Kirigami Greeting Cards and Gift Wrap

Kirigami Greeting Cards and Gift Wrap
By Florence Temko
Gifted by Tuttle Publishing
www.tuttlepublishing.com/
Reviewed by Liz Abderholden, Editor of AllFreeChristmasCrafts.com
 

If you're into paper crafts, then Florence Temko's Kirigami Greeting Cards and Gift Wrap is a must-have craft book. Filled with 25 fabulous papercutting projects, this book covers everything from birthday cards to snowman gift bags for Christmas.

Temko begins with a brief introduction to the art of kirigami, or papercutting. Instead of simply listing out facts, she forms the page into a Q and A session, covering specifics, like what paper you should use, to more general questions, like whether kirigami and origami are related. After laying the base work to give you a general idea of what kirigami is, she breaks into the craft projects. The rest of the book is divided into three sections: Decorations for Cards and Gift Wrap, Three-Dimensional Cards, and Boxes, Bags, and more.

The first is the easiest of the three, keeping the projects two-dimensional. She goes through various cutouts, starting with the simple patterns before moving on to the more complicated. Each project consists of a simple format: title, brief introduction, materials you'll need, and thorough instructions accompanied by large pictures. Her step-by-step instructions are easy to follow, and written at a level that even children ten and above could understand. Once you've mastered the cutouts, she moves on to three-dimensional projects. Again, each one comes with a materials list and easy to follow diagrams and templates. An added bonus to these projects is a picture of the finished project, so you have a clear idea of what it's supposed to look like in the end.

What makes this book unique is that all of these lessons and skills can be transferred to other projects. She gives you great instructions on how to make basic structures that you can then take and add to another project or make your own. It's an ideal book for beginners, but can prove to be just as valuable for more advanced paper crafters as well. Temko has tons of diversity in her projects as well, with crafts for nearly every occasion. She has designs for summer, like the Hummingbird Card, to crafts for Christmas, like the Christmas tree card. If you're ready to dive into the art of kirigami, then this book is just for you!