The Michaels Book of Paper Crafts (ISBN 1579906389)

GROSSLY OVERPRICED; projects only fit for young children:
This book is grossly overpriced. Other than the origami (which is lovely, but you could buy a number of excellent origami books for the cost of this atrocity), the projects seem intended for young children -- and inept ones at that. There are many excellent craft books, magazines, and videos available, and cable television produces some outstanding shows (e.g., the Carol Duvall reruns, and I've heard great things about DIY, although we don't get that in my area). Don't waste your money on this overpriced garbage!

Lots of interesting ideas for decorating with paper:
The 'Michaels' in the title of this craft book refers to the Michaels craft store chain. If you're interested in an overview of just about everything decorative that can be done with paper, including paper clay, decoupage, paper maché, punching, embossing, cutting, piercing, quilling, rolling, and weaving then this will be a useful book. For those of us who have already concentrated on particular paper techniques such as quilling or scrap-booking, then there are other craft books that focus on our specialty. There are some really crazy projects in this book, which makes it fun to read. There are collaged and curled lamp shades, paper clay dragonflies, or how about a decoupaged holiday curio cabinet? The photographs, lists of materials, and directions are fairly easy to follow, but the individual projects would have been simplified if the book contained more patterns. I did pick up a couple of unusual quilling techniques using crimped paper, and I was also able to make the woven heart envelopes (I used them as card decorations) described in this book. The woven heart envelope project was one of the few that included templates in four different sizes. Another omission in this book was a list of sources where you could pick up the materials for a particular project. Maybe everything I need is available in a Michaels craft store but there aren't any in my area, and it appears as though they no longer sell their supplies on the internet.

Comprehensive Paper Crafts Book:
I disagree with the reviewer who described the projects as mainly suitable for children. This is a well written, well designed book which can serve as an able introduction to various paper crafts. Yes, some of the material is available on the web, but you would need to test the instructions you found. My experience has been that Lark Books are good and that is true of this book.

Checked out of the Library and decide I want this book:
Loved this book when I began flipping thru it. I always check books out of the Library to see if it would be worth me getting. This one is if you love paper.