The Last Nuele for This Year

This is the last nuele for this year. I'll have to make more next Christmas. I was happy to find a free hour yesterday morning to hang up my nueles in the front room. They look great hanging from the ceiling.

Another Neule

This neule is along a more traditional theme. I still haven't hung them yet. I wish things would slow down just a little bit more.

A Geometric Neule

This neule is more simplistic in its design, but I thought that worked better with a star. Now I just have to find enough time to hang it. Things get too busy this time of the year.

It's the Time of Year for Nueles

I have been thinking about nueles again. I decided that I wanted some more to hang in my front room this year. They are so fun to design, and I like the way they look while suspended in the air.
I have cut four different ones so far. This one of Mary and the baby Jesus is one of my favorites. I'm thinking that cutting neules will become one of my new Christmas traditions. If you don't know what a neule is, my explanation from last year is here.

Beautiful Black

Here are the ATCs for this month. The theme was "beautiful black". I decided to do animals that are defined by their black markings. Of course, I had to start with a zebra. The hardest thing about cutting a zebra is keeping track of what is a black stripe and what is a white one.


My next animal was the skunk. This was a challenge because I cut a white piece of paper and then glued it onto a black background. It is not easy to think backwards.


This panda was my easiest cut this time. I tried to keep this one simple.


Alright, dalmatian puppies are not really black, but they do have black spots. This is another one where I cut white paper and put it on black. It was fun to keep the ATCs in monochromatic colors this time.

Dorothy Comes Home

I just finished reading The Wizard of Oz for the first time. That was a fun quick read, and it inspired a new papercut. I loved how Kansas was described as gray, and I wanted to take advantage of that. This cut shows Dorothy and Toto excitedly returning home to the farm after their adventure. For this I cut two different layers and placed a sheet of tracing paper between to give the farm a gray look.

Halloween Isn't Too Far Away

This is something I whipped up yesterday when I had a free hour. This is what a ghostrider would look like if it went trick-or-treating. If I can find the right frame, I'll hang it up somewhere for the next week.

Something Besides ATCs

I am so glad to say that this is not an ATC. I finally got around to doing a bigger cut. This was inspired by the story of Anne Shirley walking the ridge pole in the story Anne of Green Gables. The border took awhile to cut, and my fingers were sore by the time I was done. I guess I need to cut more often and build up those calluses once more.

County Fair

This month's ATC theme is the county fair. This first cut is of the dreaded judges who decide whether your work is worthy of that coveted blue ribbon.

Here is the winning jar of canned peaches. I love to look at the displays at the county fair, but it is hard to be excited about looking at jars of fruits and vegetables.

What is a fair without animals? Other than the rides, the animals are always the kids favorite thing to see. I personally don't care much about pigs, but they make interesting papercuts.

The last cut represents those big trailers that show up that claim to have the world's biggest something inside that will only cost you $5 to see. I wonder what is really in those mysterious boxes, but the ticket price always keeps me ignorance. Here is the world's biggest horse.

September ATCs

It felt really good to sit down and do some cutting the other day. It has been too long. ATCs are a good way to get back into it. I decided not to go along with this month's trade theme. Sometimes it is fun to just cut whatever I want.

I based this cut on a child's back-to-school fashion spread in an old 50s magazine I had sitting around the house.

I thought this one worked out really well as a straight silhouette. Fingers are hard to cut that small.

I had lots of fun with this one. I had to search for a picture of a painting that would be small enough to fit on that little canvas.

How many times have you seen a child and a dog stare each other down while the child eats something sweet and sticky? Why does that sticky sweet almost always end up in the dog's mouth?

Yes, I am Still Here

I am sorry that I haven't posted anything for awhile. I just can't believe how busy I have been with other things this summer. I'm glad that I have squeezed in some time for these monthly ATCs. They have kept me cutting.

The theme for this month's trade is national parks. Since I did rock formations in national parks last year, I wanted to do something a little bit different this time.

These are based on vintage "greetings from" postcards. It was a fun experience to just cut type this time.

The photos behind the letters were downloaded from the Internet. Crater Lake is the only one of these national parks that I haven't visited.

OWLS

This month's ATC theme was owls. I used coffee filter paper that I painted with watercolor for the owls.


It is a good thing that I have had these trades because I have had a hard time the last couple of months getting to any other cutting. I'm still hoping that things will slow down a little in the next months. There is more paper out there to cut.

First Sign of Spring

The weather is really springlike today. I'm not looking forward to the summer heat. I have been working on this cut for the last couple of weeks. It is the biggest cut that I have done so far. (15 in. x 19 in.) The blossom is made from coffee filter paper that I painted with watercolors. I like having that one splash of color. It is mounted on a piece of wood that I stained.

Spring City

Here is what I have been working on all month when I had a spare moment. Every year on Memorial Day weekend, Spring City has their Heritage Days. As part of Heritage Days, they hold an art auction at the old school house. The proceeds go towards restoring the school. John, my husband, and I have participated the last two years, and this is this year's contribution. I decided to try something a little bit more traditional. All the buildings are based on actual buildings in the little town. The cut is 11 in. x 11 in.

For those of you who have been wondering, the ATC trading group that I am involved with is the yahoo group, Papercutterstrade. I have really enjoyed the monthly trades, and there is always room for more.

Going Green

I haven't had as much time to cut this month, but I did manage to squeeze in enough time to put together my ATCs for this month.

This month's theme was "green". The first thing that came to my mind was frogs, but I had done frogs only a couple of months ago. My second thought was little green men from Mars. Here they are! They are happy little green aliens. I hope you enjoy them. I should have something else to post soon.

Waterbird ATCs

This month's trade theme is water. I decided to make all the ATCs with birds that live near water. The first piece is a duck. I have done ducks before and enjoyed it.


The second bird is a pelican. I went simple with this one.


My third piece is a cormorant. I used magazine pages for the background color on the bird and wood.

The last bird is a snowy egret. This is based on the bigger papercut that I did in January. I still haven't cut that beak right. Maybe, I'll try again sometime.

I haven't been cutting as much the last couple of weeks because of this. I hope to get back to cutting more soon.

I Wish Spring Was Really Here

After a mild winter, spring has been taking a turn for the worst. The past week has felt more like January. We received over a foot and a half of snow in the last week, and the wind yesterday was cold enough to drive me back indoors for another three months. I have been yearning for flowers and a warm breeze. My yearnings led me to create this cut of hollyhocks. Hollyhocks are some of my favorite flowers. I cut the black outline from black paper and painted the paper underneath. I only glued the very top of the paper cut to the background paper so that it would hang loosely over the watercolor and give it a slight three dimensional feel.

The Brave Little Taylor

I have always enjoyed a fairy tale where the hero uses his brain instead of his brawn. The Brave Little Tailor is a good example of this. The only time he uses is muscles is in the beginning when he hits those seven annoying flies, and who could fault him for that? Flies can be very annoying, and they don't listen to reason. Our brave tailor uses his brains to outwit giants and bad kings and wins a kingdom and princess in the process. That's not to bad for a man who earns his living making clothes. In this cut our hero is heading off into the world to see what he can make of himself. He unconcerned that he is entering a giant infested wood.

Borders

The last couple of days I have been playing around with borders. I have been intimidated by floral borders for awhile, so it was good for me to stretch a bit.


For the most part, I am satisfied with the results. These will make nice thank you notes sometime or maybe I can put a poem on them and place them in a frame. I haven't decided yet.

Weathervane ATCs

I'm sorry that I haven't posted for a couple of weeks. Sometimes it is easy to become distracted by other things.

This month's theme for my ATC trade is weather vanes. I was surprised by the variety of weathervane designs that are out there. I picked some of my favorites to use as the basis of ATC papercuts. I found that the letters were the hardest part to cut. This first one is of a sun and moon.

I like the idea of a llama on top of a weathervane.


I think the mice on the directional letters on this one was a nice touch.


The crane on this one will always know what direction it is flying.

I'm So Glad That It Is March

I'm very happy to be done with January and February. March is such a much more pleasant month. I love it when the promise of spring is in the air. I knew spring could not be very far away when I woke up with this cut in my head.

Whimsy ATCs

This month's ATC trade theme was "whimsy". I decided that that was very broad once I started looking into it. I decided to base my cards on the idea of flying frogs. That is just what popped into my head first. How many ways could I come up with to make a frog fly? The hot air balloon was the first that I did.

This is how the frog would fly if he fell out of the balloon.


A frog flying with a hang glider could reach those tasty butterflies more easily.

However, here is a frog that bit off more than he could chew and is flying in a way that wouldn't be so much fun.

Finally, Another Fairy Tale

It has been too long since I have posted a fairy tale. This one has been spinning around in my head for the past month. I'm glad that I finally got it cut.

This is a scene from the fairy tale, "The Donkey, the Table and the Stick". In this story, a son (or three sons in some versions) leaves home to prove to his father that he is good for something. He works for a year and receives a magic donkey as his wages. On his way home, he stops at an inn and shows the innkeeper his magic donkey. The innkeeper is so impressed that he switches the magic donkey for a normal one. Unknowingly, the son takes the wrong donkey home to show his father only to make a fool of himself when the donkey does not produce magic coins. Then the son works for another year and is paid with a magic table that food appears on when the right words are said. The same thing happens to the table that happened to the donkey at the inn, and again the son fails to impress his father with his business success. The third year of working is rewarded with a magic stick that will wack anyone that the son tells it to. He uses the stick on the innkeeper who gives the son back his magic donkey and table. The son comes home in triumph to finally prove to his father his worth.

The paper cut is illustrating the moment that the son is showing off his magic table that is supposed to be covered with food, only to find out that once again he has been tricked. His father isn't very impressed. The mice were hoping for a better performance, too.

Every Frog Needs a Princess

A Dragon and his Boy

Here is a quick cut that I did shortly after the last one. Dragons are fun to cut.

Picking Out a Dragon

Sometimes when I read a paper cut idea will pop into my head that relates to the story I am reading. This especially happens when I am reading children's literature. I haven't ever followed through with those ideas until now. This past week I randomly pulled a book off the shelves at my local library and brought it home. It was "How to Train Your Dragon" by Cressida Cowell. It was a funny little book about Vikings and dragons. The above cut is what popped into my head at the beginning of the book as the young hero must crawl into a cave full of sleeping dragons, where he must snatch one and take it back his village to train. This was fun. I think the next time I feel inspired by a children's book, I'll follow thru.