Paper, Built in Three Dimensions

There is a specific satisfaction in taking something completely flat and making it stand up. Most of these started as a design file, got cut and scored on the Cricut, and came together by hand — layer over layer, tab into slot, until the shape held on its own. The 3D birthday cakes are the ones people ask about most: each tier cut separately, frosting scallops individually curled, no visible seam if you place your glue right. Same principle behind the pumpkins, the snowman, the star gift boxes, the mini picture books, the tissue boxes, the coloring book treat boxes. What I like about paper construction is that it forces you to think in flat pattern before you think in form — you're reverse-engineering a shape into pieces that can live on a two-dimensional plane. That's quietly made me better at every other kind of layout work I do.