Craftzine.com blog: Paper Crafts Archives

Archive: Paper Crafts

July 3, 2009

How-To: Make Independence Day Paper Swag Banners

Crafty Chica Kathy Cano-Murillo shows how to do this super fast 4th of July paper swag banners using patriotic scrapbook papers.

4th of July Snack Cups

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Cindy of Skip to My Lou has a downloadable template to make these 4th of July snack cups. Check out her other 4th of July projects too!

July 1, 2009

How-To: Spin Art

Jek Spinart
Jek at Scrumdilly Do shows you how to make spin art using a kitchen salad spinner. It's a fun project for kids to make their own fireworks art!

June 30, 2009

How-To Tuesdays: Quilt-Inspired Greeting Card

If you love the colorful and graphic look of quilt blocks, here's a fun way to experiment with designing them — only without having to pull out the rotary cutter and iron. Just round up some origami paper or patterned fabric and some graph paper and you can create all sorts of fun designs to turn into useful and unique greeting cards. Here's how I did it!

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4th of July Confetti Popper Rockets

4Thofjuly Confettipopper
Brenda at Alpha Mom shows you how to make 4th of July confetti popper rockets perfect for kids to play with as well as great holiday decor.

June 29, 2009

Wrap-around Mailing Labels

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Spruce up your snail mail with these free wrap-around envelope mailing labels (dot pattern or multi-color pattern) by Melissa of A Very Chocolate Wedding. [ via iDiY ]

How-To: Homemade Stickers

Here's an interesting technique for making your own stickers at home, with things you probably already have around.

How-To: Make LEGO-Stamped Wrapping Paper

My son's fifth birthday was yesterday, and because he's obsessed with all things LEGO, we had a LEGO-themed birthday party. When we got to the presents portion of the party, he madly ripped into his packages. When I picked up this set of gifts, though, I stopped him and made him (and everyone else) admire the ingenious hand-made wrapping paper. I asked my friend, Amy, how she did it, and she said that she was working on putting together a tutorial for the quick and easy project. Better yet, her son (who made the wrapping paper) even made a short video on how to get the brick effect on the paper. She posted the tutorial and video this morning, and I'm so tickled to see it. I love that their wrapping was not only unique and fun, but that her son got in on the crafy action. I'm the kind of mom who always intends to do something like this with my kids, but can never seem to quite get it together. Amy makes it look so easy! Enjoy!

As for decorating the cake, I ordered a plain cake with the intention of decorating it at home with some of my son's LEGO mini-figures. However, he decided he didn't want to see them submerged in icing, so I had to come up with a backup plan. I picked up some of these brick candies in the bulk section of Whole Foods to sprinkle on top. Then I went on to the LEGO web site and downloaded some of their sticker sheets that they provide for various play sets. Instead of printing them on sticker paper, though, I printed them on shrink plastic. Once they were cooked, they were the perfect size and structure to embed in the icing and decorate the cake. He made sure I included all his favorite LEGO mini-figures. And, yes, R2D2 is on there twice ... because he's just that cool. My son loved it, and I loved that it was so super simple. Now we can take the Shrinky Dinks and stick magnets on the back and use them on the refrigerator! Sometimes I fret about the fact that I'm somewhat of a slacker when it comes to party planning and decorating for my kids, but this just reminded me that simple is fantastic, and the kids love it just as much!

June 26, 2009

Papercut Practice Page And Tutorial

Papercut artist, Elsa Mora, recently offered papercut patterns through her Etsy store for the first time. To help folks get started with papercutting, she also created this papercut practice page, and has written a tutorial on how to follow papercut patterns.

Mini Notebook Tutorial

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Heather Bailey has a new tutorial to make this mini notebook that's quick and easy to make.

Heather writes:

This handy how-to will show you how to make a super-quick and easy little memo book using my mini file folders, embellishments, stamps, and white office paper. It’s the perfect size to jot down grocery items or quick reminders. Slip this mini notebook into your purse, wallet, glovebox, or diaper bag and you’ll be all set for your next note-worthy need.

June 25, 2009

How-To: Crepe Paper Lei

Here's an easy project for your next party: crepe paper leis! Just don't combine it with your pool party, or you might end up with paper dye all over your self and suit!

June 23, 2009

Flashback: DIY Coloring Book

With summer vacations, trips, and occasions either being planned or in full force as we speak, you're sure to end up with an external hard drive's worth of images from your adventures. There are certainly no shortage of crafty ways to display and showcase those money shots, and one super fun way is by making your own custom coloring book with a batch of images. This week's flashback feature comes from CRAFT Volume 06, the Play issue. "Color Your World" by Summer Block Kumar shows you how to make coloring books with your images in 7 easy steps. All you need is a computer (I know you have that one!), Adobe Photoshop software, digital photos of your choosing, a color printer, acid-free heavy-stock paper, a binding machine (or check out the plethora of binding DIYs online), and crayons or colored pencils. And besides the coolness factor, they make great souvenir gifts.

Check out the full tutorial here in our Digital Edition and start sifting through your pics.

You can also still get the feel of a back issue of Volume 06 in your hands by heading to the Maker Shed. Our 30 fun-packed projects include mix and match monsters, a flashy LED hula hoop, super cute Japanese "otedama" juggling toys, a thumb piano from found objects, a reversible wrap-around skirt, solar jewelry, fig wine, a tablecloth skirt, and cardboard chairs … and that's not even the half of it!

DIY Monogram Stationery

Cricut Stationery
Sarah Hodsdon re-gifted me a Cricut at Maker Faire last month and I'm excited to test it out sometime soon. Mrs. Penguin on Weddingbee has a great tutorial on how to create your own monogram stationery using the Cricut Expression -- a great way to DIY your own Save the Dates, invitations, thank you cards, and more. She's also got a video of the process along with her step-by-step tutorial.

Cricutpaper

Coming up next week with our DIY Wedding month, you'll learn how to create your own wedding logo!

Update: Since posting this I came across a review of the Cricut by Patricia of A Little Hut. Read Part 1 and Part 2 here.

June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day!

Fathersdayshirtcard
Happy Father's Day to all the Dads and Grandpas out there. Hope you are all enjoying a great day with the family. Pictured above is the origami shirt and tie card on Alphamom from Cindy of Skip to My Lou. [ via The Long Thread ]

June 19, 2009

How-TO: Paper Dress Cupcake Toppers

Composing Hallelujahs shares a video tutorial for creating these lovely paper dress cupcake toppers. I could see them being used for a bridal shower or a princess birthday party.

[ via Folding Trees ]

Repurposed Kids' Art Cards

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Ann at hotcakes has a great project for reusing your kids' artwork into greeting cards. You can download each of the card templates above in PDF format.

June 18, 2009

Paper Flower Centerpiece

CRAFT DIY Wedding

Paper Flower Centerpiece
By Cathy Callahan

Diybridalcenterpiece Finish

A centerpiece made with fresh flowers adds a nice touch to the tables for the guests at your wedding reception, but unfortunately fresh flowers can cost a small fortune. You love the idea of fresh flowers, but the thought of doing them on the big day (along with getting hitched) may be out of the question. If you're crafty (or have friends who are), there are lots of alternatives to fresh flowers that can be even more special because they're made by hand!

Paper is a great choice for making flowers. The good news about paper flowers is that they can cost next to nothing to make. If you break down the costs of what I made as pictured, it's probably no more than $2. These can be a little time-consuming to make, but would be great to do well enough in advance. I think it would be super fun to have a centerpiece-making party. Have some friends and family over and serve some snacks!

I just love working with crepe paper but it can be hard to find and sometimes a little pricey if you have to make a lot of flowers. For this project I used crepe paper streamers, which are available at most party stores and cost less than $1 per roll!

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June 17, 2009

Ask CRAFT: Consistent Paper Beads

Lisa from Greece writes in:

I am fairly new to making paper beads but completely hooked. My only problem is - how the heck can I be assured of making the same shape time after time? Most of my beads are longish but I would love to make small, roundish ones to put between the long ones. Can you help?

Paper beads are all about the triangle of paper wound around a spindle, making a tapered effect along the length of the bead. The geometry of this triangle will determine the ultimate shape of your bead, so play around with the dimensions to get what you want. To achieve the standard look, like pictured above, use a triangle whose base is about 1/7th the height (for example, one inch wide and seven inches long). To create rounder beads, you'll want a more extreme taper along the length of the bead once it's rolled, so narrow the base of the triangle. The result will be shorter, squatter beads. The base dimension will end up being the ultimate length of your bead once it's strung, so keep that in mind. Try making very long triangles (1/2 inch wide and 10 inches long, for example) for a roundish bead. As for consistency, make sure you're winding the beads on the same spindle always (if you started with a toothpick, always use a toothpick of the same diameter), and try to keep your work centered on itself as you wind. If you start with pieces of paper that are the same size and shape, that will be a lot easier. Let us know how your beads turn out, and send us pictures! Here are some paper bead tutorials to check out, too:

How-To: Paper Bead Bangle (pictured above)
HOW TO - Make paper beads
Paper Bead Art
Paper Pod Bead Tutorial

If you have a question for Ask CRAFT, shoot me an email at becky@craftzine.com, or drop us a note on Twitter! We'd love to answer your crafty questions on any topic: technique, projects, crafty culture, or anything else! Each week the answers are here; include your name, where you're from, and your website or blog if you have one!

June 15, 2009

Summer Fruit Punch Bookmarks

Jinjerup Summerfruitpunch7
Summer reading has never been more fun than with Jinjerup's free download/printables to make these adorable summer fruit punch bookmarks.

June 14, 2009

How-To: Make a Fabric Scraps Ship Father's Day Card

Joan from Nini Makes shares a template and instructions for making these cute fabric scrap ship cards that would be fun for Father's Day, or even for a kid who loves pirates!

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