Origami Fairy Lights

I love origami. When I got married the first time and had the whole white-dress wedding shebang, I made 1001 origami cranes that decorated our reception hall at Union Theological Seminary. Some friends even hung them in the magnolia tree in the courtyard and other friends took pictures of my cranes in various places around New York City.

I've wanted to do another origami project for a while. I've also wanted to create a lighting solution for our porch so we could fully enjoy it in the evening as well as during the day. Originally, the only light on the porch was a single naked bulb that is strangely long-lived. Josh has never changed it once in the 15 years he has lived in this house. It is decidedly more horror movie than mood lighting:

So, when I saw that a friend had a string of fairy lights in her screen house with little origami shades, I thought, "I can make that!" And then had to wait months and months to finally have time to make 200 multi-colored origami balloons to fit over the bulbs of a couple extra strings of Christmas lights I had:

During the daytime, they add a cheerful splash of color to the white painted walls and trim:

At night they have a magical glow that truly lives up to the fairy lights name:

And create the perfect mood for sitting out on the porch sipping a mojito made with the fresh mint that grows right outside the door.

Would you care to join us for drinks on our porch some evening this summer?