Guest Author - Meschill Billington
Most little girls love coloring books, paper dolls, and stickers. They love using scissors and glue and paper. Many times this love of creating with paper does not end as little girls become women. Just take a look at your local craft store and you will see where countless women (and men) spend their money. Look around the store and a big section is dedicated to scrapbooking, paper making, origami, handmade cards, decoupage, book-making, and the list goes on and on. The aisles are full of adhesives, strange looking tools, cutting contraptions and, oh yes, paper! There are aisles of nothing but paper in every shade of every color you could ever imagine and printed paper in thousands of designs and themes. The craft world today has exploded with endless choices of paper for new as well as thousand-year-old craft forms. Working with paper is a love that can stay with you for a lifetime and provide hours of creativity and stress relief.
There is just something about taking a flat piece of paper and turning it into something completely different and beautiful. Although many women still enjoy the simple pleasure of a coloring book and a box of crayons, there are many paper projects to choose from. The best way to embark on a new project is to get an idea of the possibilities. Many large craft & hobby stores have projects sheets as well as completed projects on every aisle so by just spending some time strolling around the store can get the creative juices flowing; however, the one of the best sources for examples and ideas of paper craft projects can be found in the glossy magazines that are available including Paper Crafts, Rubber Stamper, Somerset Studio, Paper Works, and Legacy, just to name a few.
Magazines, as well as internet sites, can help you decide on a project by providing step-by-step instructions to complete a copy of a project or you can just use the technique and create a project yourself. When learning paper crafting techniques there are more sources than only magazines, there are also books dedicated to one or more of the various forms of arts and crafts using paper, websites with techniques, forums and projects, and even classes at craft stores, rubber stamping stores, and scrapbooking stores. Finding projects and techniques to use with your love of paper is only limited by your free time.
Finding the time for a new hobby can be challenging to today’s busy woman with careers and families to take care of but the effort is well worth it. You can not only create works of art for your home, gifts, lasting memories and holiday decorations, you can also use this time as quality time for your children. Working with your hands and having the satisfaction of creating something beautiful is a wonderful process and very relaxing. Many crafters report that the time they spend working on projects is like a little vacation from the world.
As these crafters and artists become more experienced they develop a love for the process and want to share ideas and projects with others who also are what some call, addicted to paper. As mentioned before there are several websites that provide forums for discussion and sharing but there are also clubs and groups in many cities that meet regularly to work on their projects while enjoying the company of others paper crafters.
The craft of using paper to create projects and works of art is something that has stood the test of time. The enjoyment of cutting, gluing and creating stretches across all generations and can provide hours of stress relief as well as memories. By perusing the aisles of your craft store, magazine rack, or internet (including Bellaonline’s Paper Crafts site) you can discover the joy that is among the favorite pastimes of women (and men) all over the world.
