It's nice that basic folds in origami are the jumping off point for lots of different projects. Paper Christmas trees and diamonds start the same way as the classic fortune teller.
You begin with folding a square piece of paper in half to make a vertical rectangle and than open and fold it in half to make a horizontal rectangle. Opening to leave a plus sign in the middle of the square. Flip the paper upside down.
Next you fold it in half in diagonaly to make a triangle, first in one direction, than the other, to make a multiplication sign.
With the right side up, push in on opposite diagonals until a square (1/4th of the paper size) is formed and push down. Keep the open side pointed towards you on the table.
Slide your finger up from the inside to open up one of the flaps, moving the inner fold to the opposide sides to open it up and make the triangle span the whole width of the kite shape. Do the same thing on each of the 3 remaining flaps. From the top point, the folds should be going in and out and in and out, 8 times, the whole way around. Than you'll make 4 slits on each side. Each tree bough is formed and held into place by folding the upper corner down and in to make a point on the lower outside of the branch. You'll do it 4 times for each of the 8 sides. I tried to always do it on the right half for radial symmetry. These can stand on their own or they can have a ribbon or hook attached and used as an ornament.
Now if you want a diamond shaped ornament you'll need to do this on a second piece of paper with a contrasting color or pattern.
You'll flip one upside down so the opening is going up while the other is going on. You'll tuck each of the long pieces into a short piece of it's partner. It helps to use a drop of glue to keep it from coming undone as you move to the other parts. I like a drop of hot glue or two at the beginning and then maybe one or two at the end of the process. No scissors needed.
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