I was casting about for a patriotic project and somehow came up with this red, white and blue item.  It's based on a design made out of drinking straws, but I made my own paper tubes from junk mail. Everything is tied together with embroidery floss.

The red tubes are 3" and the blue ones are 4".
The finished size is about 10" in diameter.



I used instructions from a couple places including an old LIFE magazine (scroll down to page 85):
http://books.google.com/books?id=_koEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA85&ots=3lfe_iNqqS&dq=Christmas%20Stars%20from%20Soda%20Straws%20life&pg=PA86#v=onepage&q=Christmas%20Stars%20from%20Soda%20Straws%20life&f=false

and here:
http://www.whitneyhs.org/ourpages/auto/2008/12/1/41963999/Directions%20for%20the%20Icosahedron%20Star%20Project.pdf

Here are some pictures I took while I was assembling the inner icosahedron.





How to roll the paper tubes, and more information on assembling the star here:
http://extremecards.blogspot.com/2012/07/junk-mail-stellated-icosahedron.html

I started with a free cutting file from MTCSCAL efiles and turned it into a window style pop up card for Easter.

Here's the source file:
http://scale-files.blogspot.com/2010/03/easterwhat-does-it-really-mean.html

Free svg, pdf, dxf cutting files here:
http://extremecards.blogspot.com/2012/03/lamb-and-bunny-window-pop-up-card.html

Cut the file.  Crease the small horizontal folds (on the sides) first.  Valley fold the top long horizontal crease, mountain fold the next one down, valley fold the bottom one.  Trim and glue into a base card.

A few folds and cuts to make the shamrocks, and then refold the paper into a (standard origami fold) square fold.  A spot of glue and you're done!  I ran around the edges of mine with a glue pen and sprinkled on some glitter.

I used a 4" square for the shamrock. 

The completed card is only 2.25" square, so it's a nice surprise when the shamrock pops out to full size.





Full tutorial here:  http://extremecards.blogspot.com/2012/03/quickest-shamrock-pop-up-card-ever.html

Carol

Tealight lantern for machine cutting.  Easy to assemble (after cutting).  It's just tabbed and slotted together and the top tied with a ribbon.  The bottom is mostly open to make it easy to take the tealight in and out.



Credit for the window shape and birds goes to Cindy, from http://papercutting.blogspot.com/2010/11/template-tuesday-hanukkah.html.  
I found the flower motif at https://picasaweb.google.com/108292124932450556338/Wycinanki#.



You can swap out the "Happy Birthday" panel with another flowered panel if you don't want to use it for a birthday card.

Free cutting files and tutorial here:
http://extremecards.blogspot.com/2012/01/happy-birthday-paper-cut-lantern_21.html

This is a Froebel weaving of a Space Invader design I saw at http://boredgamergirl.wordpress.com/2010/12/24/video-game-christmas-cards/.

You cut the slit pattern into a base card and weave colored strips through the slits to create the pattern.  If you ever made woven placemats in kindergarten it's the same concept    !



Downloadable pattern and full instructions here:
http://extremecards.blogspot.com/2011/12/space-invader-spider-woven-card.html

Carol

I got the idea for this cube from this site: 
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PlaitedPolyhedron.html
but changed it a bit so I could use three different papers.

Use any punch you have to cut the designs.  I like that each cut-out face shows a different color combination.

You will need two 6-block long strips and one 5-block long strip.

The strips are glued together and then and then plaited (braided) to form the cube.





Full tutorial here:
http://extremecards.blogspot.com/2011/11/snowflake-braided-cube.html

[Very important!]

I was discarding a destroyed Where's Waldo book and it occurred to me that it would be fun to make some of the pages into five pointed origami stars like these:
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=308114.0

The trick was to twist and turn the template so that Waldo would show in the finished star.



I ended up making a plain paper star and scribbling all over the visible parts.  I unfolded it and laid it on the Waldo page, making sure Waldo was underneath a scribbled section. 

Very important! Turn the right side (the side with Waldo) FACE DOWN before you begin folding!

More here, and link to full tutorial:
http://extremecards.blogspot.com/2011/11/wheres-waldo-origami-star.html

An origamic architecture card for Halloween or Day of the Dead.  I was inspired by a crochet pattern from http://gurmanfravor.blogspot.com/2010/09/papel-picado-filet-crochet-chart.html

Cut on blue lines, mountain fold green lines, valley fold red lines.
More photos, and free cut files here:
http://extremecards.blogspot.com/2011/10/origamic-architecture-skull.html

Tilt the card one direction to see the first picture.



 
Tilt it the other way to see the other picture. 




You can make this by hand cutting and re-assembling the picture strips or you can cut and paste using photoshop or another photo program.

The re-assembled photo is accordion pleated and secured to a base card.  Two open boxes provide the pop up mechanism.

Full tutorial here: http://extremecards.blogspot.com/2011/08/lenticular-pop-up-card-tutorial.html

I made these paper cuttings from a dingbat font from fontriver.  They're easy!

To hand cut, choose the "letter" that you like and print it (large) on the back of your paper.

Fold the design into quarters--in half one way, then the other.  Some designs are easier to fold on the diagonal, and some straight across.





Cut.  Unfold.  Don't worry if your cut lines are not exactly on the printed lines on all the layers, it won't show from the front.

You can easily machine cut these.  Just plop the "letter" into your software and cut away.

Fontriver link: http://www.fontriver.com/font/hawaiian_quilt/
Detailed tutorial: http://extremecards.blogspot.com/2011/07/hawaiian-quilt-block-cards.html