piece of paper. For example, if you started with an 8-by-8-inch square paper, fold the top of the diamond down about 2.5 to 3 inches.

7. Fold the point you just folded down partway back up so that the point touches the portion of the paper that is the opposite color. Crease this fold.

8. Turn over.

9. Fold the top of the paper down, making the fold at the widest. Crease this fold.

10. Turn over. This is your tree.

11. Paint or color your trunk if you are using paper that is the same color on both sides. If you are using recycled grocery bags paint your treetop or draw in branches with a marker.

12. You can make your tree into a Christmas tree with sequin or rhinestone "ornaments."

Tips & Warnings

• This fold will work well with light- to medium-weight paper, origami paper, scrapbook paper, gift wrap or grocery bags.

• This fold works well with two pieces of paper folded together to create a different color on each side.

References

• Origami-USA: Christmas Tree

Resources

• "Paper Creations: Easy-To-Make Origami Projects"; Gay Merrill Gross; 1997