Origami Crane Ornament

Amanda made me several hundred paper cranes over the course of several years, so I decided to make her a crane ornament. I'm not sure why it took so long for crane inspiration to strike! I used a paper-piecing pattern.

Finished size: 5" diameter

Crane in a Bottle

For quite a while, Amanda was folding and mailing me cranes. So many in fact, that I decided to make them into a mobile. However, this one (#221) was too tiny to include. For a long time it sat on my desk, but I was always worried about losing it, so I decided to protect it. I found these tiny bottles at Hobby Lobby. The bottle is 1/2" in diameter and 1" tall. The crane fits perfectly inside. I added it to my bulletin board. Now I must find more tiny items to fill the other bottles!

154 Cranes

Over the last year, Amanda has been folding and sending me paper cranes. She numbers each one to keep track of her progress to 1,000. This is 154 of 156 (two were a little too floppy to include). They've been living in their envelopes for far too long so last night I decided to string them. This mobile consists of 10 approximately 12" strands of cranes attached to a plastic hoop with thread. She sends a crane report with each packet so I know the origin of the paper for each crane, our favorite being her library receipt for Stargirl and Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli.

Christmas Ornament Exchange 2009

This is one of the fabulous ornaments I received from Amanda in our exchange this year. The bulb is filled with tiny paper cranes in red and silver. She has been mailing me envelopes of paper cranes all year.