Easy Origami Mother's Day Cards

It's Mother's Day this Sunday! Left buying your card until the last minute? Funds don't stretch far enough to buy a shop-bought card? Simply prefer the sentiment of making your own?  I have the perfect craft for you... origami!

Card shops can charge up to £5 for a beautiful hand-crafted card, and I would rather spend the extra £5 on my mum's present, and make her a card for free (or next to nothing!) 

Origami hearts from maps, book pages and wrapping paper

Many of you thrifty people will save used wrapping paper "just in case", and have a stash of it lying somewhere. Use your imagination here- this works with almost any kind of scrap paper, and you only need a small amount. I used old book pages, maps torn from the back of an old work diary, and wrapping paper. 

There are hundreds of websites dedicated to origami instructions, but if you're a beginner, I'd suggest searching Google for "Origami for kids" to get started. One of the easiest and most addictive origami shapes I've found are these sweet little hearts... perfect for a Mother's Day card. You can find the instructions here.  

Re-used pink floral spotty wrapping paper

For a book-loving mum

Using pages from an old map would be a great idea if you were making a card for a far-away loved one. You could carefully choose their location, and your location, for the hearts! 

Map hearts

Of course, there are plenty of other origami shapes you can try! Origami is very therapeutic, and once you have the hang of it you can fold away in front of your favourite TV programme- productivity while relaxing! Recent studies (like this one) have shown that crafting (especially crafts which require both hands) are beneficial to mental health, and I would quite agree that craft keeps me sane, even after sleepless toddler-teething nights. 

8-point star

What are you waiting for? Grab some scrap paper from your stash and get folding! Here is a slightly more complicated 8-point star I tried earlier, and a friendly swan for good measure. Good luck! 

Decorative swan