Saturday, June 30, 2012


EZ3D PopUps What's Next?

Happy Saturday!  What's next?

  I am working on a separate Origami shirt blog that will be linked here.  I will have a variety of cute origami shirt patterns there, not only for men and boys but for women and girls as well.

I will continue the Origamic Architecture lessons.  Soon it will be time to leave the scissors behind and pick up a craft knife.

I am currently working on a cute popup card.  Hope to have that up by Monday.

If you have a wish list for projects, please leave a comment and let me know and I'll see if I can create it for you or give you some reference links.

If you have used my templates, I would love to show off a picture of your handiwork here.

If you would like to see this ad free blog continue ... please interact by commenting, tweeting, facebooking or following by e-mail.

Have a great day!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

EZ3D Origami Fishing Shirt Template Links

EZ3D Origami Fishing Shirt Template Links


Well, finally!  I triple-checked the templates, and then printed out the PDF's to check them and now they are good to go.  I have a ton of these little shirts all over the place.  My desk looks like a Sporting Goods Store!

The PDF's include a practice template with all the steps on it and the pattern.  Make sure you print the PDF as is because these templates need the top white border (which usually isn't important) to form the new improved collar folds.

The directions will tell you to make most of the folds before cutting away the border. Why?  Few people can cut perfectly down the middle of a straight line.  Keeping the border intact until the folds are created allows us to line the fold up exactly.  An uneven cut can create difficulties.

To get an accurate crease on the lines, I make a soft fold first (no creasing yet) holding the mark between my thumb and fingers to center the mark. Once I have that, I make sure the edges of the paper are lined up exactly, then soft fold again. Then I double check the edges again, hold the soft fold down with one hand and make the final creases with the other.

I hope you enjoy these templates.  Please feel free to use these and all the templates on this site for your personal, non-commercial use only and do not distribute them in any way or make copies to give others.  Instead, please refer others to my blog to get their own copies.  If you are a teacher or a non-profit youth group leader, please contact me for permission to use them for free in your non-commercial classes.

If you enjoy collecting these patterns, PLEASE follow me by e-mail and add my e-mail to your address book.  Your e-mail address will never be sold or distributed or used for any reason other than sharing EZ3D content and news.

 If you have a Google+ account, would you kindly join my site?  If you have a Facebook account, would you please take a few seconds and like me on Facebook.

Thanks so much and have fun with these templates.


EZ3DPopUps_Fish_Shirt                          





  EZ3DPopUps_Fish_Vest_Shirt                  

Saturday, June 23, 2012

EZ3DPopUps New Origami Shirt Fish Designs

EZ3DPopUps New Origami Shirt Fish Designs


Well here are the prototypes.  My son Marcus is a wonderful artist and an avid fisherman.  I used one of his early fish pictures to create the fish print for this shirt.  Just when I thought I was done, he suggested I add a fishing vest to the piece.  Well .... OK.  So I scoured the net to see what the things really looked like in order to create one. Then I thought I was done.  He said: " Now it needs some lures."  Sigh.  So I created the lures and then created a little pocket for snips.  Then I decided to add a zipper to the shirt.  Hours and hours of template tweaking followed because I want this to be a no-fail template.

Soooooooo ... then I thought I was done but the collar of the shirt bugged me.  No matter what template you use, when you fold over the collar, the top is always a little shorter, especially if you use normal 20 lb copy paper as this model requires.  This bugs me.
So I played with it and finally found a solution which will be explained in the practice model template that comes with the PDF package.

So with these models, we have an origami shirt that will fit into a folded piece of standard card stock or can serve as a card by itself.  The origami shirts are designed to snugly hold a plastic gift card, money or similar items.  

The templates should be up by noon on Sunday, June 24, 2012.  Come back and visit the blog for further instructions on how to obtain the free templates.  See you tomorrow!

Saturday, June 16, 2012

EZ3DPopUps Father's Day Card, Gift Card Holder

EZ3DPopUps Father's Day Card, Gift Card Holder


This is a cute way to give a gift card to your father or hubby.  I found the instructions for folding the card at the Origami Resource Center website .  Go to the website for the tutorial.   Even my third graders were able to make the shirts - only a few needed extra help.  The shirt project was a success. We created the shirts out of colored copy paper and glued them into folded legal size card stock. I figured out a way to turn the shirts into gift card holders and attached a tie that when tugged on, opens the shirt to reveal a gift card hidden inside.

EZ3D PopUps Plaid Shirt Template

©2012, Jean Bullock


I decided to create a template for the shirt that would allow it to fit inside a folded 8.5 x11 sheet of card stock.  What a lot of work that turned out to be. (That's why this post is late.) Anyway, for your crafting pleasure, we now have a blue and black print shirt that can be used either by itself as a gift card holder or inserted into a card AND also hold a gift card.  Money fits too, lol. 


The template has 3 pages. One for the tie and optional insert, a practice template with all the instructions  numbered and printed on the shirt, and a template for the final version.  Follow the instructions on the practice template.  If a text box appears upside down, don't be alarmed. You need to turn the paper for that particular move.  I am going to post this now so you can download the PDF and get started.  Ready?  Set?  Go!

More instructions. You will find references to a ridge (or mountain) fold.  That just means the folded part sticks up like a little mountain. If you flip the paper over it becomes a valley fold.

Follow the numbers in order on the practice sheet.  1.  Cut out the template by cutting on the black lines. 2. Ridge-fold on the middle line. 3. Ridge-fold on the #3 lines, then turn the paper over and fold the #3 panels to the middle. 4. Fold the red-line edge of the paper to the blue line. Do it on both sides.  5. Using the line, fold the top backwards. 6. Match the tip of the corners to the arrowhead tips. 7. Turn the paper over and do a soft valley fold on the line. 8. Slide the edge of the paper under the collar.

9. After you have completed the shirt, cut out the tie of your choice (there are even some blank ones you can decorate yourself) put adhesive on the back from the knot to the first D in Dad, and stick it on the shirt. Don't any glue on the edges and the tie should go under the collar not over it. Also, I like to use card stock for the tie template page, it's a little sturdier but plain copy paper works fine.

Optional:  If you would like to write a message on the inside, cut out the house shape that is on the tie template page, write your message and glue it on about 1 square from the bottom.

If you want to include a gift card or money, slide the card or money through the bottom end, and tuck the edge back under the collar.  Even if you turn it upside down, it won't fall out. Tell dad, to pull on the tie and the shirt will open.  You can also stick the card on a folded piece of card stock.  DO NOT GLUE DOWN THE SLEEVES if you want the card to open.

Here is an example of the shirt on a card:

The shirt can be glued inside a card. Don't put glue on the sleeves if you want the card to open.

Tug on the tie to open the shirt and reveal what is inside.



You can glue the house-like shape to the card and write a message  and a gift card or money can be slipped into the bottom edge.  Then refold and tuck the edge under the collar.