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.