Much of Sweden's craft history comes from celebration and festivals native to the culture. Lappish culture, in particular, champions the art of crafting items for decorative and practical use. The Lapps are a nomadic people who follow the reindeer herds in northern Sweden, using the reindeer as a natural resource, which they use to craft various items. Paper crafting, then, comes quite naturally to Swedes, and usually emphasizes an aspect of Swedish tradition, such as native dress, dancing or holiday festivities.
Swedish paper chains are one example of holiday decorations, although they're not exclusive to holiday use. To make these, you would usually use a foil-type paper, being either silver or gold in color, that you'd cut into thin strips. Then you'd form and glue the paper strips into circles, linking one to the next to form a chain. Many have used Swedish paper chains as a Christmas tree decoration or as a garland placed above a doorway.
Swedish paper dolls take traditional Swedish family life and represent it in two-dimensional form. The colors blue and yellow make a strong showing among these paper dolls, as they color the generously proportioned paper doll bodies. Some paper doll designs actually incorporate Swedish paper chain design, with each paper doll linked to the next, and, at times, with each doll being a different shape and size than the next, representing an entire Swedish family.
Swedish paper sloyd places a focus on creating useful objects with paper, such as envelopes, fans, book covers, comb holders, pen boxes, flower holders, matchboxes or baskets. It's a sort of pragmatic origami and can be easily made with household tools, including pencils, rulers, scissors, glue, string, compasses and hole punches. More-decorative crafts include inspiration from Lappish culture, which could incorporate crafting paper-cylinder candles and paper "flames," as well as paper stars that emphasize the Lappish tradition of harmonizing with nature.