Decorating with Papercraft by Clare Youngs

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With so many beautiful papers in our local craft stores I couldn’t wait to try some of the projects in Decorating With Papercraft: 25 Fresh and Eco-friendly Projects for the Home by Clare Youngs. With the help of just a handful of inexpensive tools and the techniques explained in the book, I was easily able to create some of the projects. When reviewing a craft book, I like to try out the patterns and instructions to see if they are easy to follow. I made three projects (pictures below) : a tea light lantern, a paper bowl, and a book page flower.

First I made the tea light lanterns using three types of papers. This is one of the easier projects, and it turned out beautifully. As described in the book, I sewed the layers together to give it a much nicer look.

Next, I made the paper bowl, not really meant to store anything, just a lovely simple form. I expected this one to be much more complicated, but it was not. It was a fun and easy project made with strips of paper that turned out very well, and now a special necklace rests inside.

The last project I tried was the paper flower made from pages of an old book. This one was a little more difficult for me because it had to be manipulated (and I am not all that patient), but the directions were very clear and in the end I like the way it looked.

I am not finished with the book yet because there are two mobiles, one with birds and one with airplanes, which I still want to try. The instructions in Decorating with Papercraft are clear, the diagrams and photographs are very well done, and there are quite a few fun projects for all skill levels. There are several projects that would be fun to work on with children, such as the paper garland and the festive piñata.