Patterned Fingers!

This fellow has been sitting on our couch for over a week now (he moves around when we have company!).
I picked it up from Central Park weekend before last for a project I have had in mind.
I really enjoyed the movie '500 Days of Summer' and am at times in awe of the styling and sets in the movies (An Education = serious style envy). Anyhow, back to the point, I really liked Summer's room in the movie and this lovely origami crane plant.

500 Days of Summer

Something very few people know about me is that I kill plants. Not willingly, I really try, I water them, feed them and do everything according to the directions, I even speak to them but to no avail :(

I had a Jade plant, because my sister recommended them as easy to take care of and that actually lasted a few months, I was thrilled until one evening, I opened the windows to let some air in, and it was one of those evenings where the clouds are dark and heavy and there's this smell of impending rain in the air (which I love) and this strong gust of wind blew the pot out of the window. This is a true story. It then fell over 25 floors and I ran downstairs (I took the elevator but I ran to the elevator and from there) consumed with the guilt of having possibly injured someone and potentially killed the Jade plant. Fortunately, the tiny pot didn't appear to have hurt anyone, and the plant looked okay but I decided to give it away because I didn't trust myself to be as lucky a second time!

So that's how this crane plant came into the picture. I bought the origami paper from Origami Corner and while there are a ton of tutorials online, I used this one to make the cranes (it's in 3D and you can pause the video while you try and figure out that complicated fold!).

I really like with the way it turned out.

The vase is from Crate and Barrel, it is the large Akiko vase.

Also, after making some of the cranes, I really enjoyed the origami (it threw me back to when I was a kid and my mom would teach us to make all these lovely little things with colorful, patterned paper) so I made some more animals and birds for my adorable nephew in DC, he's not yet two, but I thought he might be intrigued.