Origami Wallet – “You’ve Got to Know When to Fold ‘Em”

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This month’s Frilly and Funkie challenge is “You’ve Got to Know When to Fold ‘Em” which made me think it is time to share a simple craft that I have been doing for years that I think people might be interested in. First, a little background. I work in a Pediatric ER and sometimes we (the staff) want to let a child know that they have been very brave so we give them a special prize. For years I wrote “Best Patient of the Day” on a label, stuck it on a urine cup and put a dollar inside and gave it to the best patient. One of our patients grew up to be an EMT and told me that he still has his “Best Patient of the Day” urine cup with the dollar still in it because it meant so much to him.

The Origami Wallet – sticker holder. Nothing fancy, just an easy, easy craft to share with a child

Start with a 12 x 12 sheet of scrapbook paper

I tried to think of something a little more fun for kids so I googled “origami wallet” and saw an example made with 6″ origami paper. Clearly, that was too small so I figured I could make one with 12″ scrapbook paper. That’s really how I got into scrapbooking stuff – from going to the craft store frequently and buying pads and pads of scrapbook paper. The other nice thing about this size wallet is that stickers fit perfectly inside.

Here are instructions. I think you can probably make one just from looking at the photos.

Step 2. Fold each half to the middle just to the crease line. Try not to fold past the crease line.

Below are the 2 halves folded to the middle.

Step 3. Fold each corner down to so that the fold makes a right triangle that just touches the crease line.

Step 4. Do that for all 4 corners.

Step 4. Fold the flaps back down.

Step 5. Flip the paper over so the folded corners are underneath.

Step 6. This is one of the harder steps. Fold the end up to reveal the folded in corners. The only thing hard is that you fold it just to the tip of the triangle made by the folded corners is visible.

Step 7. Do the same thing with the other side. You need to have it overlap the first side you folded up so you can tuck in the corners to anchor your wallet. See the overlap below.

Step 8. Completed wallet. Ta Dah!! When you close the wallet fold it where it already has the center line crease, no need to make new creases.

Step 9. I found that when I gave it to kids without taping it, the first thing they did was unfold it. They can’t help it. So now I tape it in 3 places – a tiny piece where the ends are tucked in and in the middle to hold the paper down inside the wallet.

You can see where the tape holds the tucked in pieces.

Small piece of tape to hold down the paper in the middle. That way stuff doesn’t slide in that area which would be hard to reach without unfolding the wallet.

See how nicely stickers fit in the wallet. A dollar for “Best Patient of the Day” fits when folded in half. Usually I hide the dollar behind the stickers so it’s more of a surprise for the child.

This is so easy to make and the kids love them. I just thought someone might find the idea useful so I am sharing it on the Frilly and Funkie challenge this month. 

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