Maybe It Was Utah - Screenprint of Original Papercut

Hi! If you are local (Salt Lake City area) and you want to skip the shipping costs of this screenprint, purchase here! Then you can leave me your phone number or email and I will call or email you and arrange a time for you to pick one of these up. They will be available starting Friday, September 11, 2015.

If you are not local, you can still purchase one of these from my etsy shop:
ETSY

Template Tuesday - Utah

So, the audience scope for this one is kind of narrow, but it was one I felt like doing. Last week I went to Oregon and Washington for work. While in Oregon, I saw all sorts of bumper stickers that had the shape of Oregon with a little heart symbol in the middle. I thought, "I don't think we have anything like that that is really prevalent in Utah." We're kind of like the girl with the low self-esteem that goes around saying, "I'm fat..." until everyone starts to believe her. I've heard, countless times, and have even been guilty of it myself, the question, "Why Utah?" when asking someone why they moved here. So, that trip, I decided to change my attitude. I like it here. I bought a house here. I have a dog here. I have great friends here. My neighbors left me a care package for Halloween. I can go hiking here and the streets are wide enough for my carriage to turn around on. So, here's to Utah, the 45th state.

Here's what the template will look like. However you create it, make sure that the tall part of the state is on the left hand side when it's finished.
Download your free papercutting template of Utah Love.

Here is some of the reasoning for my images:
State Bird: California Gull
State Flower: Sego Lily
State Insect: Honeybee

I have the gull eating a Mormon Cricket. My friend Kim in an entomologist and I helped her stuff some of those Mormon Crickets for pinning. They are huge! For those of you who don't know the story, and it's a good one, check out Miracle of the Gulls.

Will You?

My friend Joe proposed to his wife on the catwalk of this building. It was his anniversary just a little while ago and he commissioned me to make a papercut of it. It took me forever because I was moving and I finally finished it this week. Do any of you know which building this is?

Template Tuesday - Pioneer Day - Sarah's Handcart

So I was sitting in church on Sunday and I turned to my friend Sarah and said, "I've got to do a template for my papercutting blog on Tuesday, do you have any ideas?" Then, for the next hour, she proceeded to whisper a variety of ideas to me from pioneers standing around burning woodchips to the invasion of the Mormon crickets (which are both excellent ideas that I will be using in the future). I went with the idea of a pioneer crossing the plains with a handcart. It's called Sarah's handcart. I don't know where Sarah got those two kids since she's not married. Maybe they're from a sibling who passed away while crossing the plains? Maybe Sarah had a rough life before she joined the church? Maybe that dog warns them when wolves are around? I don't know. So much happened while crossing the plains.

Here's what the template will look like when you download it. The parts you cut out are the gray areas. Be sure that however you cut it out, the finished piece has the pioneers facing to your left (like in the color image above). We don't want them going back to Missouri.

Download your free template here: Pioneer Day - Sarah's Handcart

C'est Fini!

This weekend I took all my pieces down to the gallery in Provo. It is such a relief to have them all completed and in someone else's hands. I'm excited for Friday, if anything to see some old friends who I haven't seen in forever. I'm also excited to start back up Template Tuesday! Woot! Just in time for the 4th. You guys have no idea how guilty I felt not doing them.

This one is called, "He had No Idea what He Doing Out Here but He Sure Did Love to See Her Smile," or something like that. I can't remember what I wrote.