The first thing that springs to mind whenever I hear the term 'papercut' is the noise of drawing in air through your teeth and much wincing. Happily not all papercuts are the hurty kind and someone who is proving that in papery spadeloads is artist Peter Callesen.
Peter takes paper, glue and, I would imagine, a very sharp knife, and turns your everyday sheets of A4 paper into fabulous fragile works of art. The pieces have a fairytale quality like characters or scenes from stories emerging from the page. The artist says he uses the A4 sheets because they are so commonplace. Taking something we see every day and snipping and gluing a whole world out of it.
Dazzling, ephemeral and fiddly to make in the extreme. Probably best kept away from open flames too.
This clever Macbook shaped greetings card really is just seven shades of awesome. I was in love with it already when I saw it from the outside: the rounded edging and faux light-effect shading all worked perfectly to create that distinctive, Apple look - but it's only really once you've opened the card up that you appreciate its sheer genius:
The Mac-style keyboard, created through raised and tactile cut-off black squares spells out the text "you are the apple of my eye". Anyone with a Machead boyfriend looking for a marriage proposal in the next year should certainly consider delivering this missive. Too bad mine's a PC...
Image credit: Paper pudding
I'm currently scouring the shop shelves for a suitable set of Christmas cards and have so far come back empty-handed. Everything's dull, done-to-death or hugely overpriced, but I don't have time to start making my own now.
I'm sure I'm not alone in my plight: December is a busy time when making up a batch of 30 is impossible for me, particularly when I have friends living as far away as Africa and Canada on my Christmas card list. So I'm turning to the talented crafters for my cards this year, and top of the class is London designer Cassie English of the English Design Co.
Her panda bear card (pictured right) is just one of many lovely, bold designs that really stand out. You can find more like this at her Etsy Shop.
For more of our favourite handmade cards to buy, read on over the jump
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Papercuts. Ouch! No, not those kind of papercuts. Papercutting is the art of cutting paper into designs and images and goes back to ancient China where the oldest known piece of papercut art was found dating from 6th century Xinjiang, China.
With all that time to practice you'd expect amazing things to have developed in the crafty world of papercutting and you'd be right.
Once you're tempted in help is at hand. Dudecraft Papercut Portraits tutorial shows you how you and your scissors can get in on the papercut action.
Dudecraft's Paul Overton has made a ten-minute how to video which takes you through tools (check out his ergonomic blade holder if you fancy a bit of crafty tool envy), materials and a step-by-step process to take your picture from photograph to perfect papercut. The results are retro-cool and look very striking framed up and mounted on a wall.
For the full how to video and the finished papercut of Steve McQueen that Paul creates click here.
"IIIIIIIIIIII want an iPhone!" you often whine as friends of yours show off their fancy schmancy gadget which is phone, PC, butler, personal shopper and answer to the universe's mysteries in a handy palm-sized package through the medium of apps. Who needs to be waiting till you have the pennies to get yourself the real deal when you can craft yourself one for the cost of a few bits of card, some glue and a few slops of paint?
The amazing Papercraft iPhone video takes you through some of the almost painfully intricate process it took one crafter to conjure themselves an iPhone out of card. The results are, quite frankly, pretty damned iPhone-like. Gloss paint, cocktail sticks and being a stickler for detail creates an iPhone replica that looks entirely like the real thing, complete with a dock and a shiny presentation box.
You can find the tutorial on the Paperartcraft blog so you can get crafting one right away.
All you need to worry about now is the dangers of getting a paper cut when you casually go to answer your first fake iPhone text.
I've always seen autumn as being 'birthday season'. I myself was born in November, and it's only recently that my innocent mind has been made aware of the connection between valentine's day and fall. So with that in mind, it's likely we'll all have to be buying a lot of presents for people soon...
Personalising your gifts with hand-made tags adds a special touch and even more so when you make it seasonal, which is what I love about this 'autumn gift tag' from A Little Hut.
Yes, it's a simple design, but we all know from bitter experience that it's hard to make these things look really professional, so I think it's good that she's included a video tutorial on how she did it. You can see the instructions and watch the video right here.
Related: Fruit of the Mind: Cherry Tomtato's plush pears | Wednesday Wearables: Autumn berry cashmere suit set
This post is partly here to remind those of you who may have had other things on you mind that Father's Day is this coming Sunday - which gives you a couple of days to create (or buy) and send something lovely through the post for Dad.
For many people, it may be time to hit the stationery shop, but if you're still grimly determined to make something at this late stage, may I point you towards a fun method of creating 'scratch-off' cards over at Design Dazzle. The messages can be as sweet, humorous or cheeky as you like, and will make your Dad feel like he's won the lottery. Maybe... [Via One Pretty Thing]
Related: Get shirty for Father's Day | How to make a necktie cake
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