Craft Night!

My friend came round and we had a fantastic craft night together! She made birthday cards with letter stamps and paper collages, and I made this patterned heart cutout card as a sympathy card for friends (a couple) at a very sad time. It felt very nourishing to share this evening with a friend.  

Father's Day 2015

This year my dad gets my 'Fab Dad' papercut card.

I also made some raw chocolate-fruit-nut balls. He loved them.

Happy Birthday Nan

My gran turned 88 today. I made her this card and bought her some German honey. 

Here are some work in progress shots in reverse order:

Tree Wedding Card

A friend wanted a special wedding card for her friends. She was giving them a tree as a wedding present so I made this card…

…here is is ready to start cutting…  

…5 hours later I finished cutting and removed the template…  

…I tidied up the edges, it looked really nice on a glass table outside!…  

 …I made a window card mount for it…

…I liked the way the front of the card bowed forwards – this meant the cut cast shadows on the background rather than looking flat… 

…finished! 

Bespoke Portrait card

A friend and her father wanted to give their favourite cafe owner a special card to say farewell and good luck as she closed her cafe. As they drank coffee there so often I suggested this papercut portrait of the two of them.

Happy Birthday Helen framed paper cut

My cousin loved her Special Space Bunnies Edition Birthday Card so much that she framed it! She did a wonderful job, it's perfect! I did suggest she remove the lettering, as it's on a separate layer, but she was exceptionally happy with it being her birthday all year round! 

Auria's 30th Birthday

Naturally, I had to make a special card for my life-long friend's 30th birthday…
(she loves butterflies)

Happy Birthday Helen – special Space Bunnies edition card!

For my cousin's birthday this year I kept with the Space Bunnies theme I've been working with over the last few months and made a concertina card for her…

V-Day 2014: From Me to H

A space-bunnies themed hand cut concertina card…

…with a sticker on the envelope from my 'I've Always Wanted To Show You' collection… 

… and finally, I made him a little felt raccoon filled with beans so he stands up… 

 … and I wrapped him up in brown paper with another self-made sticker… 

… and sent them off to Germany ❤

Mustard Cafe Valentines Art Fair

My 'I Love You' bunting was in the window…

I shared a table with cutie-animal illustrator Karl Newson

Cut out card for a travelling couple

Some friends ventured from Germany over to the other side of the world for a whole year. I wanted to wish them well on their adventure…

Come back fighting fit soon Anne!

My Body Combat instructor had to have an operation on her leg. 

I made this card to wish her well and remind her to come back… 

Happy mothers day 2013

Happy birthday Helen 2013

A day at Ryantown HQ

After winning the Rob Ryan Christmas Competition and visiting Ryantown HQ to collect my prizes, I was offered a day's work experience with them.

My main task for the day was trimming their hand printed Valentine's cards (available on Etsy). I managed to trim 60 in 5 hours. I guess this is quite slow, but I think it was more important that they were trimmed perfectly.

Rob took my photo and I have been added to their 'Toilet Door of Fame'.

I've been doing a lot of paper cutting since 2009, and I was very quickly getting blisters from the metal scalpel. I tried various things such as wrapping paper, tissue, plasters and tape around the scalpel. In 2011 I made my first scalpel sleeve out of a small strip of moleskin fabric. I machined the tops and bottoms, then stitched up the side with the scalpel inside so that it was a really snug fit. It did the job perfectly – it was quick to get on and off, protected my hand from the metal, cushioned and improved grip. When I visited the studio I noticed that they were using tape around their scalpels. So I made up a few sleeves for them to try. Everyone was thrilled with them, especially Rob. 

We all sat together for lunch – pie and vegetables. I thought this was a really lovely event for everyone to catch up. There was a very pleasant atmosphere in the studio all day – a small artist's studio is a wonderful place to work!

I spent the last few hours of the day fixing screen-printed transfer decals onto mugs. It was painstakingly difficult to get them straight and get all the air bubbles out, but not entirely impossible. I hope they turned out okay! 

Thanks for a great day! x

Apple Tree Card

Following up from the Apple Tree Card test, here is the final piece:

100€ Union Jack card

Card for a birthday gift – the recipient asked not for presents, but cash to pay for an English language course. So I made this card with 20€ notes integrated into the design. They can easily be removed from inside the card, where there is also pocket holding a little envelope containing more money to bring the value up to 100€.