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Start a slow, spiraling descent through layer upon crafty layer in this video for Monsters of Folk 's song, "Dear God". The video was made by Lauri Faggioni , who created the awesome soft sculpture animals and artwork in the movie, The Science of Sleep . Several parts of this, especially the newspaper flowers, reminds me of the papercutting and book art of my friend, Rachael Ashe .

A lovely lil' Valentine from those sweethearts at Etsy...

I like tiny things. When I was small myself, I had a dollhouse (inhabited by bears and bunnies ) and also a few shelves and a  type case filled with little items like a glass hedgehog, tiny teapots, little shells, and other miniature treasures. And while I've since tried to reduce the amount of clutter and knick knacks in my life, I am still partial to a few cute, tiny touches here and there, like the penny-sized plastic antelope that grazes atop a picture frame in my kitchen and the micro hippo that lurks on my desk. (But seriously, who doesn't want a house hippo ?! Seriously.) So I think I was already pre-conditioned to enjoy  Microcrafts: Tiny Treasures to Make and Share , a new book by  published by Quirk Books. Compiled by Quirk editior Margaret McGuire and crafters Alicia Kachmar and Katie Hatz , the book presents 25 projects for crafts dreamed up by a dozen or so crafters. Like the book title implies, the projects are not only smaller than bread box, th...

I have been quite absent from the blog recently... life has just got in the way! Some of the culprits that have kept me busy of late: rock climbing, all-round summertime fun, and wedding planning (not to mention wedding crafting !). In the spirit of that the latter, here's a fun video for Craft Rock Friday . It's for the song appropriately entitled "Marriage" by Gold Panda, and features a busy little paper lantern who really knows how to get around. <p><br>(</p> (Via Indie Rock Cafe's "Royal Wedding Songs" mix .)

Today it's a lovely Spring-like day in Vancouver. We even sat out on the patio for lunch. So it's somewhat out of place that today's Craft Rock Friday video is from a band called Winter Gloves . It'd be tough to flip through a flipbook with your mitts on though.... WINTER GLOVES 'Let Me Drive' from the album 'about a girl' Winter Gloves | Myspace Music Videos

 I'm super excited to see my wreath made from recycled cardboard coffee sleeves included as one of the "8 Great DIY Wreaths" roundup on Apartment Therapy today! The whole tutorial is here on Magpie and Cake and also over on Cut Out & Keep .

Today's Craft Rock Friday video is an oldie but a goodie (in as much as 2005 qualifies as "old"). I love this song, but the lyrics and premise are so sad... though I suppose it's all about making the best out of a bad situation, creating joy in unlikely moments, carpe diem and all that good stuff. Bright Eyes  - "At the Bottom of Everything"

UK band Let's Buy Happiness brings back Craft Rock Friday from it's haitus with an overdose creepy crafty exuberance, paper-cut shadow puppets and several mouthfuls of paint.

This week's Craft Rock Friday is a 2-for-1, as Lenka has a bunch of crafty stuff goin' on in her music... Here are a couple of her videos that use collage, paper cutting, drawing and painting... "The Show" "Trouble is a Friend" Lenka's album artwork also has a nice crafty style to it - as do her site and MySpace . ( Thanks for the link, Alexandra! )

This shelf made from old National Geographic magazines is just brilliant. Doesn't everyone have a huge stack of old issues collecting dust in their basements?

After reading on the Times site about a never-published Alice in Wonderland chapter (!) - with a related letter that's up for sale (£15,000 to £20,000!), I happened to notice a story about a new statue that's just been unveiled in London, on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth . A play on traditional statues, this one's a ship ... in bottle ! Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle was created by British artist Yinka Shonibare. Unusual and whimsical, this is just the kind of statue I'd really enjoy coming across (and I think a trip to London is long overdue!). What's more, there's also an interesting history about the textiles used in the original ship... [...] Shonibare’s model of Nelson’s HMS Victory (his flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar) is gaudy with sails made from his trademark Dutch wax fabrics. “The Dutch wax fabrics were originally Indonesian-influenced fabrics, known as batik. The Dutch tried the Indonesian market with industrially produced versions and then subse...

Today's Craft Rock Friday brings you a sweet song, a sweet story ... and some sweet stop-motion paper-cut action. Using cut paper and pen and ink drawings, artist Liam Stevens ( whose other drawings are pretty great, too ) has created a truly lovely little music video for the acoustic version of My Robot Friend 's song, "Waiting", featuring the lovely guitar of Jay Kauffman . Listening to the song, I hadn't pictured a traditional Japanese setting - but I think it works quite well. The palette and the hand-drawn feel - as well as the charming story - all really complement this version of the song. Oh! And one more delicious piece of crafty goodness for you - I'll leave you with the brilliant artwork for My Robot Friend 's album, Soft-Core. Ha! (Today's Craft Rock Friday tip was sent to me by the ever-awesome Dan - a big admirer of both paper and robots. Thanks, dude!)