Paper Punk

Easter is just around the corner and there are so many fun arts and crafts ideas to get you and the kids in the mood to #MakeSomething!

We know this time of the year can be a busy one with family and friends, but why not incorporate some creativity in the mix to keep things interesting.

Here are some cute DIY project ideas everyone can participate in!

1) Paper Flowers

Paper flowers are likely to be the most popular trend when it comes to DIY arts and crafts for spring and it’s not hard to see why. You can make beautiful flowers of any shape or color and showcase them in an old vase.  The best part, you’ll have them for life!

2) Painting With Water Colors

Since it’s spring, the entire family can enjoy this art and craft in any way, shape, or form because there are so many beautiful things to paint and get creative with. Not to mention, it’s easy, fun, and the water-based paint wont damage furniture or clothes (something parents will appreciate!)

3) Construction Paper Easter Eggs

Construction paper crafts are simple and something kids will be familiar with. The great thing is that construction paper is versatile as there are so many colors to choose from! Scissors and glue are the best friends of this special craft. How cute are these Easter eggs!?

4) Paper Plate Bunnies

Make paper plate bunny rabbits for an Easter craft! Check your kitchen cabinets for some good old paper plates and use that imagination. This adorable rabbit craft uses other materials as well such as googly eyes, cotton balls, and pipe cleaners.

5) Building & Coloring with Paper Punk Color + Build Kits

Paper Punk’s Color + Build Graffiti Kit is a great way to get the mind flowing with positivity and things that make us happy like rainbows, hearts, and smiley face emojis. BONUS: you can add candy and treats in the Graffiti Blocks for even more happiness! The Fashion Designer Kit can inspire your little fashionistas to make cute outfits for spring through imaginative storytelling!

We hope you take the time this Easter to incorporate these fun art and craft activities into your weekend. We’re positive you and your family will not only enjoy the end results but enjoy the quality time spent with one another over the holiday season.

Happy Easter Paper Punk Fans!

Do you remember mood rings? Put one on and it would change colors according to your mood?

In the 70’s, they were a huge fad and made a comeback in the late 90’s/early 2000’s and for some reason, just won’t seem to go away. Why? In short, we think it’s because color really matters and by association, it does affect your mood.

Color touches literally every aspect of our lives – from fashion:

down to our mood (hello, mood rings!).

Color psychology is the study of hues as a determinant of human behavior and is tasked with the job of figuring out why we feel the way we do when it pertains to certain colors. Although the study is fairly new, what we know is that typically, colors in the red spectrum (red, orange and yellow) are known as warm colors and can evoke feelings anywhere from warmth and comfort to feelings of anger and hostility. While colors in the blue spectrum (blue, purple and green) evoke feelings anywhere from calmness to sadness.

Why does this matter? Simply put:

We LOVE color and there’s nothing like adding a little color to brighten your day. Whether it be a red a dress here or a blue top there, we love color.

Tell us what color is your favorite by tagging us @paperpunk and check out our Color + Build kits at www.paperpunk.com or at your local Target and get your coloring fix on. Trust us, you’ll thank us later. #MakeSomething

When you really think about it, design in the form of objects are all around us. Whether at home, at work, or during leisure time, objects fill our lives from the moment we wake up to the moment we fall asleep.

It’s been said that well-designed everyday objects can have a positive impact on the way we feel; that good design can make us feel happy and can inspire us to be more creative.

Here are 3 ways good design makes for a happy world and an even happier you!

1) Good design is: Functional & Simple

The simpler the utility the better. It’s actually really challenging to create something that holds high function and appears simple in design. As our design heroes, Charles and Ray Eames, have said, "The details are not the details. The details make the product.”

Well-designed objects trigger positive emotions like calmness and contentment, reducing negative feelings like anger and annoyance because the user experience is seamless, easy and elegant.

2) Good design is: Aesthetically Pleasing

Well-designed objects that are pleasing to the eye create positive emotions in us. After all, who doesn’t love some good eye candy? It’s obvious that beautiful things can boost our mood, making us happier people. Think about when you’re walking by some incredible art and the alchemy of colors and shapes of it changes your day for the better. We tend to appreciate things more that give us a spark of excitement or give us pleasure.

3) Good design can: Trigger Memories

In most cases, a good design can evoke positive emotions in you if you’re able to connect a memory with it. It has the ability to restore old memories, creating a kind of nostalgic feeling when around it.

What we love about Paper Punk is that paper toys are easy to build making them functional and simple. The various colors make each creation beautiful and once you’re finished building, you can keep your creations and reminisce the time you spent with loved ones to make them.

Design truly is all around us and it’s important to embrace it! #MakeSomething

Yesterday, we celebrated International Day of Happiness by asking you (and we did it ourselves) to Paper Punk It Forward and see for yourself – it was awesome. #PaperPunkItForward.

While we were reading some of your submissions, we couldn’t help but find ourselves really digging deep into what happiness is and when were we happiest.  So, we went out and asked a couple of people when they were most happy and here’s what they had to say:

“When I’m hanging out with friends. We get to talk and share stories about our life. Relax. And just spending time with people who you care about is a great experience.” – Kelly

“When I’m at home with my husband and puppy. They’re the love of my life.” – Vanita

“Marathoning Netflix shows and ordering takeout with my husband.” – Jill

“I’m happiest when I’m on an adventure. I love to experience new things and explore new opportunities. It’s really when I feel most alive.” - Amanda

We wanted to include a couple of submissions from our happiness campaign cause well, it made us pretty freaking happy:

I'm happiest helping people become their most creative self…especially making things with their hands!

What makes you happy?

Use our brand new Color+Build GRAFFITI Block kit to construct a positive message and pay your positive message forward for a chance to be featured in our virtual graffiti wall! By tagging us @PaperPunk and using the #PaperPunkItForward hashtag, you will have the chance to be part of our Paper Punk It Forward campaign.

They’re here!!!!!! Paper Punk’s new COLOR+BUILD My Life as a Fashion Designer and COLOR+BUILD Graffiti Happy Blocks Kits are now available for purchase at Target and here online! 

We are so psyched to share these two new products with you, your friends, and family. The Paper Punk play pattern just added a few new dimensions of coloring, story telling, and dream making with these COLOR+BUILD kits. We just know you will love making your mood and planning your fashion empire with us! In our tech driven lives, it’s too easy to get caught up in too much screen time. That’s why our kits are designed to feed your imagination and build your brain through hands-on play —all while spending quality time with loved ones. So… put down that iPad, turn off the TV, and allow your inner artist and dream of being a fashionista become reality.

In light of the launch, we’ve started a fun campaign around the Graffiti Block’s kit specifically and would encourage you to #PaperPunkItForward! All of the details are below! Enjoy :)

Today is Valentine’s Day, a day out of the year where society pressures us to make our loved ones feel as special as possible. But here at Paper Punk, we think it’s important to practice the art of making our loved ones feel special all of the time.

Everyone gives and receives love differently. Whether that be gift giving, quality time, words of affirmation, acts of service (devotion), or physical touch.

When it comes to showing someone you care, we tend to rely heavily on gift giving because it’s the easiest. But at Paper Punk we’re of the philosophy that sometimes it’s the smallest things that mean the most, so here are some fun and creative ways to show your loved one you’re thinking of them.

A cute note hung on the fridge or mirror:

A sweet, meaningful hand-made drawing:

Chef up a creative dish:

Like most people:

There’s something about the big city, bright light buzz of Times Square or even the pure bliss of riding your bike through Central Park that is convincing/motivating enough for anyone to consider a move to the Big Apple.

As we’ll be making my way to New York in a week, we can’t help but be excited to not only enjoy the sights (Street Style) of New York Fashion Week (NYFW), but also to debut our new Color + Build kits at New York Toy Fair.

Some of our favorite looks from last year’s NYFW street style edition include: 

It’s Inspire Your Heart with Art Day and we’re featuring a collection of Paper Punk creations that made our hearts flutter this month.

“There’s a variety of things you can build with Paper Punk. I love the retro punk look. He [Bot] looks like he’s a little rockstar.” - @origamitree

This month we were crazy about the Graffiti stickers, take a look!

Even though there were a lot of reasons to, we didn’t cry over spilled milk.

And despite our best intentions, not all of our resolutions have been kept.

Nonetheless, we’re looking forward to rocking February and yes, love is in the air! Can’t you tell? #PunkStruck

We would love to feature you in our next artist/fan appreciation blog in February. Don’t be a punk and make sure to tag us in your work. Use #MakeSomething #PaperPunk said so for your chance to be included. 

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, etc., are our communication channels that bring out positive and negative commentary and experiences. They are a way for people to connect to each other and with the world around us, and also serve as a medium to express our thoughts.

Two blogs ago, we discussed how art can be used as (and is for some)  a form of therapy for those who are feeling stressed or for the many people who want to discover more about themselves. We wanted to dive in a little further and not only talk about how art is used as a way to express oneself, but how art can be used as a tool for social activism. Craftivism, if you will.

Coined by poet Allen Ginsberg, the “Flower Power” movement became a popular form of nonviolent protesting in the late 60s and early 70s. This was a movement where demonstrators would insert a flower into a soldier’s gun as an act of peaceful protest against the Vietnamese war. The gesture would later be embraced by hippies and become the embodiment and staple of their movement.

What do you think of when you see the below image?

The gym? Most people associate the “We Can Do It” picture to the women’s rights movement even though it first surfaced in the 40s to promote female war production workers. However, the photo is best known for feminism as it became popular in the 80s to promote the movement and other political issues surrounding this period.

Art is a constant reminder of events and allows us to discuss social and political issues, even when we sometimes don’t know what to say. Take for example the work of James deCaires Taylor that features sculptures submerged 14 feet underwater off the coast of the Canary Islands. They depict the “Raft of Lampedusa” which references the current immigration crisis:  

For those unfortunate enough to live in a climate that has snow for majority of the year, we salute you! Blizzards, being snowed in, brown and/or yellow snow, shovelling?! …

Most people will say the only good thing about winter is how pretty the snow is. 

We are a little inclined to agree, but we want to be sure so we decided to go on a snow adventure and try all of the typical winter activities and bring our Paper Punk pals with us.

Tobogganing

First up on our winter adventure is tobogganing. 

Tobogganing, for those who may not know, consists of either a plastic or wooden long, flat bottomed sled where you sit on and plunge yourself down a hill.

It’s great with a large group of people. Trust us, time flies when you’re having fun.

Skating

Ice skating has proven to be the nemesis of many people: 

via GIPHY

But, winter isn’t so bad when you’re out and about so we’ve decided to give it a chance and we loved it!

But after a long day out in the snow, we decided to warm up with some hot chocolate.

In conclusion, not only is snow pretty, but tobogganing wouldn’t exist without it and for that we’re eternally grateful. #MakeSomething but also go out and do something cause Paper Punk says so!