Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Just in the Nick of Time


I should know better than to try and finish a project, such as scherenschnitte, in one day, let alone in a couple of hours. I had been thinking about scherenschnitte for the hub's valentine card and finally found a pattern that looked easy enough to finish today. Ouch. I went through 5 exacto blades and will probably have blisters on my fingers in the morning! ha. But, I did finish it--barely--signing it and running it to our room as he was walking through the door! Phew!! I'm happy with my first project, but I did take some shortcuts towards the end, which, somehow, fit in with the pattern (I'll never tell where!). Beginner's luck, I guess. I signed it in German, "Ich liebe dich" which I thought was appropriate, no?

My best advice after doing this is 1) to have a very sharp exacto knife with lots of extra blades. I had purchased one of those little ones, thinking this would work best with this intricate detail. They are not as sharp as the original ones! And 2) don't try to finish it in a couple of hours. Take your time and enjoy the process. The finished project is such a joy to see.

I've had the pleasure of seeing a showing of Jeri Landers' works and couldn't resist buying this small piece (right). I have a deeper appreciation of her artwork now. You HAVE to click on the picture to see the wonderful detail here. Isn't it just gorgeous? You need to check out her website and look at the other things she is working on. You will sit in amazement, I promise.

These are the roses the hub brought home tonight. They are absolutely gorgeous! I love the colors. The teenager took his girlfriend out to dinner; so I didn't even have to cook the big meal I had planned. I was kind of glad since I was running really late due to my "project." I have yet to do anything with my vintage cards. My friend next door is out of town, so there is still time to make one for her.

Well, another Valentine's Day gone...now on to Mom's 82nd birthday on Thursday. I hope I don't have jury duty. I have been called in tomorrow....grrrrrrrrrr.

2 comments:

Shelley said...

Rosa! we have something in common!!!! Scherenschnitte!!! Wow! I'm so excited someone else enjoys this. I've been snipping for many years and even have designed a few for some craft magazines! Your valentine is lovely. My favorite scissors are a tiny sharp pair of curved cuticle scissors. I'm picky about the points being very sharp and pointy. I had to laugh one day when I opened the cedar chest with my scissors in it. I had a dozen pairs of tiny scissors and about that many of the fancy edge scissors too. Then there were the embroidery scissors! Oh..and sewing scissors...LOL

I used to take Scherenschnitte projects with me when I traveled by plane and now no scissors are allowed. :( Not even for embroidery. Darn!!!

I have tons of patterns..both easy and hard...but like you I like the harder ones better. I love the tree cutting!

Have you seen here? http://www.papercuttingsbyalison.com/
Alisons are some of my favorites.

How did your hubby like his beautiful hand cut valentine?

Rosa said...

He loved it! He wants to frame it. Isn't that fun? I went to get some scissors before I started and went to the embroidery section. They said not to use those for cutting paper. ?? Yes, I can see how the curved ones would do great. Next time, for sure! That exacto knife was for the birds!! You can see my edges were not too neat, but I just ran out of time to clean them up. Oh well, first project, right. You should post some of your pieces. I would love to see them. The one you have of the face is gorgeous!! --your scissor sista

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