Happy New Year!

Prosperity and happiness to you in the coming year! 

One of my favorite starts for gift and card making is to have the kids cover plain paper with paint.  In the past we've used water color, dot paint, or finger paint.  We've used this paper to cut flowers for mothers' day cards, wrap packages, and as elements of thank you cards.  I matted one of R's water color paintings with a page that J finger painted so that I have a little artwork from each on the wall.

I especially like adding this step when we're trying to incorporate work from a toddler or if we all want to be a part of a gift that is technically challenging for the kids.  We sent a flock of origami cranes to a loved one as a part of a birthday gift.  I cut the dry painted paper into squares and the kids helped me pick which squares we used and decided which side was the neck and which was the tail.

They all started with finger paint and white paper, but the finished product was so different for each.  Big blobs of color on white space for the youngest, fairly homogeneous mixed up color for the middle kid, and a little more variation how the colors worked together for the oldest.  A few birds even had little tiny finger prints captured on their wings.  

I used the video found here (Origami) to teach myself how to fold the cranes.