WELCOME, Marisa Edghill!
Marisa Edghill
This month, we sit down with Marisa Edghill, craft designer, washi tape aficionado, and author of Washi Style!: Make it with paper tape. Marisa grew up in a house filled with glitter, pretty paper, and an inherent love of craft. Which is to say her love of all things handmade started early! Well-known for her washi tape creations, Marisa blogs about her crafty adventures online at omiyageblogs.ca.
1. What’s your craft?
This is actually a tough one for me! I’m a craft dabbler–I love making (or at least trying to make) all sorts of things. That being said, I’m probably best known for paper craft–especially projects using washi tape and origami paper. 
2. What project would you consider an all-time best?
I’ve just wrapped up my 2014 creative project, so I’m feeling pretty pleased with it at the moment. The Kirigami Project was a year-long exploration in kirigami papercutting. I spent a great deal of time in 2014 surrounded by piles of paper cuttings and wouldn’t change a thing about that! As a bonus, I teamed up with a fantastic graphic designer, Geri Jewitt, and we released a new design weekly plus provided monthly printable templates.
3. What project would you consider an all-time worst?
A sleeveless ribbed funnel neck sweater knit out of brown acrylic yarn. Without a pattern. So many poor choices there! I never actually wore it though, so I guess that’s a good thing!
4. What tool or material could you not live without?
Washi tape! I really do use it for everything whether it is a tape-based project, to mark a seam allowance on my sewing machine or to seal a package in the kitchen. I keep a roll (or 3) in my purse in case of tape emergencies. It’s definitely my favourite muliti-tasker. My sister summed it up the other day by saying “I don’t know what I did before washi tape came into my life.”
5. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Teleportation. I love to see and discover new places–but I’m not a fan of the actual logistics of getting from point A to point B. How amazing would it be to start your day eating pineapple for breakfast in Hawaii with an ocean view, then wander the cobblestone streets of Florence, popping into a gallery or two (and a gelato shop or three), and still get to sleep in your own bed. Amazing!
Here are some other random things about me…
I was born in Barbados and raised in Canada. After university, I moved to Japan (on a bit of a whim) where I fell in love with the country (and the Brazilian boy I married on a humid Japanese summer day in a humid Japanese city hall). Now we live in an old house in a small town on the southern shores of Georgian Bay and dream that the snow drifts outside are really beach dunes. (Teleportation would be a great asset during the long Canadian winter!)
Follow Marisa Edghill at:
Omiyage.ca | Omiyageblogs.ca | Pinterest.com/Omiyageca | Facebook.com/Omiyage.ca | Twitter.com/MarisaEdghill | Instagram/omiyage_ca
Order Washi Style at your favorite bookseller!
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-a-Million
Indiebound
Powell’s Books
Check out our new January and February books!
What exactly is
washi tape, you ask? Well, these decorative paper tapes from Japan have taken the design world by storm. A much prettier version of masking tape, washi tape is not as delicate as you might think. Extremely versatile and available in myriad patterns and varying widths, there’s no limit to what you can create. 
