Craftzine.com blog: Paper Crafts Archives

Archive: Paper Crafts

December 1, 2008

HOW TO - Personalized Gift Wrap

Spotted in the CRAFT Flickr pool: Bugs and Fishes by Lupin shares a great tutorial for decorating holiday gifts by using cut-out letters to spell out the recipient's name. Very modern and elegant--not to mention a great use of scrap paper.

Stocking Stitch-Along With Meet Me At Mikes

Meet Me At Mikes is hosting a Stocking Stitch-Along this week, and though they've already started, their tutorials and patterns are archived and ready to use when you are. They've included the stocking pattern, picture-rich tutorials, and two cute embroidery patterns from which you can choose to stitch on to your stocking.

Papercraft Elves Download

Spotted in the CRAFT Flickr pool: Macula says they will soon be adding some December papercrafts to their site, including these funny pointy elves you can download and assemble. Keep an eye on Macula.tv for more.

November 28, 2008

HOW TO - Origami Mini-Wreaths

Domesticali shares a photo tutorial showing us how to make these sweet origami mini-wreath ornaments. I love that she used sheet music to make these--very festive yet elegant.

HOW TO - 3-D Stars

Learn to make these colorful 3-D stars you can use as holiday decorations or giftwrapping accents with the tutorial on High Hopes. They sell a variety of papers you can use to make them as well.

November 27, 2008

Hand Turkeys

This is one of our Thanksgiving traditions - we have card stock and colored pencils out for people to make hand turkeys. Yep, just like you remember from grade school, you trace around your hand and fill in the features. Kids and adults both really enjoy themselves, and it's fun to see people get creative with it. I've also noticed that the grown-ups are often compelled to write their name, age, grade and teacher's name on the back. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Martha's Vintage Squirrel Party Favors

Folding Trees tips us off to Martha's wondeful retro-style squirrel party favors, which you can print out and assemble at home. Perfect if you need to make some quick treats for party guests.

November 26, 2008

Jewelry from Books

PT @ MAKE points us to Betty Pepper's jewelry made from books:

Never judge a book by its cover. Originally inspired by a poem this collection looks at what we choose to hide about ourselves and what we reveal to others, a secretive library where things are not always what they seem. Books are interesting to Betty in that, irrespective of the text within them, they tell stories. They carry inscriptions, scents and tell the tale of how they have been treated, or mistreated. Betty calls the books orphans and she finds them in charity shops already carrying their own secret stories, looking for new homes. The jewellery finds solace in the books as it too has a story attached to it, who it belonged to, when it was given, why?... Betty likes to use second hand textile in her work as she says it has a tactile, human quality and, like the books, it carries scents and stories, wears and fades like memories. All pieces are one-offs and are available framed or unframed. Pieces can be commissioned, perhaps incorporating fabric/book personal to client.

Thanksgiving Papercraft Turkey

Macula offers a free download of this boxy little Thanksgiving turkey papercraft - a fun holiday project for kids!

November 25, 2008

Cheetah Paper Craft

Tracy of Snuffykin's Journal made this large cheetah paper craft from a pattern designed by Ayumu Saito/Craft Pocket. The pattern is available for download and measures 13 inches long and 7.25 inches tall.

November 21, 2008

"Give Thanks" Garland

The Crafty Crow shares a wonderful Thanksgiving project you can do with the family: everyone cuts out a paper leaf and writes down something they're thankful for, then you hang the leaves from some string as a doorway garland. I love a project that looks great and is also interactive.

HOW TO - Quilled Paper Leaves

Craft Leftovers shows us how to use scrap paper, glue, and a bit of clever rolling to create these intricate-looking quilled paper leaves.

Related: Quilling 101

November 20, 2008

Flower Pinwheel Pattern From Heather Bailey

Heather Bailey has provided a downloadable pattern for her Flower Pinwheel that appears in the current issue of Creative Keepsakes.

November 18, 2008

Papercut Snowflake Bookmark Template

Fog and Thistle offers this downloadable template for creating a beautiful papercut snowflake bookmark.

November 13, 2008

HOW TO - Paper Flower Table Decor

Craftershock shares a tutorial (reprinted courtesy of Dozi Design), showing us how easy it is to turn something simple like colored paper into these elegant flower decorations for the table.

November 12, 2008

HOW TO - Excellent Papier-Mache

Writer/puppeteer Mary Robinette Kowal has an excellent piece on papier-mache.

Papier-mache is one of the oldest forms for creating puppets and so a lot of people think that there must be something better out there. Actually, there are very few contenders. Done well, papier-mache is light, strong, fast, and non-toxic. I know, we've all had the experience of the lumpy paste, and corners that stick up and a thing that requires years of sanding to even resemble smooth. It doesn't have to be that way. I'll show you a technique that will only need three layers and can be danced on.

November 11, 2008

HOW TO - Paperless Origami

Jeffery Rudell shows how to make this holiday reindeer out of fusible interfacing over on Craft Stylish. You could do this to make any origami model sturdier; it's a neat texture, too.

November 7, 2008

HOW TO - Kusudama Ball

Folding Trees shares a two-part tutorial for making these elegant Japanese flower balls called kusudama.

The Japanese kusudama is a paper ball made out of multiple identical origami shapes glued together. They were traditionally used as a ball for incense or potpourri but now we see them more for decoration or as a gift.

November 6, 2008

Mixed Media Craft Night with Jennifer Perkins & Traci Bautista

Jennifer Perkins' blog is always a joy to read since she has such a colorful life and always seems to be cooking up something new. She just shared some details of a fun impromptu craft night she had at her place with her pal Traci Bautista. Check it out and see how they went collage crazy and created some super playful jewelry together.

November 3, 2008

HOW TO - Simple Paper Wreath

CraftStylish shows us how to create a simple, modern-looking paper wreath using colored papers and craft punches.

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