The first year is paper

Today is our first anniversary. The gift for the first anniversary is paper, so I created this paper mobile in honor of the tradition. Eric is thrilled with it, I know--I always say, "There's nothing a man likes more than a homemade paper mobile."

Materials: A variety of square-shaped papers, a branch (salvaged from our dying cherry tree), white spray paint, a needle, and white thread.

Time to complete: 1.5 hours

Directions:

1) First I made lots of little origami lanterns with a mix of origami paper, an old mine map, and a page form a vintage children's encyclopedia, following the instructions I found here. Any paper will do, as long as it's a square and is thin enough to fold several times.

2) Next I sawed off a bit of cherry tree branch and spray-painted it white.

3) I threaded through the lanterns with a needle and thread, strung them up so they were balanced, and hung the whole thing up. One trick to making a successful mobile is to create it while it's hanging, so that you get the balance and arrangement right. I hung my work-in-progress on the hook that usually holds the onion basket in the kitchen and moved it when it was done. It really is quite mesmerizing when you see it in motion; hard to photograph, but super pretty in real life.