And On Earth Peace, Good Will Toward Men.

I'm getting an early jump on my Christmas cards (probably not early enough) and did these pretty little angel papercuts in honor of the birth of the Savior.

The Knuckledragger

She liked the Knuckledragger, but found out that he only kept her around for kicks. Something had to be done.

I haven't done a papercut I enjoyed this much in a long time!

Happy Birthday, Erin!

My friend Erin is turning another year older today and I've had a couple of different ideas for things to do for her for a papercut. I wound up doing this one that goes along with the circus themed cuts I've been meaning to do but have never done. This is of Erin and her two little monkeys that she takes everywhere with her and teaches them everything she knows. Happy Birthday mi hermana!

Amazing

Okay, guys, there's a woman named Elsa Mora who just made the ultimate papercutting blog. It's so beautiful. Go see what's she's done and enjoy it to the fullest extent!

allaboutpapercutting

Conference Weekend

This weekend, my church had a conference that I got to sit and listen to. It's sometimes really hard for me to sit through the whole 4 hours on Saturday and then again on Sunday, so it helps for me to have something to do. On the second two hour block on Saturday, I drew these 5 cuts and then on Sunday, I cut them all out.

This one, I really have no idea what I was doing here. However you want to interpret it is fine with me.





This one looks a lot cuter in real life. I think I might rescan it on white paper so it turns out better. It's so cute!

Digital Scrapbooking

I must confess, when I said I would post something on here that dealt with papercutting and scrapbooking, I had really no clue what to do. I thought I would try to do something digitally since the computer is what I am most comfortable with. I kind of like it! Here is my merger of scrapbooking and scherenschnitte:


In order to create this piece, I had to draw it out first. I had a rough idea of what I was going to do and where I was going to place the picture. Knowing those things, I jumped right in.


If you are ever cutting words out and you're drawing your image directly to the back of the paper, always remember to do a mirror image. Then, before you even think about cutting, take a look at it in the mirror. There are sooooooo many times when I've cut something out only to notice that an R was backwards or that tricky N was slanted the wrong way.


The finished piece. Ta da!


After I scanned it in, I took the image into Photoshop, outlined it and colored it and placed it over my photo. I've been using Photoshop for quite some time now, so I have no clue how difficult this is for the beginner, but once you get the hang of it, it's really pretty simple!

Making Memories

I'm featured on the Making Memories (where I work) blog! I had said that I would do a piece that would relate to scrapbooking and I will put that up tonight. Check back and see!

Oh, and some people were wondering if I had a video of how to papercut and I do, I did it a while ago and I would do things differently now, but here's what I did do!

Young Love

Here's a little project I was doing for a Jinky Art down in Australia. It was going to be so cute and animated and I was going to wait until the final piece before I bragged profusely about it, but there were some problems with the animation and I think the whole thing had to be scrapped. The kids were so cute, swinging around and kissing.

Oktoberfest!

So on September 25th, I'm going to be hosting an Oktoberfest party at my house and for the invite, I thought I'd do a little papercut of a cuckoo clock. I'm going to see if my mom will send me her dirndl for the party. I don't know if I'll fit into it though. No eating for a few weeks. It's kind of fitting to make a scherenschnitt for a little Oktoberfest party, no?

First Fig

This is a simple one, but it's going to be a series. Does anyone know the rest of the poem or who it's written by?

Provo Rocks Topless

A few years ago, I went to a private college in a city in Utah called Provo. When I lived there, we would complain about how there was no art scene or community culture and how everything was just poop. I wish I were going to school there now because it's fun to venture down south and see what's happening on the first Friday of every month. They have a great Gallery Stroll and it's really quite the pretty little place. One of my friends, Raquel, is in charge of a lot of what goes on down there and she asked me to do a papercut for their next brochure featuring buildings from the historic downtown Provo area. It's taken me forever to complete, but I've finally finished it!

Saber-toothed Pigeon

There are few things less feared than a Saber-toothed Pigeon.

I Know You Like Chickens

I made a new set of silhouette thank you cards. This one features chickens! Most everyone likes chickens. I, myself, am rather afraid of them, but that's just me.

Red Riding Hood

This one I did for my friend Brigham's mom, Claire, for her birthday. It got to her a few weeks late, mostly from my own procrastination. I had it all drawn out well before her birthday, but didn't get around to cutting it out until later. Those flowers were so daunting! When I was a little girl, I had a German Shepherd named Tanya. I loved that dog soooooooo much. I loved scratching her chin and while scratching, she would lick my hand. I thought that would be a nice moment for Red and the wolf while she's off picking flowers. Happy Birthday to Claire!

Sage Advice

Recently I was contacted by Faith, a professional food writer for Apartment Therapy. She is getting married soon and wanted an icon that is a mix of elements from her and her fiance's life. Since she's a food writer, a lot of their budget will be going towards food (oh how I wish I could go to that reception), so that element had to be present in the image. Also, they have a cute story about sage from when they were first getting to know one another. Their religious beliefs are very important to them, so the wine and the bread has a double meaning. Faith was a pleasure to work with and I am really pleased with the results. Congratulations, you guys, for finding each other!

Woman at the Well

I've been sitting on this one for a while. It's been in my sketchbook and I finally got around to cutting it. This papercut is of the account of the woman at the well found in John 4:7-30. The Savior asks her to draw some water for Him from the well. She asks Him how He could request this of her since she is a Samaritan and the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. He replies that if she knew who was before her, she would ask water of Him. She doesn't get it and He expounds some more. Still she doesn't get it and He tells her to go fetch her husband. She tells Him she doesn't have one and He replies, "No kidding, you have five." Finally she gets it and understands who sits before her. Sometimes I feel like that is what happens in my life. There are so many examples of God's abundance all around and I trudge through thinking about me and how sucky my life is and in reality, all I need to do is trust in the Lord and do as He says and everything will turn out all right. Maybe not in this life, and I really hate that answer, but in the life to come. As for me and my house, I'm pretty happy and grateful for all that I have received so far, I really can't complain.

Someday My Prints Will Come

I put some more prints up on my Etsy site. Thanks, Billy, for the idea about the color variation on the heart print. It looks pretty cool!

Come Thou Fount

You know how sometimes you sit and analyze yourself and think about some of your superficial faults and think, "Oh, if only I weren't this way, this would happen for me," or "If I didn't have this physical problem, so and so would like me." Then, for some reason, whether it be through your own tenacity or through sheer luck, that problem goes away. Then you still have the junky job or the boy doesn't like you and you wonder, "Maybe it's just me, maybe he just doesn't like me," because some other guy is blowin' up your phone with his love texts and you're sitting there mooning over the person who doesn't even think twice about you and you realize that the guy you don't like likes you just the way you are and who you think you really want is dumb. It's way late at night when I'm writing this so I don't know if I'm making sense. All of a sudden, you realize that you need help and that help isn't going to come from your mom or your job or the attentions of the guy that's never going to give you attention and you wonder why you haven't talked to God in so long and how the answers are really easy but you're too stubborn to see them, so you let it all go and shape up and talk to the being who created you in all your glory and selfishness and you go ahead and accept yourself a little more and love your follies because they make you who you are. This papercut comes from a line in the song Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing and I really should read verses before I spend hours cutting them out of paper because it really goes "Here's my heart, O take and seal it," but I think it matches the hymn just as well with the word Lord in there. I've loved this song for ages. It sums up my weekend and it comforts me.

Fail Better

When I was in London, I saw this quote by Samuel Beckett and thought it was kind of depressing, but encouraging at the same time. There are so many things that we fail at that may destroy our will to continue trying them, but try them again we must and if we fail again, it is with more knowledge than when we failed the first time.

Idaho State Bird and Flower

I finished this last Sunday for Mother's day for my mom. She wanted another bird to fill in her three frames that she had. She got the original California Quail and I made two of these Mountain Bluebirds. The Mountain Bluebird, Sialia currucoides is the state bird of Idaho. I put him with the state flower of Idaho, the Syringa, Philadelphus lewisii. I think I'll try to do the rest of the 50 states, although there are some repeats, but the flowers are different!



Purchase a print of the Mountain Bluebird and Syringa at etsy!