It sometimes seems, on a rainy day, as if there was nothing to do because you have not the materials that are needed for certain occupations—but there is always paper. You may not, of course, have all the things that are used in making tissue-paper flowers, unless you have been so thrifty as to buy them, looking forward to just such a time as this. But if you cannot make the flowers at once, you can decide which ones you wish to do and plan a list of the materials you will need. Then there are numbers of things that you can fashion from watercolour paper, or even heavy note paper and cardboard; so let us get out pencil and paper, paste and scissors, and begin.

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How would you like to make a game of your very own with which you and your brothers and sisters or some of your friends can play? It is quite simple—just a great paper daisy with a slip of paper pasted on the under side of each petal. Upon each slip is written a sort of conundrum, the answer to which is the name of a plant or flower. If you can get a real daisy for a model, so much the better.

Fold a large sheet of linen writing paper diagonally so that you will have a square eight by eight inches. Bend it over again diagonally, and then again and again, so that it will have been folded four times in all. Now draw the outline of a daisy petal upon the folded paper (see Fig. 83), and cut it out through all the thicknesses. This will give you a sixteen-petaled daisy. The centre has next to be made. Cut from deep-yellow tissue paper eight circles three inches across, six circles two inches, and six an inch across. This is easily done by folding the paper into as many thicknesses as you wish circles of each size, so that you can cut through them all at once. Before separating the circles cut the edges into a fine fringe about three-eighths of an inch deep. Fold a piece of olive-green tissue paper in the same way as the white paper for the petals was folded, but once more, and cut it like Fig. 84. This is for the calyx. Next cut some slips of paper just large enough to be pasted on the underside of the petals and write on each a number and a conundrum from the following list:

1. A public building in Philadelphia.
2. A plant that rhymes with pansy.
3. A foolish wild animal.
4. A wise man.
5. Fit for a king.
6. A girl's name.
7. A plant for Sundays.
8. For thirsty folk.
9. Several droves of sheep.
10. Part of a pet.
11. Two girls' names.
12. Something that we know flies, though no one has ever seen it.
13. A rosy athlete.
14. A necessary article of food and a piece of china.
15. A girl's name and a metal.
16. An animal and a covering for the hand.

The following key, or answers to the conundrums, you will of course keep hidden until after the game has been played:

1. Mint
2. Tay
3. Dandelion.
4. Sage.
5. Goldenrod.
6. Sumach (Sue Mack).
7. Jack-in-the-pulpit.
8. Pitcher-plant.
9. Phlox (Flocks).
10. Cattail.
11. Rosemary.
12. Thyme.
13. Scarlet runner.
14. Buttercup.
15. Marigold.
16. Foxglove.

When the slips have each been pasted on a petal the daisy is put together in this way: Take a long, stout piece of wire, such as is sold for paper-flower stems; put the yellow circles all together, the larger ones at the bottom, then the medium ones and the smallest on top. Bend one end of the wire into a tiny ring and run the other end down through the centre of the yellow circles, then through the middle of the white circle with the petals on its edge, putting a touch of paste between the centre and the petals. Now paste a thin layer of cotton batting to the lower side of the petal-edged piece, at the centre, and run the wire stem through the middle of the green calyx, pasting the paper lightly to the cotton. Wind the stem with olive-green tissue paper cut in strips two inches wide, and cut from the same paper some leaves as much as possible like the little leaves of a daisy plant. The directions for playing this game are given in chapter X.

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How to Make a Country Girl

Little country girls are almost always useful, and though this one is only made of paper she can be useful too. She will serve as a dinner card or a penwiper, or even carry courtplaster to those who need it. If you do not care for any of these things you can play with her, for she makes a charming paper doll. Fig. 85 shows one side of the little girl, the other is just the same. She is made as follows: Cut from brown paper the pattern shown in Fig. 86, making it six and a half inches high by four and three-eighths inches broad—at the widest point. Take care to mark the dotted lines exactly where they are in the picture. It will be better to draw the apron, sunbonnet and little shoes on the pattern, for then you can copy directly from it instead of from the smaller one in the book. Lay the pattern on a piece of heavy watercolour paper and draw around it with a sharp-pointed pencil, marking the dotted lines exactly. Next the little girl must be cut out. Do this carefully with a pair of small, sharp scissors. Bend the paper on the dotted lines so that it will look like Fig. 85. On all the lines except the one down the front A (see Fig. 86) and the two marked B the paper is bent forward, on these two it turns back and the flaps on the bottom of the shoes are turned back. Now for the finishing touches. For these you will need pen and ink and a box of watercolour paints. The dress, where it peeps out beyond the white apron, the bands on the sleeves and the dots and edge of the sunbonnet, should all be painted some pretty colour—pink, red, blue, green or yellow—whatever you choose. The shoes should be black, and the outlines of the apron and pockets, the gathers of the sleeves and sunbonnet are all drawn in black ink.

The little girl is now complete unless you wish to have her stand by herself, in which case cut a circular piece of cardboard and glue her upon it by the flaps on her shoes. If you would like to make her useful, you can attach two or three tiny sheets of courtplaster between her skirts or several leaves of flannel, so that she can serve as a penwiper.

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A Paper Santa Claus

Another delightful little paper person made on the plan of the Country Girl is the Santa Claus shown in Fig. 87. He makes a charming Christmas card to carry greetings or a gift. The pattern (see Fig. 88) is made five and one-eighth inches high by five and a quarter inches wide, of brown paper, in the same way as the pattern of the country girl. Santa Claus is also cut from watercolour paper and bent according to the dotted lines. The colouring should be red and white, of course, with a green holly wreath. It would not do to forget the Saint's pack, which is cut from the pattern shown in Fig. 89. It is painted brown, with gaily coloured toys—dolls, drums and Noah's arks—peeping out at the top. Paste it between the two sides of Santa Claus near his shoulders.

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A Seashore Boy

As a companion for the Country Girl you can make, if you like, a Seashore Boy (see Fig. 90) in just the same way. The pattern given in Fig. 91 shows where the paper is to be folded. From all the folds the paper should bend backward except on the lines marked A, from these it bends forward. The colouring should be mostly blue and white. The great sun hat will be straw coloured, of course, with a blue band. His short socks are of white, with brown legs showing above them, and his suit should be blue, or a white one with a blue tie. The pail may be painted red.

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A Valentine Favour

A boy or girl with deft fingers can make the most attractive little valentine favour imaginable in a short time and at very slight expense. It is a double heart of watercolour paper, painted scarlet and with a silk puff of the same colour drawn up at the top, making a bag for bonbons.

The heart is perhaps the most difficult part, but a child who has learned in kindergarten to weave with paper will be able to do it without much trouble. Cut from watercolour paper two pieces in the shape shown in Fig. 92. The paper should be doubled and the fold laid against the straight edge at the bottom of the pattern. The size does not matter very much, though if the heart is to hold anything the pieces should measure four inches and a quarter from the doubled edge to the top of the rounded end and two and five-eighths inches across. Rule with pencil a light line across each piece at two and five-eighths inches from the straight end. Five lines are also ruled in the other direction, the first one seven-sixteenths of an inch from one side of each piece of paper and the others the same distance apart (see Fig. 92). Cut along these lines with sharp, strong scissors from the double straight edge to the ruled line near the top of each piece. The lower part of both pieces will thus be cut into doubled strips. Now take a piece in each hand, rounded end down, and weave the lower strip of the piece in your right hand through the strips in the left-hand piece. As the strips are double, the weaving must be done rather differently than with single strips of paper. The strip with which you are weaving goes around the first strip in the left-hand piece, through the next one, around the next, and so on (see Fig. 93). When it comes to the end it is pushed down a little way and the next strip on the right is woven above it, only that this one passes through the strips that the first one passed around, and around those that the first one passed through. Weave one after another until all six of the strips in the right-hand piece are woven in with those on the left—when it should open to form a heart-shaped bag, as shown in Fig. 94.

Colour the heart on both sides with vermilion watercolour paint and it will then be ready for the silk top. Cut from scarlet China silk a strip five inches wide by half a yard long. Sew the ends together, hem the top and make a casing for the ribbon drawstring, as described in the directions for the beaded silk bag in chapter V. The lower edge is gathered to fit the inside of the top of the heart and pasted into it on a straight line, running just below the openings, around both sides of the heart. If the paste is not very sticky you may need to take a tiny stitch here and there with scarlet sewing silk, tacking the silk top more securely to the heart. It will then be ready to line with a lace paper doily or some waxed paper, and fill with bonbons.

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A Frog Jumping Jack

There is a funny frog jumping jack that you can make if you like some cheerless, rainy day. He brings smiles wherever he goes.

Take a sheet of heavy four-ply bristol board and draw upon it the pieces shown in Figs. 95, 96, 97 and 98—the frog's head and body, legs and one arm. Make them as large as you can. The head and body together should measure eight inches high by seven wide, from the right side to the end of the mandolin on the left. The legs should be about six and a half inches long and the right arm should of course be the size of the left, which is drawn on the same piece as the body. Colour the body, throat and legs pale yellow with watercolour paint; the upper part of the head, the arms and the outer edges of the body and legs are first painted light green and then marked with irregular spots and dashes of medium and dark bluish green. A red ribbon with a Maltese cross of the same colour is painted around his neck, and the mandolin he holds is white above and black underneath. The eyes should be dark green with very large whites, and the smiling mouth red, of course. The strings of the mandolin are drawn with pen and ink, as are the outlines of the whites of the eyes, the hands and feet. Now Mr. Frog must be put together. Tie a knot in a piece of fine white string and thread the other end through a large worsted needle. Run the needle through the frog's body at the lower right side (where you see the dot on Fig. 95), leaving the knot in front, pass it through the right leg about half an inch from the top and fasten it with a knot at the back. The other leg is attached in the same way, and the right arm is placed in position and fastened to the body as the legs were. A knot is then made in a piece of white cord and the end is brought through the right arm (leaving the knot in front) about three-quarters of an inch below where it is fastened to the body, and near the outer edge of the arm. The end of the string is brought down at the back of the frog, quite loosely, to the upper part of the right leg, where it passes through and is tied to the part of the string that comes from the arm (see Fig. 99). It is then brought across to the top of the left leg, where it is tied. A separate string fifteen inches long is attached to the centre of the piece, which passes from one leg to the other (this is the one that is pulled to make him jump), and a short loop of string is fastened at the top of his head by which to hold him. When the long string is pulled Mr. Frog will dance and play the mandolin.

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Paper Flowers

Have you ever made paper flowers? If not, you have probably seen them made by the cardboard patterns which dealers in tissue paper sell. How about making the patterns yourself—for the poppies, daisies and tulips and all the other flowers. It will be an interesting thing to do and not difficult. Catch one of the poppy petals as it floats off from the flower, blown by a summer breeze. Notice that there are only four petals (if it is a single poppy), the two smaller ones setting across the larger pair below. Poppies are charming and much simpler than other flowers to copy in paper. You may have noticed that the petals of the real ones look almost exactly like silky, crinkled paper. Draw an outline of the petal a little larger than life on heavy brown paper. Fold the paper back at the base of the petal and cut it out in the two thicknesses so that it will look like Fig. 100. The two lower petals will be cut in the same way but larger. You now have a pattern for as many poppies as you choose. They can be made in various colours—white, red, pink, pink and white and yellow. You can buy poppy centres ready to use, or if you prefer you can make them yourself in this way: For a poppy four and a half inches across, cut a circle of yellow paper an inch and a quarter in diameter. Fringe the edge about half an inch. Next take a wire stem, bend the end into a small circle, cover it with a tiny ball of cotton batting and over this a piece of olive-green tissue paper, forming it to look as much as possible like the real poppy centre (see Fig. 101). Wind the edges of the paper close around the wire stem. Now run the other end of the stem down through the yellow circle, brushing it with paste to attach it to the green part of the centre. Slip the smaller pair of petals on the stem, then the larger pair (with a little paste between), so that the smaller pair will set directly across the larger. This completes the poppy. The stem is wound with strips of olive-green tissue paper, and the leaves are cut from the same paper by a pattern which you can easily make by laying a poppy leaf on a sheet of cardboard and drawing around it with a sharp-pointed pencil.

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Ox-Eyed Daisies

Ox-eyed daisies are easily fashioned and look so like the real ones that they are as satisfactory as any paper flowers you can make. Take four thicknesses of deep-yellow tissue paper. Bend the corner over diagonally and cut a square four by four inches. Next fold the paper in the same way as for the petals described in the Daisy Game in this chapter. Mark on the top of the last fold a petal, as shown in Fig. 83, and cut it out through all the thicknesses. After it is unfolded you may have to cut some of the petals up nearer to the centre. Wind some brown worsted around your thumb about twenty times, take it off and run through it the end of a wire stem which has been bent into a tiny crook. Tie the worsted centre just above the wire with a short piece of worsted, or bind it with fine wire, and cut the loops at the top. Now run the other end of the stem down through the centre of the petals. Make a green calyx like the one for the white daisy but much smaller, not over an inch across. Wind the stem with strips of olive-green tissue paper, laying in every now and then a daisy leaf cut from the same dark-green paper. Other single flowers can be as easily made as this, and you will find that the patterns will not be difficult to make if you take the natural flowers for your models.

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A Curled Chrysanthemum

Fig. 102