Look at me going all traditional! 😀  Today I am going to show you the “olde” technique of iris folding. It is perfect for Christmas cards especially if using metallic papers. I discovered that the metallic candy wrappers from Papermart are perfect for this as they are thin, shiny and cheap! BTW the glitter and rhinestones are from Papermart too and under a buck!
I have done this technique before with paper scraps but the result was always bulky so I would have to use foam tape at the edges of my card to even the thickness and then pay more postage to mail it but these foil wrappers are so thin a regular stamp will do! Check out the video and see how it is done:
Here are some of the iris folded cards I made. The heart was easy because it was equally wide and high and I just centered my window over the template. The tree on the right  is wonky because I had more green strips to fill in, you can see where it is jagged between the white and green, it should be a smooth cascade…
A tip I will share is to count out from the center of the iris so that you start with the same number of strips of each color. If you have 5 white, 5 gold and 7 green you simply lay down 2 strips of green before beginning the round. Make sense? I explained it in the video too but I think it is one of those things you just have to do. Here are the templates I showed you in the video. You can right-click and save them to your computer of left-click and they should take you to the Circle of Crafters website with lots of great iris folding ideas and tutorials!
Another idea is to try this with your scraps of scrapbooking and wrapping paper, you can even get crazy and mix and match for a quilted look! We are a bunch of crazy gals aren’t we! Woohoo! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!
The Frugal Crafter Blog 
These are very pretty done with the metallic papers, Lindsay. I have done Iris folding using florist’s ribbon, which is extremely cheap, and you can get masses of different shades, some quite close, which give a lovely shaded effect with Iris folding. It is easy to tear along the length if you want narrower strips, too. It is quite thin, and you can make nice non-bulky folds. I have got some gold florist’s ribbon but not sure if you can get other metallic shades. The non-metallic ribbons have a lovely sheen to them which looks great with this technique, too, and you can get nice crisp folds with it.
Thanks for reminding me about Iris folding – I haven’t done any for years!
Shoshi
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Nicely done Lindsay!!!! I love to iris fold. Never thought of using wet glue (I use scotch tape to tape down the ends outside the window). The metallic papers look great, and I do use them as accent, but mostly washi paper, and 3/8″ ribbon…especially like the ribbons with gold/silver edges. The only thing I do not like is the cutting the aperature/window…so I mostly use dies to cut the window. So happy you shared this technique…hope everyone will give it a try!
Paper Hugs,
Jan
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I have been wanting to try this again. did it once and it was fun. Looks a little daunting Will watch your video. Thanks.
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Love these Lindsay! You are so talented (and patient) lol.
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oops! this is NOT iris folding unless there is an iris in the completed project. This should, technically, be labelled “fancy folding.” No iris – no iris folding. Barb (sorry for being a purist!)
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The iris is there, I put foil over it but there is not much contrast, next time I will use something that stands out more:)
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I love it.
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