Indeed, wallpaper - which first became popular in the 15th century among decor-mad Europeans who couldn't afford tapestries - has experienced a hipster revolution in the last decade. Target and Anthropologie started trafficking in the stuff. Trad companies such as Graham & Brown partnered with cutting-edge designers including Marcel Wanders to roll out wild patterns such as dusty red Celtic knots; newer houses such as Denmark's Ferm Living produce witty, pretty papers including the black-and-white "Fashion," with its silhouettes of catwalk babes. "People take toiles and update them or do florals in unexpected ways," says Aimee Lagos of Ferm's U.S. Web site (Fermlivingshop.us).

The way interior pros and DIYers use wallpaper has changed, too. While it's still chic to cover a small space (e.g., a powder room) with wall-to-wall damask or stripes, just papering a smidge of real estate comes across as modern and surprising. "It's important to break up your wallpaper," says D.C. interior design Joseph Ireland. "Doing paper in two adjoining rooms would be a mistake."

I made this hat for my son - he wanted a mean shark. I saw the dead fish hat pattern and loved the idea - I just varied the pattern quite a lot to make different looking species. And felted it so it looks like it jumped out of the water and landed on his head...

I basically cast 90 stitches onto a size 9 circular needle and winged it from there. I used Patons wool and it felted great.

But Berseth's breakthrough came from an earlier hive, where the bees built him a remarkable spiral. "I was really happy with that one when I got it open. That was when I realized, Wow, you can sort of break the behavior"-that is, manipulate the bees' instincts about proportion and form. "You can plan out a certain amount of what's going to happen, and then that design will sort of ripple through, and then they'll begin to draw out combs and riff off that design."

Craft stores, from giant chains like Michaels Stores to small scrapbook supply shops, are reporting that sales are higher compared with the last holiday season, and online marketplaces for handmade goods, like Etsy, are seeing a boom in listings and transactions.

Sales at Scrap, a craft supply store in Portland, Ore., were up 33 percent in November compared with the year before. The shop's customers have made a menorah out of yellow plastic bottle caps, Christmas tree ornaments from wood samples and calendars from fabric and paper collages, according to Sarah Dyer, the manager.

"A lot of people are doing a do-it-yourself Christmas, because of the economic downturn but also wanting to make their lives more sustainable, making stuff as opposed to buying more stuff," she said.

I am the only individual in the world with an account with Crayola. I get these colors individually packed 3000 to a case. I cut down the sticks to the length I need by hand with either double guillotine cigar cutters or large breed dog nail clippers. I then bond the paper, not the wax, to a form I have carved or cast, completely enveloping the form. Lately I have been casting the completed crayon sculptures in a silicone jacket mold with a two-part epoxy resin and then painting the resin sculpture to look like the original, for a small edition. The sculptures beg to be touched, so when they are cast it makes the handling of them that much easier.