Iris Folded Christmas Tree

It has been ages and ages since I made an iris folded card! This and teabag folding were some of the first few techniques I learned when I started papercrafting. That was way back before die cutting! We used to hand-cut the openings. The largest triangle in the Stitched Triangles set is perfect for this project!

Instructions have been requested, so I will include a link to a video I found as well as a few pics I took today.

Cut the tree out of a scrap of cardstock. You will only need this to trace the shape. Use the negative to trace the outline on another piece of cardstock or scratch paper. This will be your template. Mark 1/2" from each corner as shown.

Connect the marks.

Keep measuring 1/2" increments and draw lines until you reach the center. Now cut your shape from your card front and tape it face down over the template. I like to secure it with removable tape on one side so I can flip it to ensure I taped down the correct paper pattern. Here is a nice tutorial on iris folding if you've never done it before.

First strip taped down. I use 3/4" strips, scored at 1/2". It is helpful to pile your strips on each side of the triangle, sorted by pattern. I have numbered the order you need to tape the strips down to create the iris pattern.

Flipped over to check the front. When you are finished, there will be a pile of paper on the back of your card front. I used thin foam tape on the back around the edges and around the tree.

Most of the samples you see have a solid piece in the center, often shiny gold or a solid color. This emphasizes the "iris" as in a camera lens. Instead, I chose to continue the pattern, then added a few rhinestones.

Hope you give this a try if you've never done this before. We have lots of pretty DSP to play with!

Thanks for stopping by, come back soon!