Review of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amigurumi

Are you enchanted by the shapes that can be created if you fold paper in a certain way? Origami is a fun craft that can keep you (or a child) busy for hours. My eleven year old daughter fell in love with origami when she learned how-to make it in an after school program.

Now with a copy of The World’s Best Origami by Nick Robinson on our book shelf, she has access to over a hundred new designs that she can explore and create.

From the swan that has enchanted so many in restaurants to all sorts of fun shapes like animals, fish, birds, flowers and a long stemmed rose, tulips, frogs and even Santa. There are also origami designs for envelopes, french fry bags, a party hat, a holiday card and a ring. Many of us ladies have been presented a ring by a crafty suitor in the past, haven’t we? Those guys probably never even knew any other origami design.

Origami is a great way to use scrap paper, junk mail and other excess paper you have lying around. It’s an art form that can be fun and useful and is perfect for the kids to experiment with.

The World’s Best Origami has over 100 designs to try and they are giving my daughter a lot of frustration but she keeps at it. I think her favorite design is howling at the moon on page 79. This is the design she really wants to master since she loves wolves. The end result should look like a silhouette of a wolf howling at a big moon. She’s getting there but it’s not perfect yet. I bet after Christmas vacation it will be.

I personally tried some of the origami designs and they proved to be too frustrating for me. I craft to create and relax. I love crafts that I can escape into. Origami isn’t in my zen zone. But my daughter loves it so I passed the book onto her. Her only complaint is she wishes the final origami designs were shown in full color. The step by step directions are great but she would love to see a finished product that is more than just a drawn diagram.

Other than that the book is great. It literally shows every step, every fold, every move you need to make the origami creations.

Five Crafty Christmas Tree Alternatives

Some hardcore environmentalists are giving up on the debate of real versus fake trees and opting for no tree at all. Have you ditched the Christmas tree in order to help save the environment?

Maybe this year you could consider a faux tree. No, I’m not talking about an artificial tree made from PVC and all kinds of nasty chemicals. I’m talking about a handmade tree made from scraps, upcycled materials and art supplies. Here are five more crafty alternatives to inspire your own Christmas creativity.

1. Soda Can Tree

First we’ll start with the most extreme handmade Christmas tree I stumbled across: it is made from empty Mountain Dew cans!

Perhaps a bit too much work for the average person but you have to admire the creativity and the end result is quite stunning

2. Yarn Tree

Over at Lion Brand they have quite a few free Christmas craft patterns including this one for a yarn tree. No knitting or crocheting required.

This is a small tree but if you have a lot of yarn you could make a bigger one. You could even take the same basic idea and instead of wrapping with yarn, try wrapping with scraps of fabric, old scarves, ribbon or a mixture of several types of fabric and even string to make a fabulously textured tree.

3. Wood Tree

Here’s a creative Christmas tree made from plywood. I wouldn’t use real candles on it like they did in the photo (hello fire hazard!) but the tree is kinda cute.

I also found this beautiful pattern for a wood Christmas tree. Check outCraftIdeas.info for the pattern.

4. Wine Bottle Tree

There’s no tutorial for this one but I had to show you this a wine bottle tree (or is it beer bottles?). Either way, wow that’s a lot of bottles!

5. Tomato Cage Tree

Another DIY Christmas tree tutorial I found is this video that demonstrates how to turn a tomato cage (I have tons of these) into a tree

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This could be fun.

What about you? Have you decided between a real or fake tree? Or a more alternative version?