Have a Heart on Advent 1st

Let's kick December off (well, almost) with one of the very first designs I made for this blog: The Countdown Heart from 2011, from the original Advent Calendar format, where I posted a new heart every single day in December (all of them woven hearts, as these are a traditional and very old Danish Christmas decoration). I was on maternity leave and had more time for blogging back then!
You can read a bit about weaving hearts here. I also made a simple one page tutorial.

Here's the original post from 2011, with the design to download as well, of course. 

But I wanted to post an origami heart as well, and I found that these (seen on the dark background in the photos), originally made for Valentine's in 2017, are great for Christmas as well. They can be used as gift tags, mini Christmas cards or made into a really cool garland (see photo - they have a natural slit on one side, that you use for the ribbon) - and if you punch a hole for a bit of string, you could decorate your tree with them. 

They are super easy to make, and a fun origami design - note: made not from a square paper, but from a rectangular one. Which is why I did a whole series of measured papers, ready to cut and fold, in a lot of funky red / pink / coral patterns. 

You will find the original post here, with free tutorial + pattern paper to download. 

This is what the Countdown Heart looks like (below), before you weave it - and if you have never woven a Christmas heart before, now would be the perfect time to start!

You will find loads of more or less crazy heart designs, and some nice ones too, on my list here, especially from 2011.

 

Multi Color Friday

Back in 2014, I made this very large and colorful paper bauble for the blog.

It's a very simple design, a sphere made from twenty circular paper units, each of these folded into a triangular shape (and as usual, to make it as easy as possible, I even made the folding lines for you). 

A really fun and intriguing construction, and one that could easily be made in any kind of slightly sturdy paper, that might take your fancy - but I liked the idea of a patchwork multi-pattern bauble. Now, to un-celebrate the ghastly Black Friday, lets give it a rerun this year!

Here is a link back to the original post from December 2014, with a series of step-by-step images, explaining how to make it (all you need is scissors and glue), and of course, the link to the original design PDF. 

Throwback Christmas project # 1: The Big Patchwork Bauble