New Year’s is a time for self-reflection and, in an effort to improve upon the previous twelve months, resolutions are often made. Many of us at The Paper Place are ambitious in our art project planning throughout the year–so much so that, at times, the end of the year is accompanied by the realisation that not all of our projects were brought to fruition!

This year, one of my New Year’s resolutions is to get an early start on some of the artful endeavours I’ve been fantasizing about since last year. Many of them are timely and have even helped to commemorate the fun I had tying up 2011.

Making your own picture frame is fun and fairly simple given the online materials that books like Paper + Craft supply you with. Photo frames are great when paired with all of the fun pictures you snapped over the holiday season. Take a look at this one of my best friend, Belinda, and I!

Making this frame was as easy as selecting one 8 1/2 x 11 ” piece of card stock and two same-sized pieces of paper weight. From the wide variety of material The Paper Place carries, I chose black for the card stock, “paper bag” for one of the pieces of paper, and “linen ivory lightweight” for the second. From there I downloaded templates from the Paper + Craft link above, layered my frame cut-outs, and added a playful safety pin detail using a paper punch. Divine Twin is a great way to hang my framed photo as it isn’t very heavy.

Even though many parties occurred during the month of December, January finds us with plenty of reasons to celebrate, including Chinese New Year, a new job, or a new baby in the family! Why not adorn wine, juice, or water glasses during social gatherings with silhouette animal glass markers? They are playful and help you remember which glass is yours!

I made these using black card stock, animal stencils, and an X-Acto knife. The cut-outs can be adhered using Yamato rice paste with no harm to your glassware as the adhesive is water-soluble and non-toxic. Alternatively, double-sided tape will do the trick!

Speaking of silhouettes, many brides-to-be have begun to come in to plan and design their wedding invitations. I always like to give my dear friends a black paper-cut silhouette wedding portrait to capture such an exciting and memorable event in life. Starting early is key if I have learned anything over the years, so January isn’t too soon to start planning to collect materials and tools! Take a look at the last two I executed!

From all of us at The Paper Place, best of luck in 2012 and take the new year as inspiration to plan so fun, artsy projects!