yellow teapot press: 2011

November 28, 2011

Rainy Day Project

The other night I was in a bad mood and didn't know what to do with myself. It was a cold night and extra dark. The Boy was playing a computer game and I was still on my slow post-Thanksgiving decline, so I didn't feel like doing much of anything even though I wanted to be doing something. I ended up collecting all of my recipes from the random places I stuff them and compiling them in a book.

No, I didn't draw the chicken -- it's a sticker from a local coffee shop that I was waiting for juuuuust the right thing to stick it to. This was it!

Most of my recipes are hand-written, typed on a typewriter, photocopies, or printouts from my mom's emails. She's sent me countless recipes over the years and I never thought to put them into something cohesive ("Oh, I'll just fold this in half and stuff it in this cookbook. In three months I'll totally remember where it is"). Drawn on, written on, stained, crumpled, torn, folded, and, most importantly, all very loved.

And not without my own contributions, of course. Hellooo, Eggin!

But Mom's contributions are the best part, which is why I could never re-type all of these and make them look the same. Always decorated with tiny drawings . . .

And, of course, commentary.

Paper Flowers: A How-Tulip

The other night after I finished making my recipe book, I got so sucked into the comfort and quaintness of the evening that I started various creative projects without much thought or planning. My cohort and I started chit-chatting, joking, laughing, and being silly and ridiculous and the next thing I knew, I could not stop making paper tulips. I began with the regular sized ones, then the next one was smaller, and the next even smaller, until I made the smallest paper tulip I could possibly make without making my fingers bleed. Then I tried different colors, then different colored stems, then soon I had a veritable paper flower bouquet!

I learned how to make them last week while taking a Head Break at work. Two of my female coworkers have daughters so I made them a couple tulips to (hopefully) delight them and brighten their day. However, the instructions online are pretty crappy, so I decided to make my own How-To.

*ahem*

How to Make Paper Tulips

1. Begin with an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of standard letter paper

2. Fold the lower corner towards the top until the edges meet

3. Cut or tear (if you are very clever at tearing) the excess piece of paper. (We want to begin with a square piece of paper, but most folks don't have square pieces of paper laying around.)

4. Remove the rectangle and set it aside

5. Unfold the square. It should have one diagonal fold

6. Fold the lower left corner to the top-right corner to create another diagonal fold

7. Unfold. The folds should make an "X"

8. Next, turn the whole thing over. Once turned, the folds should be "facing" upward so that if the paper is not flat, it would make a tent or tee-pee.

9. Then fold the lower edge upwards to the top edge

10. Unfold. The folds should make an "X" with a horizontal line through the middle

11. Fold the right edge across to the left edge

12. Unfold. The folds should now make an "X" from corner to corner, and also a "+" sign from edge to edge. The folds between corners should be "facing" upwards, while the folds between edges should be "facing" downwards, like so.