summer revisited, part 3

This summer my wonderful and talented friend, Krista, made me this beautiful garland of origami sailboats.  I realize, at first glance, it seems very summery, but the more I thought about it, the more I decided it could easily be transitioned into a holiday garland.  Glitter the edges of your boats and write things like peace, noel and joy across each one.  Or, even better, make one as a gift for a friend and they can hang it up long after the holidays have gone.  Tie in a little "merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream" and give it to a special kid for their bedroom.  There are lots of variations and I am sure some of you could come up with even better ones.  Just put it in a cute little homemade bag and you have a thoughtful, perfect gift...

I decided to ask Krista's daughter Maddy to put together a little "how-to" for us and here is what she came up with...

Supplies:

Step One:
Measure a rectangle on your piece of paper (any size, depending on how big you want your boat), and cut it out.

Step Two:
Fold your paper in half, top to bottom, one time.

Step Three:
Fold both your top corners in to the middle.

Step Four:
Fold the bottom edge of you paper up, as shown.  Flip over and do the same on the other side.

Step Five:
Open your paper up into a hat (look, you've already made an origami hat!).  Bring the outer corners of your hat together and press into a square.

Step Six:

Take the lower corner of the square and fold it upwards.  Flip it over and do the same on the other side.

Step Seven:

Again, use your fingers to open up your paper into a sort of hat and bring the outer corners together to make it a square.

Step Eight:

Gently pull the outer corners of your square to unfold your boat (or gently squeeze the middle, whichever seems to work best to reveal your boat).  

Step Nine:
Pull apart your boat completely and adjust the hole on the bottom to make it sit flat (if that is what you are hoping for).

Congratulations!  You just made an adorable little origami boat!  

*And if you want the picture on the outside of the boat, just flip your paper opposite of this tutorial...

Hope you enjoyed this! 

Let us know if you give it a try yourself and how you mix it up to make it your own!