Category: Papercutting

Letter h papercutting

by Irish Bees Don't Do Mondays, posted in Illustrator, Papercutting

Fox PaperCut

Here’s the papercut of the design posted yesterday ready to be framed. It is quite large and will go into an A3 frame.

Today has been busy. Mr T is laying new flooring in the bedroom we keep for family and friends when they come over. He’s really cracking on and I’m totally amazeballs at how hard he’s working.  We bought some sliding wardrobe doors from Ikea and he’ll be hanging them at some point. And he’s painting everywhere. Stand still for long enough and you’ll have an Annie Sloane makeover. He looks a bit wild and wooly though – like a good thrashing with a weed whacker would tame some of the facial growth! He scrubs up well and a hot shower and shave will gussy him up to his usual level of handsomeness.

Meanwhile I’m making soup—chicken, chickpea and sweet potato. All done in the pressure cooker with a tickle of turmeric, a sprinkle of black pepper, a quiff of curry powder, stock, parsnips and lots of carrots with a tin of chickpeas thrown in at the end. We haven’t had soup for a while as the hot weather was salad and sandwich fare. Now we’d had some rain and the temperature has dropped, a bowl of soup is perfect.

spools of thread

Then time to do a bit of sewing. I need to get a wiggle on myself and get cushions made. I bought some fabric from a cloth shop in Dublin. Nice stuff but very expensive so back to Amazon, I’m afraid. I have found a super pattern on line for a cross backed apron surprisingly called a ‘Mobius’ apron! 🙂 and an origami bag that caught my eye.

I think I’ve got the easier side of this house refurb deal!

Foxy Letter O

by Irish Bees Don't Do Mondays, posted in Illustrator, Papercutting

 

I have a papercutting to do. The first stage is design—a rough paper drawing then drawn in iIllustrator. Tracing the design doesn’t really work too well, I’ve found.  I create the flowers and leaves and superimpose them over the design then do the painstaking Shapebuilding and / or my method (I think it’s my method as I’ve never read of the technique anywhere else), of using Pathfinder and the Direct Selection tool.

It’s not really a job I’ve got time for as we’re in the middle of some refurbishment around the house. The back room has its new floor, it’s painted, the futon has been assembled and put into place, the curtains are up… joy and happiness are on my doorstep along with the new mats. We have a bedroom to refloor and some wardrobe doors to put up. Lots and lots of painting. 😦 I really don’t like painting house things). 😦

Poor Gracie had a very nasty tail injury. She came in with it drooping, almost dragging it. It was obviously very painful as she didn’t want us to touch her lower back or tail and yowled and pawed at us to leave it. We got her to the vet where they put her under anaesthesia, X-rayed it and checked her over. Luckily, it’s not broken. The vet thinks something make have yanked it or she got it caught and yanked it herself to get free. She was kept in overnight to recover from the anaesthetic and to check that she could wee.

However, I was over the moon when the vet rang to say we could collect her – she’d had a wee (and the other), she’d twitched her tail though it was still drooping but there was no reason to believe she wouldn’t make a full recovery. Phew! Am glad to say that her tail is much more upright today but is still not the upright antenna we’re used to seeing but I’m confident she’s getting better so it’s a matter of time. Give her a few days or a week and I’m sure she’ll be back to normal.

As for the injury… hmmmm, I have suspicions that someone nearby hurt her. No proof. A certain man who came to my door after finding a dead pigeon in his garden and told me to put a F***** bell on her, put a F***** fence up (we have walls with tall hedges on three sides!!!!) and said he’d know what to do if he found her in his garden again… That was only a week ago.  It seems a little too coincidental that after making vague threats about what to do and then her suddenly coming home badly injured. I don’t think it is. I think it’s deliberate.

In Ireland, it is normal for most cats to be outdoor cats – though we keep her in every night when she comes in for her tea, that’s it, she’s in till the next day. And I truly wish she didn’t kill birds (or mice that breed in the shouty man’s F****ing compost heap) and we have tried collars and bells but she always gets them off. And, there are plenty of other cats that also catch birds. I’ve had birds left on my doorstep overnight when Gracie (and Jess) have been in all night. Jess, for the record, is not interested in catching birds. He has a core belief that every bird captured and killed round here is down to her. Ignorant P****.

Paper Beads Template

by Irish Bees Don't Do Mondays, posted in Papercutting

Paper beads have been around forever and are simple to make. A few supplies and you’re good to go. There are free patterns all over the net, all similar to the pattern here.

1. Save the image above to your desk top then cut them out using thin paper (magazines are good – or plain paper if you want to paint them yourself ).

2. Dab some glue onto a cocktail stick / straw/ knitting needle (this all depends on how big you want your beads to be and how wide your template strips are) and stick to the widest edge  of your template.

3. Wrap round and round (dab a little more glue every few turns) until all the paper has been wound up and is securely stuck down.

4. Coat them with a layer of Modge Podge or varnish and leave to dry.

Thread them onto ribbon, twine, string, etc to make jewellery or beaded curtains or bead bunting. 🙂

Papercut Letter O

by Irish Bees Don't Do Mondays, posted in Papercutting

This cutting will be going in an A3 frame for O**** and needs to be ready for the weekend.

Ireland is on red alert today because of hurricane Ophelia. Our little country isn’t used to extremes of weather and so this kind of thing takes us all unawares. It is certainly ferocious out there. but luckily I’m nowhere near the worst of it. Shops and offices everywhere are pretty much closed for the day. Buses and trains aren’t running.

Being stuck in was a good reason to bake. Today’s choice was  lemon cupcakes (with the juice and zest of two lemons) cupcakes.

Canned Heat – papercut watering can!

by Irish Bees Don't Do Mondays, posted in Papercutting

It’s my old mate the watering can. I created it in 2008? Maybe earlier – I’d have to check the date on the original file. I saw it recently in the Do Crafts magazine – not credited to me – just ‘from on the internet’…  maybe saw the cut out template on SplitCoastStampers.  I gave it away to a couple of places.

It’s a 3_dD paper cut created in Illustrator. Fill it with paper flowers and it’s a quirky little item!

Saw it used on another site and the blog-lady acknowledged me! Lovely!

http://pink-blossom-creations.blogspot.com/2011/05/has-it-really-been-that-long.html