Blogging puts me in touch with creative people on a daily basis... I like the way their art or craft inspires me and often results in my looking at the world in new ways. Carol Gearing 's eye-catching work is no exception. After leaving a comment on her blog, she wrote to thank me and expressed that she too, loves paper. Carol's art cannot be summed up easily, as her accomplishments are so diverse... photography, drawing, painting, writing. One large design project that especially caught my eye was the incorporation of paper art - cutting and sculpture - into an interior space. For this serene entrance hall in a home atop a beautiful Yorkshire dale, Carol cut flowers from ivory handmade cotton rag paper with scalpel and scissors, and then sculpted them by hand before clustering in a clear Perspex box. She wanted to bring the essence of nature into the calm, spacious interior, but not in an obvious way. In the past year Carol approached paper cutting as a relative novice, but ...

This is a simple little card I made for CardMaker Magazine last year. It's pretty quick to put together and makes use of punched fern fronds (I used Punch Bunch medium fern) in shades of green. Abracadabra... transform them into an evergreen branch. As you've probably noticed by now, I'm a fan of gilded quilling paper. The ornament requires just one strip of gold-edged red... love the bit of glitz the shiny metal adds. Crimp the bottom of the card front and punch a hole for the gold cording with a 1/8 inch punch. I bet you'll be able to whip up a batch of these in no time.

After perusing pages of embroidery patterns, I was inspired to quill this Jacobean vine... the flowing layout and scrolls seemed like a perfect fit for paper filigree. It's my only Thanksgiving decoration on display at the moment... eek, I'd best get busy and pull together a table centerpiece. Tomorrow is coming quickly! But first, let me say I love working with JJ Quilling line of quilling papers - in this case, autumn shades. They're just the right weight, roll so smoothly, plus have a nice bit of sheen to the strip edges. If you're in the U.S., check with your online quilling supplier as a few carry Jane's papers. And Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who will be celebrating. Once the dinner table has been cleared and the football games are over, I hope you'll find a moment to come back to All Things Paper . I'll be featuring a cornucopia (when does one get to use that lovely word except at this time of year?) of quilled Christmas projects all...

Whenever I think I've seen it all when it comes to what can be done with simple strips of paper, I'm surprised by something beautiful and new... Kaduaki Kagawa is a Japanese designer who has developed a unique process of manipulating paper. He calls his method Raphael Art [edit: site no longer available], no doubt a nod to the Renaissance painter known for the grace and perfection of his angelic portraits. In 2000 Kaduaki began embellishing his own computer illustrations with narrow, curved strips placed on edge. What he does is not quilling - he doesn't coil paper as is typically done - but the tools and paper necessary for his craft are quite similar to the ones quillers use. 1/4 inch (5mm) strips, cutting blades, and tweezers are essential to his method of carefully placing fine details. Letters are balanced flawlessly on edge. After perfecting his system, Kaduaki designed wedding announcement kits and card stands. He then began offering a variety of classes in which ...

Perhaps you remember an earlier post about Hila Rawet Karni 's incredible folded paper necklaces... it's been one of the most popular topics here at all things paper . She works with beautiful papers to create wearable art objects. Hila emailed me with the good news that she's just opened an Etsy shop . Besides paper, Hila uses surprising industrial materials such as stainless steel buttons and spring coils in many designs. There's no doubt in my mind her innovative jewelry will continue to attract lots of well-deserved attention. Best success, Hila! And secondly, I just had word this morning from Paul Overton, aka Dudecraft, that he's posted a tutorial on the making of his fantastic cut paper portraits . [edit: no longer available]

Minnesota's Marnie Karger and Florida's Kendra Zvonik have joined a basic aspect of their paper crafting businesses into a brilliant pairing... what Marnie generates in abundance, Kendra reuses. Let me start at the beginning... Marnie makes topographic maps as wall art, and also hand-cut greeting cards. She calls them fictional landscapes, inspired by Minnesota's many lakes. A practiced, steady grip on a craft knife brings about perfectly layered, swirled designs of soothing colors. Crafterall handmade cards - Topography Crafterall - Many Layered Topographic I find the fresh, spare style of her designs so appealing. Crafterall - Mod Ornaments Crafterall - Retro Poppies Crafterall - Falling Leaves Ah, but all the cutting generates SO many small scraps... what to do? Luckily what began as a friendship via Etsy, blossomed into a collaboration when Marnie ( Crafterall ) asked Kendra ( Green Post ) if she would be able to make notecards for he...

A visit to nearby Longwood Gardens inspired this quilled all occasion card... so many wonderful flowers on display, including some beauties that gave the illusion of growing upside down. I came home wanting to duplicate them in paper. The flower, quilled with graduated color strips, is mounted on a gilded frame sticker from Martha Stewart's line at my local Michaels store. Love them! The package comes with two sheets of several frames each, in a variety of beautiful shapes. In my stash of crafty bits, I'd been saving a gold embossed floral filigree design, stamped a few years back at a Stampin'Up workshop... perfect to use as a layering paper. Another rectangle of antique gold paper, a layer of gray cardstock, and a strip of metallic ribbon finish it off. Yes, you've guessed it... I'm a fan of subtle metallic accents; can never get enough. Card Supplies: Cardstock - khaki, gray, ivory Metallic paper - antique gold Paper cutter with scoring bla...