The Write Love Initiative - Instagram Auction

Did you know that April is National Letter Writing Month? 

To celebrate this month of snail mail, Vancouver's The Anthropology of Giving is in the midst of a month of wonderful letter writing events. "The Write Love Initiative" is all about inspiring and encouraging others to embrace letter writing as a form of communication.

This Sunday (April 24th), The Anthropology of Giving is holding an Instagram Auction in support of The Writer's Exchange. Ashley, the founder of The Anthropology of Giving, is raising money to support a class of inner-city kids and their teacher as they create a publishing project with the Writer's Exchange. Update: The Write Love Auction raised $1400 for The Writer's Exchange!

The auction includes an array of wonderful donations from lovely businesses like Uppercase Magazine, Flow Magazine, Swell Made, Q&A Letterbox and Omiyage. (That's our cute & colourful letter lover's set in the picture!)

The Writer's Exchange works with over 700 kids every year, has a team of over 150 volunteers and encourages kids to enjoy reading and writing (while having FUN!)

I do hope you'll visit The Anthropology of Giving's auction tomorrow! Bidding is open to international buyers for most items and all prizes include complementary shipping. 

Sending Out Pretty Parcels

As I packed up a pile of pretty parcels this week, I couldn't resist snapping a few shots to share with you!

You see, I was wrapping up a big pile of washi tape grab bags...

Which, unfortunately (fortunately),  were snapped up so quickly, I didn't have a chance to share them here. But, as the wrapping of this round turned out so nicely, I wanted to do a little show and tell.

Pretty pretty, right? That's a sticker set on top - placed in a clear flat bag and then sealed with a piece of origami paper as a header card. I'm totally in love with the gorgeous floral paper - it's from a set of origami paper I picked up in Japan!

To replicate this look...
1. Place your gift inside a colourful paper bag. Fold and seal the bag at the bag with your favourite washi tape.
2. Attach a set of assorted stickers (or other flat treat) to the top with more washi tape. Pretty header cards always appreciated!
3. Tie colourful twine around the parcel.
4. Top with a trio of gift tags - first a collage-style tag decorated with washi tape, stickers and a piece of paper doily. Next a triangular tag cut out of polka dot paper. Finally, a bold circular tag punched from bright pink scrapbook paper.  A touch of eighties style, a whole lot of fun!
5. Finish with a lovely twine bow!

You can really use any paper or cardstock as a tag - just punch or cut into the desired shape, then use a holepunch to make a hole for your string.

Then I packed them up in basic manila envelopes to ship across Canada and the world.

But basic envelopes never do around here... I think my personal mantra might just be more is more!

So strips of washi tape plus a medley of stickers were just the thing to fancify these boring envelopes.

Each one dressed in its own unique combo of tape designs and stickers. I do love a good washi tape sticker!

I can't decide which one is my favourite! Can they all be my favourite?

How about you? Have you sent any pretty parcels lately?

Parents 50 Best of the Web 2016!

Are you still in love with Pinterest? (I sure am!)

So, I was amazed and delighted when Parents Magazine reached out to let me know that my Pinterest account had been chosen for one of their Best of the Web Awards for 2016!!

I know, right?

The top 50 sites were chosen from over 500 nominations. Here's what the editors had to say...

"Marisa is the queen of craft. Her boards are filled with cute and creative projects that make our hearts flutter." 

You can read the full list of 50 winners here or in the May issue of Parents magazine.
(Find me way down at the bottom of the list.)

And follow along on my search for crafty and colourful inspiration over on Pinterest!

*image via Parents Instagram account*

Make Shooting Stars! A "Paper + Tape" Project

Here's an excerpt from my new book "Paper + Tape: Craft & Create". Make Shooting Stars out of paper and tape...

Craft a galaxy of pretty paper stars using your favorite shades of washi tape. These stars are simply satisfying to create all on their own, but you can also use them as decorations, gift toppers, or ornaments. Keep it simple with a single star or string together a whole constellation! Prefer to make your stars out of pretty paper? You can fold these paper stars out of any paper you please by using a ratio of 1:12.

TOOLS & MATERIALS

Paper (standard 8.5" x 11")

Washi tape

Glitter tape (thin masking-tape style)

Scissors

Glue

Small hole punch

Twine or ribbon

ARTIST’S TIP

Standard printer or copy paper is perfect for this project. For easy folding, thin paper works best, as the tape adds extra bulk.

STEP 1

Apply one strip of standard-width (5/8") washi tape along the length of the paper. Apply a second slim-width (¼") strip of washi tape next to it so that the two strips of tape are aligned without gaps or overlapping. Cut out the strip. Repeat for as many stars as you wish to make.

STEP 2

Starting at one end, with the tape-covered side facing away from you, fold the top right corner down to meet the left edge of the strip, creating a triangle shape.

STEP 3

Using the first triangle as a guide, continue folding the strip back and forth in a triangular pattern, making sure that the edges align with each fold.

STEP 4

Once the entire strip is folded, it’s time to assemble the star. The slim strip of tape will be the outside edge of the star. To create the star shape, apply glue to the first five inside folds and press each together. Allow to dry.

STEP 5

From the fifth point, count two triangles (one square), and cut off the excess paper. Overlap the two ends to finish the star shape. Make sure that the end with the slim tape strip along the edge is positioned on top. Glue into place, and allow to dry.

STEP 6

To transform the star into a shooting star, make a sparkly tail! Apply three strips of glitter tape to paper, approxi­mately 5” long each. Cut out the tape strips, angling the edges. Then create a fringe by making long cuts from the bottom edge up to about ½" from the top edge.

STEP 7

Punch a hole in the top of each glitter strip. String onto a piece of twine or ribbon; secure with a note. Then punch a hole in the top and bottom of the star. String onto the twine above the glitter tape strips and, if desired, tie a second knot on top of the star.

MAKE IT A GARLAND

The only thing prettier than one shooting star is a whole string of them! Determine how long you’d like your garland to be. Cut a corresponding length of thin ribbon or pretty twine. Attach shooting stars at evenly spaced intervals, approximately 4 to 6 inches apart.

Can't wait to see your galaxy of folded paper stars!

You can find "Paper + Tape: Craft & Create" at Amazon, Indigo or your favourite bookseller.

Paper + Tape: Craft & Create

I'm so excited to share a project that I spent so much of last year working on...
My new book "Paper + Tape: Craft & Create"!

Many books featuring washi tape are based on the idea of using tape to decorate things - which is always fun - but I wanted to create a book packed with projects that challenge and inspire you to use your tape collection for papercrafting and creating art rather than just jazzing up existing items.

"Paper + Tape: Craft & Create" is filled with practical and inspirational craft ideas for paper crafters of all skill levels. Cut, tape and fold your way through more than 75 creative & colourful paper craft projects.

While washi tape takes centre stage in most of the projects, you'll also find mini projects which challenge you to find creative uses for popular paper craft materials and tools like scrapbook paper, doilies and paper punches.

When designing the projects for this book, it was important to me that each one taught a skill and/or provided a flexible framework for your own creativity. This means it's filled with templates, techniques and multi-purpose projects. Paper dolls that transform into greeting cards, gift toppers that double as decorations and skills that you can apply to your own unique projects.

(And, here's a secret tip, many of the projects can be made with no tape at all - simply grab your favourite pretty papers or a handful of markers - they're that adaptable!)

And with handy templates for things like paper bags, tags and envelopes, I hope you'll find yourself turning to the book as a resource for crafting your own paper items rather than buying them. (The templates can be traced, photocopied or printed - whichever you prefer!)

Oh - and we had so many projects, that there's even an additional assortment of projects posted online. Look for that link in the book!

I hope you'll enjoy reading "Paper + Tape" as much as I enjoyed writing it! You can find it at Amazon, Indigo or your favourite bookseller.

If you pop over to the Quarto Creates blog, you can learn how to weave washi tape baskets. Tomorrow, I'll share another one of my favourite projects right here. See you then!