Online Auction for Historic Preservation

Did you know that May was National Preservation Month? The National Trust For Historic Preservation is having an online auction to benefit the preservation of our past. The auction items are pretty cool: unique get-aways, special tours of historic places, stays at historic hotels, books and much more. There are items offered from all over the country so bid on something close to home or somewhere you have always wanted to visit. Hurry over and check it out...you only have two more days to bid! www.PreservationAuction.cmarket.com

RIP little car

My Memorial Day Weekend: Saturday: yard work/housework Sunday: yard work/call from daughter that the bomb and arson squad wanted to talk to me WHAT!!! On Sunday my car (my very favorite car ever) was parked in a lot just minding it's own business...when the engine in the car parked behind it caught fire. It was windy that day and blowing right towards my car...lucky me!! In total 6 cars were burned 5 of them beyond repair...my car of course had to be the worst. I'll let the pictures tell the rest. This used to be my light blue Toyota Matrix: Interior shot...my seats look like lawn chairs. From the back...this is where the fire blew from the other car to mine. Apparently my car was held together with plastic and just melted. The bomb and arson detective said even my gas tank was plastic so once it melted the tank of gas ignited and it all went up. There was a surveillance camera on the lot that filmed the whole thing and that's how they determined what happened. The detective is going to get me a copy for my insurance company so we can see the fire because by the time we got there it was completely out. Monday: BBQ/all we can do is laugh because a couple of years ago the car I had before this one was parked in front of my house when 90 mile an hour straight line winds knocked a 100 foot 60 yr old (huge) oak tree right on top of it. Thank God for insurance! (three of the six cars were not insured) Maybe I should just get a bike this time instead of a car...what do you think? Well gotta go...another business trip this week. Peggy

Papercuttings

I haven't been able to think of anything interesting lately to write about so I thought I would share some of my papercuttings. About 10-12 years ago I began by cutting paper snowflakes from a booklet I found at Ben Franklen. Back then it was really hard to find patterns so I started researching at the library and on line and I found that there is much more to this art than just snowflakes. These first two cuttings are ones that I designed myself. This design was inspired by a picture in a magazine. And this one from a Dover book of flowers. It looks like designing a papercut would be easy but once you start cutting you realize it's tougher than it looks. The entire design needs to be in one piece and the inner cuts need to give the piece dimension. There's no erasing a mistake...once you make the cut that piece is gone! That's why most of my cuttings are done using patterns that I get from Papercuttings by Alison. They have some great designs and each pattern is rated as to how difficult it is to cut...Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced. This is a small family owned business with Alison and her mom Gloria designing most of the patterns. How neat is that and they also have patterns from other talented designers. When I cut I use a tiny pair of Hofer scissors made ecspecially for papercutting. They are made in Switzerland and are a bit pricey but if you cut alot they are well worth it. When I began cutting I used my Gingher embroidery scissors. I very seldom use an exacto knife but there are alot of people that do...some don't use scissors at all and use just the exacto. I only use it for really tiny cuts that I can't make with the scissors but my Hofer scissors have a point as thin as a needle so I can cut almost anything with them. This next group of cuttings are done using patterns from Papercutting by Alison. Tiny ballarina's: I think would lood cute mounted on pink paper and framed individually in little white frames. More ballarina's: A Butterfly: A fancy fan: A couple of heart designs:

These last designs are reproductions that I have done of vintage papercuttings:

Two colonial couples...ladies reading and sewing: Men playing a game of chess:

I really love these old sihlouettes from the colonial period. I think they would look great hung next to each other.

A rooster... another reproduction:

I was thinking of trying to sell some of my cuttings on Etsy and/or Lollishops but I'm just not sure they would sell. What do you think?

I guess the only way to find out is to list a few of them.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my cuttings.

I encourage you to give it a try. You can get a beginners pattern from Papercuttings by Alison for well under $10 and I'm sure you will find something that you like. They also offer scissors and paper.

I'm cheap and cut most of my designs from regular copy paper. And if you don't want to buy a pattern to start out you can always copy a design from one of the books on papercutting at the library or do a google search for designs.

If you want to see some really cool examples you can visit the Guild of American Papercutters site.