Books by Their Cover

We're told not to judge a book by it's cover, even if these weren't classics, they would be an exception to the rule:

Over at Design Sponge, designer Coralie Bickfor-Smith was interviewed about her cover designs for release of hardbound, cloth covered classics for Penguin.

Ohh lala:

Check out the rest of the interview over at DesignSpongeOnline.com .

Papercraft - A Book for People Like Me...

Hi. My name is Kristen, and I'm a paper addict.

The day after I wrote the Playing With Paper post, I came home to find a beautiful package on my doorstep. In the la la land of my brains, the gift was wrapped in hand silk screen paper with a raw dupioni ribbon and left by a secret admirer, there might have even been a horse involved. However, in hum-drum-blah-boring reality, the "present" was my Amazon order in a standard corrugated box left by the mailman.

Anyhoodle, inside the box was Papercraft: Design and Art with Paper, edited by Robert Klante, Sven Ehmann and Birga Meyer, published by Gestalten in Berlin.

There are really no words to describe this book without sounding like a complete wacko. How do I know that I would sound like a wacko if I tried to convey my thinkings? Because of the odd and slightly frightened sideways glances I received from my husband as I squealed, groaned and tried to slow my rapid breathing each time I turned a delicious glossy page.

So I won't bore you with my opinions & ramblings, I'll just say this, if your someone who lives for creativity with paper, buy this book...now.

Here are a few bites:

Any idea what this is?
It's a close up of a bunch of torn pieces of paper. Big whoop, right? Until, of course, you zoom out and see that the bits are so meticulously placed to become this...






If you know of any other books like this, please oh, please oh, would you let me know :)

Lovely Paper

I'm always on the look out for lovely paper. Whether it be personal stationary, wedding stationary, journals or misc. ephemera I just...can't...get...enough.

My favorite design house as of today (although my ADD does not allow me to hold onto favs for very long) is, by far, Wiley Valentine. Their colors, textures and overall style make me want to take a pile of their stationary, throw it up in the air, let it fall where it may then proceed to roll around in it.

I bought this boxed set back in Seattle and am down to my last card & envelope. Honestly, I just can't see any occasion worthy of parting with my last card. So there it will sit, lonely in it's lovely box, on my shelf.




*disclaimer*My photos came out a little on the pink side, the paper is actually a bright white.

They also do a luscious line of wedding stationary. Oh to have a wedding do over...and an unlimited budget...



You can find these at Minted.

Another thing they do that I think is just TOO fun, they take their misprints, extras, etc. and cut them down into bookmarks. You can find these little treasures on their Etsy page...



What designers do you think everyone should know about?

Playing with Paper

My husband I celebrated our 2 year anniversary last month. He's a pretty hard person to buy gifts for, he doesn't want many things and the things he does want, he buys. I had seen paper cut artists on Etsy and thought this was the perfect excuse to finally get my own custom piece.

I worked with Paper Cuts by Joe. I sent Joe a photo from our wedding and within a day he sent me a digital proof of the final piece. A week later I had the finished product. It was SO much lovelier than I had expected:

Fiddling around the interweb I found some other artists using paper is crazy ways that are just too fun not to share.

The first is a typography paper cut by Made by Julene, it makes me weak in the knees:



You can find her cuts on Etsy (of course), her website and see her latest work updated on her blog.

The instructor in my graphic design class turned me on to a paper sculpture named Peter Callesen. He takes single sheets of paper and cuts, tears and sculpts them into tiny pieces of art:

If you're looking for something a little more attainable, you can buy these delicate little paper cut pop up cards through Publique Living:

And finally, my girlfriend Amanda sent me over this link a few weeks ago. It's really incredible how the artist, Yulia Brodskaya took a hokey little paper craft, Quilling, and just blew it up! Gives me butterflies, what about you?

What artists make your heart pitter patter?