Since I love all forms of paper crafting, it’s not surprising that I enjoy turning my coloring pages into handmade cards. Although I’ve made several adult coloring greeting cards by simply cutting my pages to fit a cardstock base, I wanted to try a different approach for this project. To mix things up a bit, I turned my coloring page into a folded origami star.
This particular star design is often labeled as a Christmas model, but I think it’s one that works well any time of year. By changing your paper patterns and colors, you can give it a wide range of looks.
I’ve included photos and written instructions below to show how I went about making my card. However, if you’re having trouble with the folds, JM’s Origami Tutorials has a video you might find helpful.
Step 1
Print your page. I’m using OrnaMENTALS Design # 168 – Mayan Tapestry from the digital version of Lights Out by Sue Chastain. It works best to print your page on lightweight copy paper, since cardstock is thicker and harder to fold.
Step 2
Color and cut. I used Prismacolor pencils from the 72 count set: Light Cerulean Blue PC904 and Lilac PC956. It doesn’t matter what you use, but you’ll want to color in a way that takes advantage of the circular nature of the design. It’s OK if there are mistakes in your coloring, because you won’t notice them once the paper is folded.
When you’re done coloring, cut the top and bottom borders off so you have a perfect square. Use a ruler and paper trimmer to cut, if needed.
Step 3
Fold your paper into an origami bird base. A bird base is a square base plus two petal folds. This is a common starting point for many origami projects, including the famous crane. If you need help, Activity Village has good instructions for making a bird base. (The site is written for children, but the simple explanations are perfect for adult beginners as well!)
Step 4
Fold the top of your bird base straight down. Flip the paper over and repeat. When you’re done, your project should look like the photo above. Notice how it resembles a kite.
Step 5
Next, you’ll need to make a sink fold in the top part of your kite shape. To do this, you first need to unfold the paper. Notice how you have four creases in the center that form a square shape. They are valley folds and need to be mountain folds. The diagonal creases that are an “X” shape are mountain folds, but need to be valley folds. Once you refold the creases, your paper will easily “sink” into the right shape.
Step 6
The photo above is what it looks like from the top after you’re done with your sink fold. Essentially, a sink fold is a method of blunting a point that has no open edges. However, it is one of the more complicated origami concepts to master. If you’re stuck, Origami Instructions explains it with several photos.
Step 7
After the sink fold, the rest of the project is a snap! Fold the bottom of your paper straight up so it looks like the photo above. Flip the paper over, then repeat. Open the two remaining flaps one by one and flip up each point as well. This creates the four outer points of the finished star.
Step 8
On each of the four sides of the paper, you’ll need to fold the left and right corners up, as shown in the photo above. Try to make these folds nice and crisp, even though the paper becomes more difficult to fold as you’re working with multiple layers.
Step 9
Grab the paper by the top points and unfold. The photo above shows what your paper looks like when it’s about halfway unfolded. To complete the model, you’ll need to press down in the center. Add a brass fastener to the middle and fold the inner flaps created in Step 8 up slightly to give your star a bit of a 3D effect.
The Finished Card
To create the card, I used a 6″ square card base and paper from the Die Cuts with a View Handmade Stack. Since this paper is too delicate to cut with a paper trimmer, I hand tore the purple strip before using a glue stick to attach it to the page.
Another Use for Your Origami Stars
This origami model also makes a fun gift topper. The above photo is one of the packages I wrapped for Christmas. Since I didn’t have time to color multiple pages, I folded stars from red copy paper.
The “You’re the Best” card in this post was one I colored for Mother’s Day. The “Thinking of You” card was sent as a sympathy card for a friend who has been going through a tough time. Both were colored using glitter gel pens. (You’d want to avoid markers on these due to the bleed through, but colored pencils should be fine if that’s what you prefer.)
