I don’t know how anyone could resist these Penguin and Snowman print-and-cut bookmarks from Jinjerup  – look at those adorable little penguin faces!

Just add a tealight:

Perfect for Halloween decorating, check out my Shadow Decorations tutorial from last year for some crafty inspiration. You don’t have to only make trees either - how about owl, bat, cat, witch, ghost silhouettes - the options are endless!

Front of box

I was hoping that I’d be able to sell signed copies through my website, but it turns out that the shipping costs for me to receive author copies from the US make that an impossible dream. So, instead, if you’d like to buy my book, I’d be very grateful if you’d click through from the links on my site, so I can make a tiny commission from your purchase!

Back of box with pictures of all the projects down the left hand side

For those of you without a magnifying glass, the back of the box reads:

Paper chains and garlands make everything more festive! Turn your next celebration into a creatively crafted occation to remember. Create delightful decorations on themes that range from the seasonal (snowflakes, autumn leaves, cherry blossoms) to the decorative (pleated flowers, pinwheels, elephants). The illustrated instruction book by expert crafter June Gilbank shows you how to fold, cut, unfurl, and string chains and garlands like a pro. With tips on how to cut simple paper dolls as well as elegant Chinese lanterns, Paper Chains and Garlands is the perfect craft kit for expert crafters as well as beginners.

Inside the box: the book, 4 rolls of paper chain paper and 10 sheets of double-sided garland paper

The book has full illustrated instructions for all 14 projects and includes full-size templates.

Inside the book: pretty colours, and full instructions & illustrations by me!

I hope you’ll enjoy Paper Chains & Garlands. It’s a sweet little book and kit, and would make a perfect Christmas gift, if you’re thinking that far ahead!

If you’d like to buy it, please click through to Barnes & Noble now. It’s a total bargain at only $9.95, so don’t miss out! Thank you for your support

A gorgeous idea for your next dinner party or special occasion: make these simple papercut place cards from little white book.  (Note: no templates are provided, but you could easily make your own using clipart or your own simple designs.)

The template for the lovely lotus blossom pop-up card that we featured on Folding Trees last year went MIA, but I e-mailed the designer and now it’s back! I decided to celebrate by attempting one of these cards myself. Here’s my review of the process:

In progress

Cutting the template pieces:

Finished piece

 The finished card, open:

And from the side:

Notes on this tutorial

The template comes on 2 pages. Unfortunately it’s designed for 11.7″ long paper, so for folks with letter-sized or A4 paper, the template is slightly too long and a couple of edges will be cut off. I didn’t realise this, so I had too draw the missing bits back onto my printouts by eye before cutting them out. You can avoid this by making sure “Shrink to Printable Area” is selected in Adobe Reader when you go to print.

Level of difficulty

Time

Cost

Link

The original tutorial is available here.