papercuts

we'd like to nominate the brains behind the scherenschnitte blog as a person most in need of an etsy store IMMEDIATELY. She uses scherenschnitte (according to wikipedia: (shear-n-SNIT- a) which means "scissor cuts" in German is the art of papercutting design) to create these beautiful things. We would definitely buy a card of the "birds on a wire" image...wouldn't you? [via Oh Happy Day]

adorn + etsy = love

I've been meaning to subscribe to Adorn--a very awesome crafty magazine--and now I have absolutely no excuses left. They're currently running a special subscription discount just for Etsians ($11.99 for a year's subscription). If you're unfamiliar with the magazine, check out their site and blog.

[Via Etsy Garden]

okay, we have a problem. we know we saw the amazing paper cityscapes of Nicholas Kolya on someone's blog, but now we can't remember whose (that'll teach us not to properly label things in our reader). does this look familiar to anyone? we will happily append this post if anyone can tell us where we saw it this morning.

anyway, back to Nicholas:

Kolya's newest projects involve painstakingly hand-sliced sheets of A3 paper and various dolla-dolla billz from around the world. His A3 Cities series portrays the feel of various cities in simple profile form with no color or third dimension. The International Currency project is a reflection upon the circulation of money and asks the various bills where they've been. You can actually snag Kolya's A3 pieces on Etsy for $40 a piece.

the muse has spoken

after we sang the praises of papermuse's beautiful star books, the muse herself pointed us in the direction of the website for HGTV's show, Crafters Coast to Coast. the site has a bunch of different crafts, including a whole section on things you can do with leftover paper of every kind. if you try out any of their instructions, take some pics and let us know how/if they worked out.

because those who can't do...

the papermuse has been busy making these pretty star books. does anyone know if there's an instructable or something on how to make these? we're sure ours would never come out right, but if you've ever made one of these, or any cool books or paper crafts for that matter, send some pictures for us to gaze at longingly.

we love the idea of...

Taking these beautiful silkscreened labels (from remake, $5), writing on them and then applying them to our meticulously organized stuff. But for that to happen we would have to 1)Have meticulously organized stuff and 2) See #1.

Would you or have you used labels like these for your wares? Let us know.

pull up a chair

we wonder what would be the funniest reason to send one of these chair cards from thecupcakegirls...telling someone they can always lean on you? making fun of someone's hemorrhoids? $2.50 each

[via poppytalk]

paper musings

the papermuse made some star books last week and also shared some good advice that we think applies to crafting, as well as writing letters (if you're the self conscious type): always practice on scraps so you don't risk wasting your good supplies. though we think that her books look pretty perfect, anyway.

california craft classes

Say that three times fast. If you're in the So. Cal area and feeling the itch to learn a new craft, check out Creative Swoon's great list of crafty classes in the area.

[Photo via Stephanie Costa]

save the date: this weekend's craft fairs

It's craft fair season and Adorn blog has a great list of craft fairs happening this weekend across the nation.

One summer, if we ever don't have a job and just have tons of money (please, pretty please?) we would just go craft fair hopping...

Do you have any fun plans for this weekend? Any lovely paper goods you've picked up at your local craft fair?

cool cahier

how great would these paris map envelopes be for making the instructables envelope book we mentioned the other day??? 5 for $6.50 from lupin

pom pom pow!

now mind you, if there were something like this on etsy, we'd surely encourage you to buy this tissue paper pom kit from there. Sadly though, there is not, and we are unwilling to let you go on a single moment without contemplating the whimsy these pretty pom poms could bring to your life. The kits are, brace yourself, from Martha Stewart Crafts. at least it's inexpensive; one kit is $19.99 and makes 4 medium-sized and 3 large pom poms. or you could just take yourself to the craft shop and follow martha's instructions. because instructions are free, but not spending 20 bucks on tissue paper...priceless. [via decor8]

save the date: stitch 2007

We just saw an ad for Stitch 2007. It's happening Saturday, November 10 in Austin, Texas. What is it you ask? According to the site, "The Stitch Fashion Show and Guerrilla Craft Bazaar is an annual celebration of independent design, artistry and creativity." Sounds good to us. Applications are currently being accepted if you'd like to be a part of the event--even if just to volunteer. They're also offering a Stitch Grant for crafters or designers looking to start their own small biz. It all sounds amazing, and may give us a reason to visit Texas in the fall...

book 'em, frank

Stationery and craftiness collide in donovan's new tutorial, how to make a book out of envelopes. We think this is an awesome way to make the most of stationery whose envelopes outshine the actually paper, like these we recently bought from cavallini & co. Thanks to donovan's partner in crime, kathy, for bringing it to our attention.

lucky canadians

now listen up, class. do you live in toronto? we don't but if we did, we'd go to some of these workshops by natalie of papermusings. Check it out: Thursday, June 21, 7 to 9 pm

Project: Tied Up In Knots! ($30) Location: Urban Scrapyard (802 Eglinton Avenue East, Toronto) Learn basic bookbinding techniques as you create a 6″ x 6″ ribbon-hinged scrapbook album from scratch.

Saturday, June 23, 11 am to 5 pm MINI Crafternoon Tea: An Indie Craft Show & Charity Tea Party - Featuring 20+ vendors, sweet eats & more!Location: nathalie-roze & co. (1015 Queen Street East [at Pape], Toronto)

Saturday, June 30, 11 am to 1 pm Project: The Fasten-ating Notebook ($30) Location: Urban Scrapyard (802 Eglinton Avenue East, Toronto) Learn basic bookbinding techniques as you create a 5.5″ x 8.5″ refillable notebook bound with a prong fastener.

photo by Glen and Deanna Odland

HOW TO: accordion folder

check out this tutorial from papermusings about how to make your own mini accordion box. it's perfect for storing photos or, dare we say, your insanely unmanageable card collection. not that we would know anything about that, of course.

small object, big dreams

we don't know which we love more, the small object or dreaming of being organized. seriously, how many people aspire to being more type-a? well, now two of our favorite things come together in these small object crafty organization cards. the cards are printed with spaces to write down the project name, instructions, materials, and due date. also, they fit in a rolodex. how anally awesome would it be to have a rolodex of crafts??? $12 for a pack of 50.

paper projects

have you seen whip up's review of this book, Paper Projects? sounds pretty damn good. we wonder if the public library has it. here's an excerpt: "After a small section on techniques the projects begin and these are fun, strange and mostly just for the ‘hell of it’ projects. Such as covering rocks with paper (these look gorgeous actually), making paper pillows (using special looseends paper, which softens with age and is hard wearing outdoors), a paper goose and paper eggs and making a woodland chair and table set (this is very whimsical and sweet, great project for kids). This is just a small range of the amazing paper projects in this book. Some are simply outrageous, others sort of practical (possibly maybe) but most are fun and fanciful."

save the date: crafty wonderland

If we lived in Portland, you'd probably know where to find us the 2nd Sunday of every month: Crafty Wonderland. They feature over 40 vendors and admission is free! Time: 11-4 pm When: Next show is June 10th Where: Doug Fir Lounge - 830 E. Burnside Portland, OR [Via Urban Outfitters blog, thanks.]

great submish: donovan b.

we got an email last week from one of our favorite readers, donovan beeson. She wanted to tell us about the great japanese postcards she got on ebay (pictured below). they're awesome and maybe we can get dov to divulge the username or url of where she got hers. we plugged "japanese postcards" into the ebay search and found some impressive offerings, but not these specific ones. The real newsmaker, though, we found on donovan's website: these awesome mailing labels that are, put down your english breakfast, completely free! the file, which can be downloaded direct from dov's site, contains 6 labels which we imagine you could print on sticker paper. Or, if your low-fi like us, just use a damn glue stick.