Muumade - How to Make a Pop-Up Christmas Tree Card

Winter greetings! I know the weeks before Christmas are a very hectic time of the year. So here is how to make an easy but elegant DIY Pop-Up Christmas Tree Card for this year’s winter greetings.

The materials and tools that you will need are:

1 sheet of white paper (it can be either US letter or A4 size);
1 sheet of colored construction paper (in the same size as the white paper);
1 sheet of gold colored paper (wrapping paper, for example);
1 gold star sticker, approximately 1.5 cm (1/2″) across (If you don’t have one, you can cut one out from the gold paper);
1 ruler;
1 pencil;
1 pair of scissors;
1 hole punch;
1 glue stick;
1 wooden skewer.

Let’s begin!

(Please click on the photos to enlarge them for a close-up view of their detail.)

	1. Cut a sheet of white paper in half, and then make a crease along the center of one of the halves, as shown on the left.
	2. Fold the paper in half along the newly-made crease, and trim 2mm (1/8″) off from the top, the bottom, and the edge opposite the crease.
	3. In the following steps, you will make pencil marks on the paper. Make them as lightly as possible, so that they will not be visible once the card is finished. Along the folded edge of the paper, mark 3 positions (the 3 yellow dots in the first image on the left): 3 cm (1″) from the top, 9 cm (3 1/2″) from that mark, and 1.5 cm (1/2″) from the second mark. Next, make a series of dots (the red dots in the first image on the left) in between the first two yellow marks at 5 mm (1/4″) intervals. Then, as shown in the second image on the left, draw a 3-cm (1 1/8″) horizontal line from the second yellow dot, followed by a diagonal line connecting it to the top dot. Lastly, draw a 1-cm (3/8″) horizontal line from the bottom yellow dot.
	4. Draw horizontal lines from all of the dots across the width of the triangle .
	5. Cut all of the horizontal lines, both those inside the triangle as well as the 1-cm (3/8″) horizontal line at the very bottom.
	6. Fold up all of the cut segments of the triangle along its diagonal edge, as shown in the first image on the left. Also fold the bottom cut segment to make a rectangle fold there. Now, flip the paper and fold all of the segments in the opposite direction.
	7. Carefully open up the sheet of paper, making sure that you do not tear the cut segments. Hold the paper as shown in the first image on the left, with its central crease facing up. Now, push all of the cut segments downward with your fingers. Next, carefully close the two halves of the paper again. It should look like the second image on the left, with indentations that outline half of a Christmas tree.
	8. Partially open up the fold of the paper, and push back in every other cut segment, starting with the second one from the bottom. You can use the edge of a ruler or a wooden skewer for this task. When done, you should see a beautiful 3D tree, as shown in the second image on the left.
	9. Now, fold the sheet back in half carefully, making sure that the half of the cut segments remain neatly folded between the two layers of the paper.
	10. Cut a sheet of colored construction paper in half, and then fold one of them in half as shown on the left.
	11. Place the white paper inside the fold of the colored paper, centering it. Make sure that the white paper is slightly smaller than the colored paper. If necessary, trim the white paper.
	12. Place the white paper, folded in half, on a piece of scrap paper. Carefully apply glue to the horizontal segments (shaded in sky blue in the first image on the left). Then, turn the paper over and repeat the process on the other side of the horizontal segments. Now, open up the paper, and apply glue to the rest of the sky blue area, as shown in the second image on the left. When doing so, make sure NOT to apply glue to the trunk of the tree.
	13. Carefully place the white paper inside the fold of the colored paper. Align the two pages along the central crease. Then, press the white paper onto the colored paper. To ensure that the cut segments inside the tree get securely attached, press them down with the blunt end of a pencil or a wooden skewer.
	14. Now that the basic card is finished, it is time to decorate it. Prepare a gold star, approximately 1.5 cm (1/2″) across. You can use a ready-made sticker, or cut a star from the gold colored paper. Attach or glue the star onto the center crease of the card at the top of the tree. Next, using a hole punch, make as many gold circles as you wish from the gold colored paper. Glue them onto the tree wherever you wish.
	17. Make more gold circles, and glue them onto the outside of the card as well.