Ruinchi Ruiohira / Paper Artist

These whimsical paper cut pieces by Ruinchi Ruiohira bring a smile to my bone-tired, can't-wait-for-the-weekend-to-start face.

Making It: Washi Tape Rosettes

Paper rosettes are so easy to make that they barely require a tutorial at all. Also, there are probably dozens of tutorials for them online already. BUT, a few days ago, I was making some for my book table at Squam and I started adding some washi tape to the process and they looked awesome! So, I thought I would share...

What you need:
Book pages (you can also use any other kind of lightweight paper)
Washi tape in various colors
White glue
Paint brush



Fig. 1: Depending on the size of your rosette, you will need 2-5 pages of a book (or another paper), all the same size. I am going to use 4 full book pages for this rosette.



Fig. 2: Affix a couple of stripes of washi tape to all of your book pages running lengthwise. I made mine random but you can also measure them out.
Variation: you can also have the tape stripes running width-wise for a totally different look.



Fig. 3: Accordian fold your book pages lengthwise roughly every half inch.



Fig. 4: Fold your accordian-ed book pages in half lengthwise and brush glue onto one edge.



Fig. 5: Fold the edges together and press for the glue to hold. This will make a little fan. Repeat to make four fans.



Fig. 6: Now you will put the fans together. You can see here that I have glued three together and am about to add the fourth.
Brush glue on both outer edges of the fan and affix to the other fans. I recommend doing this part on a flat surface.





Fig. 7 & 8: Tada! You have pretty and bright rosettes to play with. They are perfect for parties, gift toppers, decorating walls in a kid's room, wearing on your head...whatever you want!

Note to Self

I've noticed recently that, after I come back from a big trip, like my book tour or Squam, I have this incredible energy for a few days and then it all comes crashing down on me as the banal reality of day-to-day sets in. I never went to summer camp but I imagine it to feel similar to the day that your parents pick you up and bring you back home.
Being on a book tour is all about "me, me me". Someone picks you up, tells you where to go and then you can just focus one one thing. That's why Squam is so beautiful too: you have all this time to create and no worries about shores, errands and making dinner. Let's face it, being an adult, having to squeeze in the "me time" in between responsibilities, kind of blows.
So this week, I'm going to take a good hard look at my calendar and my schedule. I'm going to cut out things that don't really make me happy in the long run (hello channel flipping with a glass of wine!) and replacing them with the thing I always say I don't have time to do (hello making art...maybe also with a glass of wine!). It's incredibly easy for me to talk myself into watching tv or going out to dinner after work, with an "I work so hard, I deserve this" but in fact I deserve so much more than that. We all do!

What have you done to re-arrange your life for more creative time?

Credit Where It's Due

(I wrote this post last week and it mysteriously disappeared so let's try it again!)

Unless you have been living under a rock (and of course you haven't!), I'm sure you've dipped your toe into, or become unreasonable obsessed with, the image bookmarking site Pinterest. I've been pinning for a year and I love it! I can't believe how much easier it is for me to organize my inspiration. However, Pinterest has come under the scrutiny of some, particularly photographers, who are tired of getting their work pinned and linked with no credit and while I can't begin to understand the intricacies of copyright law, I like to follow the rules of "play nice and give credit where it's due."

So, here's what I wish everyone would do on Pinterest:
*Pin the original source of a post or image
*Pin the link to the actual post not the home page of a site
*Add credits (photographer, artist, stylist, magazine, etc) whenever you can.

I often see bloggers who should know better re-pin images on Pinterest willy-nilly. The images link back to a random Tumblr with no attribution to the photo. This is just plain lazy, pure and simple. It takes a bit more time to pin the right way but it's also the right thing to do.I admit that I too was guilty of this when I first started pinning; now I am going back into my boards and correcting all my improper links!

Let's use this image above as an example. It was originally posted on Pinterest with the caption "neon stripes" and linked back to a Tumblr. The image was nowhere to be found on this site. Of course I wanted to re-pin it, it's awesome! But I also wanted it to be properly pinned- what to do?

Here's a little tool that has helped me immensely: this bookmarklet (which I originally found on Miss Moss- see how I gave credit there?) called src-img helps you find original image sources and credits. I use it about a thousand times a day. When you click on the tool and then the image, this is what it looks like. This tool took me to the Trendhunter site, which included all the info I needed to attribute the photo to the right people.



That's more like it! A well-credited pin!

And with that, I will now hop off my soapbox.

Again with the nails.

Lately, my favorite weekend activity is making a big cup of tea, putting on a good movie and doing my nails. I know, riveving, right? Honestly, it is the most relaxing thing on earth. And look at the nails! This is a variation on the last DIY mani I did a few weeks ago, which was a variation of this tutorial. Instead of using the binder reinforcement stickers at the bottoms of the nails to mimic a french manicure, I placed them on my nails randomly. You could do this with a million color variations too-imagine the possibilities!