Cute and Original Origami Elephants for the Nursery

 
Using Origami for decoration is relatively new to me.  I've played with Origami, I made a swan once and I was impressed by the origami balloons (a cube made out of paper where a gentle blow puffs it up into a balloon), and I even fold my plastic bags using an Origami technique, but never really though of it as a decorating alternative.  That is until my mom started trying Origami last summer.  She made boxes, stars, and some animals.  She even made a whole bunch of Christmas ornaments in beautiful pastel colors using paper with intricate designs.  The combinations were really gorgeous.  I have another post on that coming up.

origami elephants

Well back to my first Origami for decoration experience...when she showed me the things she had made I was really impressed.  At the time I was looking into original ways of decorating my new baby's nursery following the jungle theme of the bedding set I had bought for him.  So naturally my first Origami trials were animals.  I tried a giraffe and the elephant and even a butterfly.  The giraffe was not so easy and I did not have enough patience to finish it so after about an hour of trying, I gave up.  The butterfly wasn't so bad, I was able to finish it, but I was having a boy so that was not going to cut it.  I looked into lions, but couldn't find anything that seemed easy enough for a beginner.  However I was able to find a youtube tutorial for an elephant which was easy enough for me to repeat and make more than one.  (My mom actually made the other two for me).  Here is the link to Leyla Torres elephant blog and video tutorial.
 http://www.origamispirit.com/2013/04/how-to-make-an-origami-elephant/
 

I think this ended up looking really cute and I think it adds a lot of color and personality to the nursery.  I love the way it sits with the rest of the room.

Granola: The most original Hostess Gift

A couple of weeks ago we had some friends over for a visit.  It was nothing special just a weekend with friends we hadn't seen in a few months.   We were not expecting our guest to bring anything, but both couples actually did.  One of them brought a swing for the two kids, and the other a very interesting homemade granola. 

That morning when we called one of them to ask at what time they expected to arrive (they had a 2 hour journey), they told us that they were about to leave but they hadn't yet because they were waiting for our gift to "cool down".  We didn't think much of it except that maybe they were bringing some sort of cake or dessert.

Well, you can imagine our surprise when our hostess gift was giftwrapped and still a little warm.  It was also heavy and obviously inside some sort of jar.  I was so curious, and when I opened it, to my surprise, I saw granola on a simple but beautifully looking airtight canister that had a decorative tulip napkin on top.  Wow! that was a totally different, original, unexpected, and as we later realized, delicious hostess gift. 

So my homemade granola is about to be finished off as we have it for breakfast all the time but I can't go back to store bought granola anymore.  The homemade version was just too good, besides I really want to give it a go in trying to make my own.  I still have to search a few recipes, give it a few trials and adapted it to suit me and my family, but once I have it all figured out I'll post the recipe here.  I can't wait!

PS:  It will definetely be oatmeal based