All About Papercuttings

With Valentine's Day around the corner, I'm considering (or perhaps it's just a fantasy of mine) making lots of valentines out of papercuttings-- much like the one above I'm currently doing (pattern found at Ellen Brown's site). I've been interested in them since 2 summers ago when, at our community festival, I met a woman who did Scherenschnitte. I picked up a few more when I saw her again this past summer. I've attempted a few now, using just a Xacta knife, but I'm excited to recieve one of my birthday presents-- some of the special scissors! It doesn't take long to get hooked, especially once you see the great variety of designs-- from the Germans to the Mexicans to the Polish folks-- there's something for everyone.

I've noticed a few other bloggers interested in doing it as well, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite books and links.

Great Papercutting Sites:

• Papercuttings by Alison- she's got so many fantastic designs for wonderful prices. My first 3 papercutting designs were purchased here: this, this, and that! Love these, too.
• Ellen Brown- she has a huge number of patterns that she's generously posted; I'd like to do them all!
• Cindy's Scherenschnitte- a blogger! Her designs are fresh and fun.
• Wycinanki by Susan L. Throckmorton- go here for inspiration. I'm not sure mine will ever be this good!
• Barbara Buckingham- Just by chance I recently found her work-- and look, it's all of Lexington! (Which reminds me--I've got 3 gate papercuttings like these from Charleston, SC!)
• Pamela Dalton- Fantastic work; I believe she had an article a few years ago in Country Living.

My Favorite Papercutting books:

• The Amazing Paper Cuttings of Hans Christian Andersen- really fun.
• Scherenschnitte: Designs and Techniques for the Traditional Craft of Papercutting- beautiful designs, but not for the beginner!