Gifts from paper and cardboard: ideas and tips for making

Making a gift out of paper - what can be more boring, many will think. And they are wrong! Gone are the days when in the stationery department you could buy colored paper and cardboard, and nothing else. Metallized, corrugated, crepe, velvet, designer, scrapbooking paper - there are a lot of options. You can make from such material from a simple, but bright, beautiful, stylish postcard to a paper model of Hogwarts.

Consider the option of a set of materials if you are going to seriously engage in the manufacture of decorative items from paper and cardboard. Let's say you want to make such homemade gifts in the future, so you expect to stock up on materials and tools thoroughly.

• A pair of designer cardboard / paper sets. They are sold in the departments of goods for creativity. You can find sets in A4 and A3 formats, in one pack - from 10 sheets.
• White cardboard. It is always needed as a base material. It is great if it is cardboard with an interesting texture: embossed, with imitation of watercolor paper, etc.
• Glue. A glue gun is always needed, a bottle of PVA glue and a glue stick will also come in handy.
• Colored paper of different textures. Be sure to buy a set of corrugated paper, metallized, crepe, glossy. The more textures, the more choice and creative possibilities you have.
• Scissors. Two pairs are enough: large and small. Very convenient and inexpensive scissors can be ordered from Asian sites.
• Braid, ribbons, cords, lace for decoration. Here you can also add buttons, rhinestones, beads, sequins, which should be in stock.
• Paints, brushes, pencils, markers, felt-tip pens.In a word, everything that will help put the final touch.

If you're planning on a birthday, what present seems like an undeniable classic that always lifts your spirits? That's right - cake. And it can also be made from paper. Either a dense design variety or soft cardboard will do. The same "triangles" of the cake are made according to the template, which are subsequently decorated with rhinestones, beads, lace braid, etc. In each piece of paper cake, wishes for the hero of the occasion can lie twisted and tied with a thin ribbon.

There are many other, different in terms of scope of work, options.

• Paper flowers-panels. This is something from which the author himself will receive unspeakable pleasure, and the birthday man will be happy for sure. At the preliminary stage, the author cuts out flowers or even individual petals from watercolor paper. Next, he must make them colored: someone will have rich petals, lush poppies and bright cornflowers, someone will make the flowers beautiful with their fadedness, subtlety, and decide in favor of nude shades. When everything is ready, the flowers are glued onto a pre-toned base canvas. It remains to arrange all this in a frame (or somehow otherwise).

• Paper curtains (firanki)... This is a purely decorative item, but it can find a place in the interior. If the apartment has a small window, they will "settle" there. Paper curtains also look good in the boudoir area. On a large sheet of paper (a special format is purchased), a sketch is first drawn with a pencil, the slots in which are then carefully cut out with a special knife. The thing turns out to be unique, the work, without exaggeration, is subtle.

• Vitinanka. The principle is the same as with paper curtains, but the amount of work is different. An elegantly cut drawing (most often a plot) is pasted onto a contrasting background and framed.

• Volumetric paper painting... Each element of this picture needs to be cut (in some cases made in color) and pasted at a distance to create a volume effect.

Let's say you want to attach a postcard with a surprise inside to your main gift. If such a gift is supposed to be given on behalf of a child, there are simple options for him, for example, a New Year's card with a dancing snowman. It turns out to be very fun, unexpected for an adult, it is always nice to give one.

A card with a surprise (snowman) should be done strictly step by step.

1. Take a sheet of thick colored paper or cardboard. Fold it into a little book.
2. From white watercolor paper, cut out one large snowdrift and two small ones visible in the background. Subsequently, they will need to be glued to the first sheet of the postcard, but not in a continuous layer, but only along the edges.
3. At the bottom of the first sheet with a clerical knife, you need to make a slot - such that a wooden medical spatula passes into it (but does not dangle). On this spatula, glue a snowman, drawn on cardboard and cut out the way you like. The size of the snowman should be such that it can completely hide behind the central snowdrift.
4. Glue the drifts to the central sheet without touching the snowman on the stick with the glue. Draw snowflakes all over the sheet (you can sprinkle the sheet with sparkles, rhinestones, etc.).
5. Inside the postcard must be with wishes.

When such a gift is presented, the snowman is not visible - only the wand is visible. It is necessary to show the person who receives the postcard how a snowman can protrude from behind a snowdrift.This will surprise both small and large: the best bonus to the main gift is emotions, a smile. Children love to make such "toy" postcards, it is easier for them to work with A4 sheets. Although you can make mini-versions of postcards.

The following is another video on how you can make a card with a snowman.

Corrugated cardboard is a godsend for lovers of handicraft. What was previously not done from colored paper, so that it somehow changed its smoothness to relief. Now such tricks are not needed - you get corrugated cardboard, make an applique or a volumetric figure with your own hands.

For beginners to work in this genre, you can make a photo frame from cardboard.

1. Decide on the size, taking into account the standard parameters of the photo. Cut out the base sheet. Most likely, it will be the same corrugated cardboard, the seamy side of which is smooth.
2. For example, you can make a nautical-style photo frame. Then the background should be light blue or blue. From the same cardboard, cut out the stripes that will be the frame of the frame. They are neatly glued to the base: the smooth side is glued "face" to the smooth background (that is, the frame will be corrugated).
3. Cut out decorative elements from the same cardboard: a boat, a boat, seagulls, clouds, palm trees, waves. If you want to add other materials to the work, use braid (wavy is great for creating waves), buttons, sparkles. You can glue the parts with a glue stick or a glue gun.
4. The gap between the base and the frame should be such that you can shove it into the frame of the photo and it will hold tightly enough in the frame. You can make such a postcard together with your child: everything is quite simple, no special artistic skills are required.

A very interesting gift can be “corrugated food”. And if the idea with a cake is considered not so original, then how do you like corrugated paper sushi? If a gift is addressed to a lover of such a dish, he will clearly be flattered. The main thing is that such a craft does not take much time and effort.

You need to lay the rolls on a sheet that resembles a plate or an elegant stand for this dish. Usually the plate is made on a sheet of white and very thick watercolor paper, and the frame for it can be made of black velvet cardboard (there is one too!)

For the rolls themselves, you need several not very thick strips of multi-colored cardboard. Many small, narrow, multi-colored stripes are rolled into a roll, held together with glue. This is the filling. Around them is a white layer of "paper rice" made of white corrugated cardboard. And all this is crowned with a fixing black strip of cardboard (algae). Five of these rolls are stacked on top of each other, under the bottom you can lay ginger cut out of plain cardboard. It turns out very close to the original!

If you are doing a craft with a child, accustoming him to manual creativity, you can remember the good old technique - papier-mâché... You could make anything out of toilet paper and glue - they usually started with vases. This does not require a scan, designer cardboard and other things that may not be found at home. The child learns to glue, learns to wait (working with papier-mâché requires patience), learns to decorate the workpiece. At a certain stage, an adult can relieve himself of all obligations - the child likes to finish it himself.

Teach children from a young age not to stay away from gifts from loved ones. And let the adults give something material, and the child put their work into crafts, drawings, postcards. Parents help, but he works himself. This develops not only artistic skills, but also hard work, responsibility, self-discipline.