Paper, Scissors...No Rocks

So, about that paper thing I have.


I'm not sure when or how it started. Does it have anything to do with my love of books? Maybe it started because my dad was in the Air Force and we moved around a lot and so I wrote a lot of letters in my life and would buy lots of pretty/cool/fun stationary to write these letters on.

I do have fond memories of looking at all the stationary choices at the BX.

When we were in dental school in Virginia I became a full-time-stay-at-home mom. It was a little shocking to me at first. Sometimes it still is.

We were VERY poor. We had two boys, Pres. Benson had already told mothers to go home and I obeyed, so that job with the health department that I was planning on getting didn't happen and we took out student loans (ouch).

This was in 1987. And moms were crafting.

I was a mom, but I had no money, but I also had a need to create in some way but I wasn't sure what or how...since we had no money.

Then I was introduced to a craft that I fell in love with because a) it had to do with paper; b) it wouldn't cost a lot of money; c) I could also "beautify " my home with my creations; d) it was kind of cool because it was an old craft.

Scherenschnitte. The art of German paper cutting.

I was hooked. I bought some of the pattern books.

I could not believe that there were books with "cool" patterned papers to use (now remember, this was the 80's)

And I splurged and bought a pair of the scissors made just for this purpose. OH, I was so nervous about this part because the scissors cost $7.00 and I didn't want Doug to know I had spent that much money on a pair of scissors (I guess he'll know now!) Seven bucks was a LOT of money to spend on scissors back then. And compared to the scissors I have now, those really weren't very good for the precision cutting I was doing.

I still have those scissors. I don't use them, but I still have them. They represent something to me.

One of our favorite traditions while in Virginia was to go to the Autumn fest at Meadow Farm every fall. One year a woman was there doing silhouette cuttings for free and I was stunned at her talent. She sketched the boy's profiles and then sat there with her sharp scissors and snipped away creating these very accurate silhouettes:

Can you tell which is which? Sam and Nico

I have done a lot of paper cuttings of various things. A favorite cutting was this cornucopia. The funny thing about this is that it is large enough that it won't fit on a regular size of paper. And that's all there was back then. It wasn't until recently that I remembered about it and found it and mounted it on a 12x12 sheet of paper, of which there is PLENTY to choose from now. It now has a place of honor at the front of our Gratitude Book.


Paper crafting.

What's not to love about it?


And the paper today? How can you not just LOVE it and not get excited to think about the possibilities?