Mollie Makes - Mollie Makes: Papercraft

KIRSTY NEALE

Kirsty is a designer-maker and author based in London. She enjoys working with fabric, paper, pattern and illustration, and she is very detail-focussed (which is just a nice way of saying obsessive). She has written several craft books and blogs at www.kirstyneale.co.uk

{01} Prepare and decorate base card

Cut a 21 x 10.5cm (8 x 4in) piece of card and fold it in half. Cover the card front with patterned paper. With the folded edge at the top, add a strip of plain paper along the bottom edge of the card front. Round the corners.

{02} Prepare the heart motif

Copy the heart onto two contrasting pieces of paper and cut out. Score and fold along the centre of each heart as marked by the dotted line. Using a toothpick, spread a thin line of PVA glue along the creased fold at the back of one of the hearts. Press the heart glue-side down on top of the second heart, taking care to line up the folds. Allow the glue to dry for a few minutes before proceeding with step 3.

{03} Finish the card

Working on the back of your joined hearts, apply a thin line of glue to the creased fold and then press the joined heart motif glue-side down onto the centre front of the base card. When the glue is completely dry, gently fold the sides of each heart upwards, away from the background, to create a simple but effective 3D look.

{01} Prepare base card

Cut a 22 x 12.5cm (8 x 4in) piece of double-sided card and fold it in half. Round the corners.

{02} Prepare the apple motif

With the folded edge at the left-hand side, measure the halfway point along the top edge of the base card and lightly mark the vertical with a pencil. Copy the apple onto the card front in pencil, aligning the straight edge of the template with the marked vertical line and positioning it approximately 2cm (in) from the bottom edge of the base card.

Open out the base card and, following the template markings, use a craft knife to carefully cut along each of the solid lines on the marked apple design. Score along the dotted centre line, then fold over the two shaded sections (see template). Refold the base card.

{03} Finish the card

Working on the card front, stick a contrasting piece of paper behind the apple cut-out. Copy the stalk template onto brown paper and cut out. Glue the stalk to the top of the apple.

note

For a fun Christmas card, cut a nose from red paper and mount Rudolph onto a festive print background paper. You could also use alphabet stickers or a printed sentiment to add a greeting to the front (or inside) of your finished cards.

{01} Prepare and decorate base card

Cut a 22 x 11cm (8 x 4in) piece of card and fold it in half to give you your base card.

Cut a contrasting piece of card 10cm (4in) square, and round the corners. Cut two narrow strips of card 7.5cm (3in) tall; glue one strip behind each side edge of the contrasting card square. Fix this panel to the front of the base card using foam mounting pads.

{02} Prepare the star motif

Copy the star onto thin, patterned card, and cut out. Score along the dotted lines as marked on the template. Fold the score lines: the folds going out to each point should be mountain folds (pointing upwards), and those in-between should be valley folds (pointing downwards).