Paper

Ah, paper: It accumulates, grows into unwieldy piles, and morphs into clutter and chaos in our homes and offices. It's one of the curses of contemporary life, decidedly not "paperless" despite the utopian promises of electronic communication.

Splashlife, a social media network for the under 30 crowd, recently launched a new monthly series highlighting 30 people (under 30) for excellence in a particular field – and the first list is the nation's top young crafters. Most of these artists work across a variety of mediums, and many sell their works on Etsy. Here are some of our favorites from the list:

Somewhere between an Olympics medal ceremony and “Candid Camera” falls the annual Awards Walking Tour at the American Craft Council's Baltimore Show. Each year, we invite two specialists in the craft field to jury the show, selecting six Award of Excellence recipients and two winners in the Booth Design category. This year's jurors were Jane Milosch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Josephine Shea, curator of the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House, a historic home near Detroit.

For a first-time visitor, the American Craft Council’s Baltimore Show can be somewhat overwhelming - in the best possible way. I experienced that today when I entered the Baltimore Convention Center for a sneak peek at the exhibitors in our 34th annual show. I was immediately struck not only by the sheer number of artists, but also by the eclectic variety of the work on display. It’s an incredible sensory experience to encounter exquisitely handcrafted goods in such a range of colors, shapes, textures and materials.