Welcome!

I devised this "Cranes of Thanks" project because I love origami, working with children, and the "heroes" that defend our country!  I am teaching youth to fold paper origami cranes which will be placed on a coloring page with a letter on the back to be sent to our soldiers overseas.  This project will continue until we have completed 1,000 Cranes of Thanks!  All of the supplies have generously been funded by DoSomething.org.

Click HERE for some examples of children's coloring pages.
Click HERE for examples of what teens could make.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

New coloring pages!

All hail the powers of Photoshop!

I am *terrible* at drawing, which may surprise you when you see this picture...


I had help drawing it though!  I used this website as an inspiration and drew the bamboo with sharpie.  Next I placed another sheet of paper over my bamboo and began drawing random leaves.  I messed up a lot but I finally got some I liked!  Next, I scanned the bamboo and the leaves into my computer and then, using Photoshop, I cut out the leaves and placed them on my bamboo.  Finally, I placed my crane in the image.  I rather like how this turned out even if it was "cheating."




This is another one I made!  I'm actually rather good at the random abstract backgrounds, not so much with things that have defined shapes.  I did add the strip, circle, and crane in the middle with Photoshop.  Also, there are some curvy lines at the top and bottom left hand corners - those were not there in my original drawing, but in Photoshop I figured the corners looked empty!




This is not a coloring page, but an example of a card.  It's something older kids might have fun doing.  The art-form is known as "zentangle" and is sort of abstract shapes and stuff.  A lot of zentangles are really intricate (and take a lot of time) but mine is really simple and sort of fun.  Also, I like how the crane looks as if it is flying!




Here's another card that a kid could write in.  More masculine than the others, also the crane is made from a 3x3 inch piece of paper instead of a 6x6 inch.  I think I need to go buy some "manly" origami paper for the teen guys to work with!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Teen "Cranes of Thanks"

If you know a group of teens that would like to be involved with Cranes of Thanks, they may enjoy making handmade cards with origami cranes on them or coloring "older" looking coloring pages.

Teens can make handmade cards from a sheet of cardstock folded in half.  Two pieces of origami paper are used, one to fold the origami crane and the other to "frame" the crane.

A letter is written on the inside of the card!

Teens who have experience making origami (or who catch on really quick!) can use a
folded half-sheet of cardstock and a 3x3" sheet of origami paper in their designs.
This is another half-sheet of cardstock with marker designs.  It also features
a white crane with messages of thanks written on the wings.

The design on the front of this card was made with a colored pencil.
This coloring page might appeal to pre-teens - I know it was fun for me to color! =]
Coloring page by JustByJo.

This one reminds me of camouflage and it is fun to do different little
doodles and designs on the inside of each little bubble!
 Coloring page by JustByJo.