Best Results Organizing

Happy New Year, Paper Doll readers!

A few of you, reading this upon awakening, are blinking confusedly (like an old VCR perpetually stuck at 12:00) and wondering what I’m talking about.  No, you didn’t Rip Van Winkle your way through Election Day and the winter holiday hubbub. 

Others are assuming I’m wishing them a L’Shanah Tovah, or Happy Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), and might be expecting me to metaphor my way into getting prepared to buy calendars (as 2009 is only 92 days away!) or even regale you with esoteric tales of all the different non-January 1st New Year’s Days–not just Rosh Hashanah or Chinese New Year, but also Hola Mohala, Nowruz, Losar, and Gudi Padwa, to name a few.)

This post marks the completion of one year of the Paper Doll blog.  Did you know the traditional first anniversary gift is paper? 

It’s hard to believe that 52 weeks have whooshed by as we’ve talked about organizing paper files, eliminating paper clutter (aka:  floozies) and replacing lost but much-needed paper.  We’ve set up family files (including financial, legal, medical, household and personal categories), safeguarded the contents of wallets, and protected against identity theft.  We’ve organized our books, our to-do lists, our magazines and our recipes.

To show gratitude for your readership, I was hoping to indulge myself (and hopefully, you) by showing the lighter side of paper.  Although this is not, per se, about organizing, let us remember the words of William Morris (the 19th century designer, not the Hollywood talent agency) that guide professional organizers’ endeavors to this day:

Have nothing in your homes that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.

On most days, Paper Doll talks about paper in terms of utility–what you need…and what you need to discard.  Other than photography and books, we tend not to think of the beauty of paper, so today’s post is a little homage to that other side of our pulpy friends in paperville

Mixing the world of paper and creatures (real and imaginary), the blog Village of Joy dazzles with 20 Amazing Origami Art Works.    If you know anyone who likes Jedi warriors or unicorns, give it a click!

From the quirky Pictures page of the World News Magazine web site, sample the art of paper in the form of some Amazing Paper Cutouts including

Down the River by the awe-inspiring Peter Callesen.

In a few posts, I’ve let slip that Paper Doll isn’t particularly artistic or craftsy.  At all.  But a girl can dream, and Creative Park, Cannon’s 3d Paper art site, has free downloads for the more adept of you to turn 2-dimensional paper into 3-dimensional art, including animals, dinosaurs, elements of a whole tiny town (from firehouse to amusement park), to little cars like these:

September is just ending, but for those of you already excited about Halloween, , the free paper toys and masks you can create from the toyshop at Raven’s Blight are eerily cool.  Yes, it’s creepy and scary, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I am amazed at the artistry involved.

And given some recent stock market activity (ahem), perhaps it’s a good idea if we can appreciate Cool Stuff We Can Do With Paper Money (besides spend it), like:

 and

And if you’re looking for paper (money) that looks a little more 3-dimensional, check out the work of Mark Skye, the Dollar Artist, whose sculptured creations range from amazingly functional to charmingly fanciful to adorably fashionable .

It’s been a remarkable year, and I want to thank all of Paper Doll‘s readers for the support and encouragement.  Hopefully, you’ve noticed some new features around the site, like the RSS feeds and the long-awaited open comments, so you can share your thoughts without registration (or reservation).

Next week, Paper Doll will begin a second year: sharing thoughts, commentary, resources and goofiness on all things related to organizing our paper and our lives.  Until then, Happy New Year!