Handmade Oriental Cards (Simple and Stunning)

Aug 07

The Orient - here China and Japan - conjures up images of dragons, geishas, beautiful landscapes and graceful, stylized patterns. Now you can bring all the mystery, color and elegance of the Far East to your cardmaking with this most enjoyable book.

You don't need to splash out on a lot of expensive equipment either. It all depends what you fancy doing, then you can buy the required items and set to. Glass paints, punches, stencils and fancy punches are less important than a good selection of papers and basic cardmaking tools. There are lots of opportunities for recycling in here too, especially if you have another hobby like dressmaking or embroidery, and small odds and ends take on a whole new look when added to cards. Glass paint a wave (great for a man), try spirelli, make collages of waterfalls, try some very simple origami and paperprick a geisha. Even better, all the cards shown in the galleries have patterns! This is definitely my kind of book; no emptying the bank account to buy up the craft shop, plenty of recycling opportunities and some truly beautiful cards. Nothing is difficult to make, and there are plenty of instructions for everything as well as some imaginative twists on methods old hands might be a bit bored with. It all has either the opulence and color or understated elegance that is associated with the orient. One of my favorite Search Press cardmaking books, I think and one for my keeper shelf.

Jan 08

The oriental look is a growing trend in card making so be ahead of the crowd and get inspiration from this nifty little book. It's full of beautiful oriental projects, for all levels of expertise, so you can pick how challenging you want things to be. There's lots of useful step-by-step guides to illustrate the projects, plus templates at the back. We love that after each card there's a fascinating bit of cultural trivia so you can impress your friends with your knowledge as well as your card making.