Folding, Piercing, Cutting

Folding: Paper folding is not limited to Origami! Teabag folding originated in Europe but has grown to a worldwide hobby. Originally empty teabag papers were folded to created attractive paper craft designs. Use the techniques of teabag folding and cutting on different papers to create a 3-D design that will enhance any greeting card you make. By folding the squares differently many different looks can be created from a single paper design.
Piercing: Piercing, also known as parchment craft or needle drawing, produces a marvelous 3-D perforated effect. Purchase designs, perforate stamped designs or create your own. Paint, powder, embroider to your heart's content.
Cutting: By using different cutting stencils you can create many exciting border, frame and 3-D effects for cards and other paper projects. Using special "duo paper" these effects are even more impressive. "Duo paper" has coordinating color on either side of the paper--like red and green or blue and silver, and so on. You can use these papers with different templates to cut wonderful paper projects. To enhance your cut designs add a stamp image, piercing, embroidery design, or any other embellishments that finish your papercraft. Make random cutouts around a stamped image or cut out an elaborate design and mount on cardstock. You can make 3-D pop-up cards with creative paper cuts (sometimes this art-form is referred to as paper engineering, though normally that refers to the science of making paper)--there are even stencils you can buy to achieve this effect. Check out this papercutter artist's site and the Guild of American Papercutters for inspiration!