Friday, May 22, 2009

Papercuts, Furoshiki, and Cee

My cousin Cecily is amazing. In fact, all of the women in our family are quite incredible.
Cecily and I came out of a whirlwind of ribbon and paintbrushes with totally different skill sets. Here's the breakdown: She's a graphic designer, my mom and I paint murals and watercolor portraits, her mom gardens and designs one heck of a lovely home, as does our other aunt. Our cousin Tori puts the Ace of Cakes to shame, and my little sis is a master violist and musical genius. And nearly all of us sew, quilt, and craft.

One of my all-time favorite things to receive in the mail is a handmade bit of heaven from Cee, this time she helped me celebrate my graduation by sending me her very first papercut (as well as designing my dashing announcements). I was delighted beyond belief. She also included this great retro commencement card she dug out of a friend's grandmother's stash. I love finds like that! I have a few vintage cards of my own waiting to be used.And this little granola-girl from Oregon was green before it was cool. In junior high she was buying organic makeup and stopping on the freeway to pick up trash. So it's been quite some time now that she's been anti-wrapping paper and it's no surprise to get a little treasure in some type of alternative gift wrap, like this repro sugar bag.

I've been wrapping my gifts in fabric scraps for a while now too, even using inside-out chip bags and I just love the black and white gingham that See's Candy boxes come in.

So for your creative palette today, check out these papercuts:
And try your hand at an eco-friendly alternative to wrapping paper, Furoshiki.

Whadda ya think? Are you going to try papercuts? All you need is an Xacto, a self-healing mat, and a steady hand.

Do you still use wrapping paper? Can you think of more items to reuropse as gift wrap?

9 comments:

julie king said...

love the paper cuts and so want to try it!!! how lucky you are to come from such a talented family.

i like to save boxes, bags and especially brown grocery bags to repurpose as wrapping paper. love the fabric idea.

Dionne said...

I love wrapping in fabric - in fact, that's how I gift wrap my Etsy orders. They are wrapped in fabric that I designed that has the little buildings all over it like my banner.

Those paper cuts are lovely. I enjoy paper-cutting. I had a store in Pasadena, CA that sold my papercuts a few years ago. It's fun but sooooo time consuming!

SpillingHeart said...

That is brilliant! I'm going to try my hand at this...
And I love how creative your family is! Isn't it the best? It's somewhat similar to my family...I'm the musician/songwriter of the family, my little sister is an incredible writer, and then my older sister is a photographer. And course we all love scrapbooking.

inkWELL Press said...

I like the idea of paper cuts - I've never thought to try it out, but I am inspired now. And how lucky you are to come from such a creative family. I do too and it's such a blessing!

A Lady's Life said...

These are beautiful
I like to do roosters this way.
Roosters are my favourite.But then I do dragons as well.

Mekkan said...

Linsey, I'm glad to find that you've picked up Furoshiki in your today's post.Furoshiki was once considered as an old-fashoned item but gradually we've noticed that it is such a wise item that our olden people developed. There are quite a number of wrapping styles. It's so exciting just to have a look at them.

umama said...

I love Tina's work... so intricate and detailed.. have you seen her latest Marie Antoinette... the ship in the hair! Insane!

Lady P said...

I am really impressed with the paper cuts and love the link to the Japanese wrapping cloths - in our family we reuse the paper gift bags that someone my give a gift in over and over again, and one year I was so broke, I sewed reusable bags for all of my handmade gifts - and they are still floating around and in use! My favorite is to decorate brown paper bags with fabric and ribbon and repurpose them that way - usually in colors that match the gift inside - and I always make my own cards!

cee + kell said...

awww...you make me blush, lou! i'm so glad you like your gift. i'm so stinkin' proud of you...can't say it enough...HAPPY GRADUATION!

and those paper cuts you posted put mine to shame! those artists were gifted with a lot more patience (and wrist dexterity) than i could ever posses. amazing!

thanks for the kudos. i love you much.