Word of the Week - 98

Video tutorial for origami heart envelopes.

Word of the Week:  ORIGAMI

Reasons why I began poking around origami envelope how-tos this week:

Something for my brain and hands to do together.
Valentine potential.
Paper obsession.
Envelope ditto.
And look at them - what a great, not difficult pattern.

The idea took hold when I saw Rachel Hazell's step-by-step from a series of guest blogs she did for FLOW magazine on a love letters workshop she taught last fall in Paris.  Here is the heart envelope project:

Rachel Hazell's (Paperphilia)  heart envelopes.

Paper folding, especially in the beginning stages, is a focused and peaceful activity.  It requires full presence.  I've realized over the years that I remember a craft lesson better when I have experienced it hands-on.  And when I've repeated and repeated and repeated it.  We all have our styles of learning and mine is most efficient when I let my hands talk to my brain.  Here are two of my samples, not the first ones.

Crafting with paper has been a joy since girlhood.  My hands, at times, are a bit less steady, less predictable than they once were.  Origami seems a task at which they still function consistently and as expected.  I leave the worktable feeling reasonably masterful.  Anything that matters takes time, it also takes practice.  Origami offers the opportunity to develop skills.  I defer to Napoleon Dynamite on "skills,"

Pedro: Do you think people will vote for me?
Napoleon Dynamite: Heck yes! I'd vote for you.
Pedro: Like what are my skills?
Napoleon Dynamite: Well, you have a sweet bike. And you're really good at hooking up with chicks. Plus you're like the only guy at school who has a mustache.