WholePort Creativity Expo and Giveaway!

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries. Scroll down to see who won!***

This is proving to be a CrAzY week.... back-to-back giveaways!


I was recently introduced to a crafting supply site called WholePort via an email from the company. WholePort sells a large selection of quality craft supplies... paper, do-it-yourself kits, packaging, beads, lace, jewelry findings, soap making supplies - you name it.


Because WholePort is currently hosting what sounds to be a well thought out crafting competition called Creativity Expo that includes a paper crafting category, I agreed to share the information with All Things Paper readers.


WholePort will send you one of nine crafting supplies of your choice - items such as origami paper, lace trim, or cloisonné beads - completely for free, including shipping. The deadline to request supplies is July 9. You then make a project that incorporates whatever you are sent, and post a photo of it on the WholePort Facebook wall by August 1 for a chance to win one of ten $50 cash coupons to WholePort. Contest winners will be determined by the photos with the most Facebook "likes".

a sampling of WholePort's origami paper - one of the Creativity Expo's nine categories

While checking out the store's merchandise, a selection of stylish wall stickers caught my eye. I've been noticing these on lots of home decor and design sites.


As for the Giveaway portion of this post...

When I mentioned to WholePort's rep that I thought quillers and paper cutters would be attracted to the designs to decorate their craft space or any room really, they offered to send a wall decal of the winner's choice to two All Things Paper commenters on this post (limit of $20 each), worldwide. How nice!

What you'll need to do to enter the giveaway is visit WholePort and choose your favorite craft supply - it can be anything, not necessarily paper or a wall sticker - and come back here to name it in your comment. Also "Like" Wholeport on Facebook or "Follow" WholePort on Twitter, if you are registered on either or both sites.


For additional chances to win: "Like" All Things Paper on Facebook, and/or spread the word about the Creativity Expo and/or the wall decal giveaway via a blog post, your own Facebook page, and/or on craft forums. Be sure to state any extras you've done in your comment, include links where applicable, and just one more thing... please include your email address in the written portion of your comment if you don't have a blog, so I can contact you if you win.


The giveaway will close at the end of Tuesday, July 5. The winners will be selected by random.org and announced the next day on this post. Good luck!

One more bonus to All Things Paper readers: WholePort is offering 10% off all items at www.wholeport.com. This coupon can be accessed with the coupon code CRAFTFUN10 until July 31, 2011.


Please note: I have not received compensation from WholePort in exchange for doing this feature post, nor have I purchased anything from the site.

Congratulations to Deepthi and Nikkee, whose numbers were selected by random.org! Each will receive the wall sticker of her choice from WholePort. Many thanks to all who took the time to enter. Even if you didn't win this time, take heart - there will be another giveaway coming up in the next couple of weeks.

Pulp Fiction - Perfect Paper Projects Giveaway!

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries. Scroll down to see who won!***

Mark Montano is one busy guy... you might recognize his name from host and designer duties on several popular TV series in recent years, such as While You Were Out, 10 Years Younger, and My Celebrity Home. But not only is Mark a familiar face to television audiences, he's also made quite a name for himself in the creative publishing world.


Perhaps you've heard of Mark's popular books, The Big-Ass Book of Crafts and The Big-Ass Book of Home Decor. Today I'm delighted to feature his newest title, Pulp Fiction - Perfect Paper Projects, which is right up my alley by the title alone.


Clever home decor, funky jewelry, and popular book art... each craft uses some non-exotic type of paper and other common supplies, none of which will break the bank. There's liberal use of Mod Podge, spray paint, and glitter.


The number of ideas Mark comes up with makes my head spin.... and creating seems almost effortless due to his you-can-do-it enthusiasm.


Pulp Fiction is written in a conversational style that inspires confidence. Many of the projects involve recycling, decoupage, and are kid-friendly... ideal for encouraging creativity / filling idle time this summer.


You'll find complete directions to make this sample project - a glam masquerade mask - on Mark's blog.


I have to say that having exchanged a few emails with Mark about the giveaway, he is just as genuine as his 'voice' comes across in the book. For example, take a look at the lovely way he sent my copy... now there's a thoughtful guy!

Actually, Mark sent two copies of Pulp Fiction - Perfect Paper Projects - one for review purposes and one for a lucky All Things Paper reader in the U.S. or Canada. To enter, just leave a comment. For additional chances to win, subscribe to Mark's blog, "Like" All Things Paper on Facebook, and/or spread the word about the giveaway via a blog post, Facebook, and/or on craft forums. Be sure to state any extras you've done in your comment, provide links where applicable, and just one more thing... please include your email address in the written portion of your comment if you don't have a blog.


The giveaway ends at the end of Saturday, July 2nd. The winner will be selected by random.org and announced the next day on this post. Good luck!

By the way, The Big-Ass Book of Crafts 2 is expected out in October - I told you Mark's creativity is endless!

Book photos: Auxy Espinoza
Disclosure: Book titles are affiliate links.

Update: Congratulations to Beth, commenter #4, as selected by Random.org. Beth, I'll get the book off to you as soon as you send me your mailing address. Many thanks to all who took the time to enter. Even if you didn't win this time, take heart - there will be another book giveaway coming up in the next couple of weeks.

Pottermore Paper Art

J.K. Rowling's new website, Pottermore, is brilliantly and beautifully drumming up enthusiasm for the upcoming availability of the Harry Potter series of e-books. The site will feature fresh material about Harry's world, as well as a social-networking forum.



The short video, in which Rowling describes Pottermore, features astonishing stop motion paper art that I suspect may be the work of a well-known UK book artist, but I'm withholding my guess for now.

Calvin Nicholls - Paper Sculpture

Photos of magnificent wildlife and and nature scenes created by award-winning Canadian paper sculptor, Calvin Nicholls, have been sweeping the internet in recent days. Taking the risk that you've already been introduced to his work, it's simply too extraordinary to not be showcased here as well. For this Fab 90 degree Friday, I'm going with polar bears on the icy tundra.


The majority of Calvin's work is white on white, which leads one to better appreciate the astoundingly realistic fur and feathers via the play of light and shadows.

He begins his sculptures with a drawn pattern, traces each component of the scene, transfers these to sculpture paper, and then cuts each one with a scalpel or X-acto knife on a cutting mat. Calvin uses very small amounts of glue to assemble the figure piece by piece, likening the process to shingling a roof.

Calvin offers something that sounds ideal for you serious paper cutters ... schedule a Skype session with him to discuss materials, techniques, and tools of the trade. There's no better way to learn than a private lesson with a master in the field.

Really... take a moment to visit Calvin's website. I guarantee you'll be amazed by his awe-inspiring paper sculptures.

Candy Wrapper Fashions - Lokokina

Today I have some eye candy to show you - and I mean candy in the near-literal sense of the word!


Mariam Saakashvili of Tbilisi, Georgia was a winner of a recent giveaway here at All Things Paper. While emailing to let her know the good news, I clicked on her blog link, and was delighted to see something quite different and lovely.


Mariam is an avid sketcher of detailed, historical costumes, which she colors with watercolor paint, ink, and crayon.


After being introduced to decoupage, Mariam began translating her fashion ideas into paper pieced collages, using richly colored candy wrappers.


She comes from a family of artists and fashion designers, and studied art in Tbilisi. Like many of us, Mariam was attracted as a child to shiny candy wrappers.


She was compelled to save them, and has built up quite a collection over the years. Mariam even keeps it categorized, which I'm sure has been helpful when arranging the eye-catching wrappers into color coordinated costumes.


She has been making her candy wrapper fashions for at least the past several years, and of course I had to look through all of the pictures to pick which ones to post... not a hardship, as they're all regal!


What a great excuse to buy candy, eh?! "Oh, I must have it for my art..."

See more of Mariam's designs in her Etsy shop, Lokokina, and also on Flickr.

Lavanya Naidoo

Lavanya Naidoo is a young graphic designer in Durban, South Africa. I came across her fine quilling on Flickr some time ago, and then her name and latest work caught my eye again recently when she posted new photos on Behance.

click photos for a closer look

Lavanya's quilled design is an entry she created for the 10and5 & vida-e-caffè Design-a-Sleeve Competition. Her precise depiction of the company's logo is a definite winner in my book.

Last year Lavanya had the honor of being named one of just eleven winners in the Design Indaba Superstars Competition. If you aren't familiar with Design Indaba, it's one of the world's preeminent design expositions that takes place annually in Cape Town, South Africa.

From the official website:

Inspired by the excitement in South Africa around 2010 [World Cup!], and struck by the idea that most sports are represented by a national team, this year Design Indaba decided it high time creativity be given its due. Design Indaba 2010 was declared ‘The Creative Playing Field’. Conference speakers became the international touring team and a nationwide search for a local host team was launched.

Upholding Design Indaba’s philosophy that creativity exists within everyone, South Africans from all walks of life were encouraged to try out for the team by expressing their individuality creatively. Hundreds of South Africans entered from children to grandmothers, telesalesmen to architects, nurses to photographers. The eleven members of the Design Indaba Superstars team were announced at the expo.


I'm sure it was a thrilling moment for Lavanya to hear she was named a winner... no doubt her excitement matched the word that's outlined in the mind of her quilled superstar team member. Just in case you're wondering what AWEH means, as I was, I asked Lavanya:

What do the letters stand for on your Design Indaba piece? I've done a bit of googling and it seems to be an expression or exclamation?

Aweh is a South African expression. It has a few meanings, but basically it's usually used to show excitement towards something. It's sort of hard to explain... it's almost like saying 'Wow'.

How did you first discover quilling?

Well, my mom has always been a creative person, and quite into crafts. In between all the other crafts/art she got me involved in, she gave me a quilling set. I revisited that two years or so ago, since I have a love for 3D design and textures, not to mention I love building things with my hands. (despite the papercuts!)

Do you use your graphic design skills to draw a pattern first, then quill overtop a print of it, or do you quill freehand with the design solely in your mind?

What I usually do is start off with a very basic design, often just type, and using a lightbox, I quill on top. This is just to ensure the type is exactly how I want it. That's all I 'pre-design'. The decorative 'flare' designs I do as I go, placing it down first to see if I'm happy with the position and then sticking it down. It's almost like playing Tetris, not knowing what the next piece looks like, but making sure it fits with the others.

Last but not least, here are several pieces of stylish cardboard furniture/lighting that the versatile Lavanya designed for a school project... quite impressive!




I especially love this coffee table, as well as the simple white paper flowers with cardboard stems.

Faux Deer Greeting Card

Here's a follow-up of sorts to last week's Vegan Taxidermy... this time it's a funny little deer trio. There's just something about them that makes me smile - I think it's because they're sleeping, so I'll quietly tell you about the creator...


Sylvie, of Langueux, France, is a product and interior designer with a passion for collecting vintage French decor items. She sells her finds in French Melody, an intriguing Etsy shop, but also enjoys creating new things with paper... this greeting card for instance, Faux Taxidermy.

The deer arrive as diagrams which the recipient simply cuts out, folds, and affixes to the card blank... it becomes a quirky trophy to frame and hang. Clever!

Nicole Lombardo - Die Cut Scrolls

Nicole Lombardo is a graphic designer, avid scrapbooker, and card maker who unabashedly loves scrolls. Utilizing her graphic skills, she has designed many - and I mean many - die cut flourishes that are so nice for scrapbook layouts and cards.


Not only does Nicole use them in her own studio; they're available via her Etsy shop, niklindesigns1225, in a wide variety of cardstock colors and paper types, as well as fabric.


Scrolls are very popular in the design world these days, but even if they weren't, I'd be drawn to Nicole's designs. I'll blame it on my love of paper filigree... we quillers just gravitate to flowing lines.


That's probably why I especially love the scroll frames that Nicole designs. They'd be the perfect surround for a favorite photo, but I'm thinking a quilled flower or two positioned inside the die cut would be pretty too.


Nicole cuts entire sheets of square paper with repetitive designs that are works of art in themselves - great as framed wall decor, and she also creates beautifully detailed borders for scrapbook pages.


In addition to intricate scrolls, Nicole also has a passion for glitter and glitz. Recently she added rhinestone transfers to her Etsy arsenal that can be ironed onto just about anything, paper or fabric.


You might recognize Nicole's name as she's an ad sponsor on All Things Paper. Her paper die cuts caught my eye when they were featured in an Etsy email, which led to this post and her interest in placing an ad. Purchases from Nicole's shop are 25% off through Friday, excluding custom orders.

Quilled Father's Day Ideas

Recently I showed a cool cat card idea for Dad, and today I have another couple of manly projects up my sleeve. Yes, shirt sleeve literally, har... well, maybe not, considering this shirt is apparently sleeveless.

click pics for a better look

Just the tiniest amount of quilling is involved - initials on the pocket. The collar and pocket edging are mulberry paper and the inside message simply reads, "Thanks, Dad!"


And then there's a personalized photo frame... if you happen to know a father who rustles cattle for a living. Hmm, I realize that's quite a stretch. Maybe for the dad who loves to watch old westerns on tv?

The lasso is coiled mizuhiki, which is very neat stuff, often seen beautifully knotted. It's used as a decoration on wrapped packages in Japan, and is made from washi paper that's twisted, coated with starch, and polished. Zakka Life, a favorite blog of mine, shows a lovely mizuhiki/gift wrapping example.

The boot was inspired by a clip-art image, and I used silver-edged quilling paper to add shine to the star and spur.


All of the supplies used to make this card are from Custom Quilling, which is an affiliate link.

Vegan Taxidermy - Aimée Baldwin

Aimée Baldwin is a self-taught sculptor and artist with diverse creative experience that spans manufactured Halloween costume prototyping to monument and park sculpture. Concerns about the environmental impact of the mass production of disposable items led her to the art she makes today. Aimée constructs incredibly realistic bird and plant sculptures from very simple materials: art-quality crepe paper, florist wire, white glue, and acrylic paint. She describes her artistic process as repetitive cutting and gluing with a lot of patient attention.

Miner's Lettuce
Aimée Baldwin 2011
Photo by Tue Nam Ton

Aimée gathers plant knowledge by studying live specimens collected during local hikes and says the only way she can depict a plant accurately "is to copy a fully dimensional real plant, and sometimes this includes taking it apart to understand all of its little bits. I use my work as an excuse to go on excursions to see wildlife and plants. I would go out hiking anyway, but hikes are more fun without the guilt that I would have if I were avoiding work." Sounds like a plan to me!

Miner's Lettuce, a San Francisco Bay area native plant, is exhibited in Aimée's current show, which runs through June 15th at Castle in the Air in Berkeley, California.

See more examples of Aimée's plants and birds on her website, Vegan Taxidermy, as well as an interesting description of her additional artistic ventures.

Reminder: The Fabulous Flowers Klutz book giveaway ends at the end of Saturday. Winners will be announced on that post on Sunday.

New Sherwin-Williams Commercials

Sherwin-Williams has done it again. Two new, oh-so-clever paint chip commercials invaded the tv airwaves here in the States on June 1st. The River is my favorite, as much for the song as the visuals. (Any idea who sings it?) I've been quilling waves this week, so seeing the paint chip waterfall and flowing river is timely, not to mention the fast-rising cliffs and frisky squirrel are pretty amazing.



Of course this even shorter Stork ad is great too. Its wings make me think of the panels that slide in and out, up and down on a jet... or maybe I just wish I was flying off somewhere exciting?!



By the way, I started an All Things Paper Facebook page yesterday, so if you are on Facebook, or even if you aren't, it can be seen here. I'll be posting spur of the moment paper finds, updates on previously featured artists and crafters, as well as links to new posts.

Fabulous Flowers - Klutz Book Giveaway!

***This giveaway is no longer accepting entries. Scroll down to see who won!***

I'm a longtime fan of Klutz books for kids... the projects are appealing, directions are clear, and the supplies, always top notch. A new title, Fabulous Flowers: Create Pretty Paper Blossoms, doesn't disappoint. In fact, I bet I enjoyed making the rose, cosmos, and daisy you see here as much as any elementary school student. See the glittered edges and lovely sheen on the paper? Fear not... the glitter doesn't rub off/get all over everything, and the durable paper is just as nice to work with as it looks.


Klutz says, ""Let your creativity bloom with this book of can’t-go-wrong instructions for life-sized, dimensional, paper blossoms inspired by our favorite flowers: roses, daisies, daffodils, hibiscus, zinnias, cosmos, poppies, and larkspur. Sparkly embellishments, fresh paper colors, whimsical design variations, and a custom shaping tool give these blossoms a twist that’s pure Klutz — and quite possibly, even prettier than the real thing."


"As always, Klutz has packaged the book with everything you need to get started: 20 pages of ready-to-punch-out paper petals, sparkly flower centers, wrapped wire stems, glue, and of course, the custom winding tool - enough stuff to make bunches of flowers."

Watch a quick videoclip here that shows some of the flower types.


Anne Akers Johnson, author of quite a few Klutz titles, has written clear instructions for a variety of well-known flowers. All necessary supplies are included except for scissors, wire snips (I just used a pair of sturdy kitchen shears), and something in which to display the finished flowers. I'd also recommend keeping a damp cloth close at hand to wipe fingers - this will definitely make things less sticky.


The book is suggested for ages 8 and up, but it will be necessary for the youngest flower makers to have an adult or older child close by to guide the process and supervise the snipping of the wrapped wire stems. Each stem has curled ends that must be cut off before using... those tiny bits of sharp metal can go flying if one isn't careful.


Creating the flowers will teach patience, as some steps require that the glue be completely dry before moving on to the next one. As with any paper project, I found that practice makes perfect - my second and third flowers went together more easily and quickly than the first.


So share this book with a child you love or keep it for yourself! There's no doubt in my mind that crafty adults will enjoy making the blooms as much as children. Paper flowers make terrific party decor and package wrapping embellishments. Once all twenty flowers have been made, trace the templates and create your own out of any light to medium weight paper - for example, crepe paper or patterned scrapbook paper. Old map and book page flowers would be trendy. Handmade blooms will beautifully decorate a bridal or baby shower, and they even have the potential to be carried as a playful wedding bouquet.

I received a copy of Fabulous Flowers for review purposes and Klutz is offering two All Things Paper readers the chance to win a copy. Leave a comment to enter.


For additional chances to win, spread the word about the giveaway via a blog post, Facebook page link, or Tweet, and/or on any craft forums. Tell me if you've done so in your comment. The giveaway ends at the end of Saturday, June 11. Winners will be selected by a random number generator and announced the next day on this post. Good luck!


P.S. I can't tell you how nice it is to have a bright and cheerful bouquet on the table that doesn't contain sneeze-inducing pollen!

Update: Congratulations to Claire, comment #67, and lokokina, comment #78, as selected by Random.org. Thanks to all who entered! I always enjoy your comments and appreciate that we share an enthusiasm for paper. Even if you didn't win this time, take heart - there will be another giveaway coming up soon!