Paper Every Day
By Laurie Dewberry
North Light Books, 2006

“Throw a paper party!” That’s the advice of Laurie Dewberry, author of Paper Every Day, to people who have amassed more scrapbook paper than they can keep up with. Dewberry is an events planner, an avid paper crafter and co-creator of The Paper Wardrobe line of scrapbook paper, and this all shows in the projects she presents in her book.

The projects in this book are divided into five sections – Organizing, Celebrating, Giving, Remembering, and Setting Traditions – and demonstrate how you can use patterned paper in your day-to-day activities, be it planning meals for the week, assigning chores to family members, marking personal milestones, or keeping things organized. Thirty paper projects include storage containers, a purse-shaped favor box, a flip-flop inspired pool party invitation, and a keepsake frame.

Basic paper crafting techniques and templates for the projects are provided at the beginning and towards the end of book. Each project is explained concisely and illustrated with full color photos, so it’s easy to follow along. The requisite list of tools and materials for each project also mentions the brand and product name of the paper and embellishments used. This comes in handy if you’d like to replicate a project down to the smallest detail, but as the author points out in the Resources section you should, by all means, experiment with your own favorite materials and support local suppliers in your area.

As a bonus, the book comes with a page of paper embellishments like borders and word art, as well as three tear-out pages of back-to-back patterned paper designed by Dewberry. A few more tear-out pages would have been nice, but then who needs more paper when the whole point of the book is to encourage you to actually use up your paper stash?

Another nice touch is the tips about event planning and gift giving, which can help you to save time and effort when preparing paper crafts – like invitations and party favors – for a special occasion.

Overall, Paper Every Day is a decent book that beginner and intermediate paper crafters will probably enjoy, but which may leave advanced users looking for something more substantial. More than a quarter of the projects in the book are cards or invitations, which one could easily find in a book or magazine dedicated to card making. A wider variety of projects – say, perhaps, elegant wall décor, coasters, holiday ornaments – would have made this book more appealing.

Note: I acquired this book with my own funds and was not compensated for this review in any way.

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