My New Obsession…
Earlier this year while ogling my Real Living magazines as I so often do, I stumbled across the work of the amazingly talented artist, Rob Ryan.
I liked the quirky style, and at first I just thought they were prints, but I was captivated nonetheless and decided to check out his blog. And I discovered he cut all those things by hand!!! BY HAND?!?
I thought he must be the only one of his ilk, surely no one else could possess such a skill as being able to cut such beautiful things from one solitary piece of paper.. But I was wrong – a whole world of papercutting brilliance opened before my very eyes and I was smitten!
And I decided right then that I must become a papercutting artist myself! 
So… here are my first couple of attempts… The first hangs in my office – the saying is my favourite and has always helped me see the brighter side of life. When I was younger and more nubile, I wanted to have it tattooed from my ribs to my hip in full bursting colour with bluebirds and leaves, all singing their happy songs…
{You can take the girl out of Mt Gravatt, but you can’t take the Mt Gravatt out of the girl}
And here is my second attempt – for my Lola. I’m yet to get out to Ikea to buy a frame for it, but it will make it into her room one of these days.
It’s time consuming and fiddly, but I do enjoy time consuming, fiddly things so it’s right up my alley. It’s very relaxing and I could honestly spend all day cutting these things..
As you can see, I’m well on my way to becoming a professional papercutting artiste
One can dream.
Oh! Oh!! Gorgeous!!! Just beautiful Zoe! Your work takes my breath away!! Hope you and your family are all well xoxo
zoe – i LOVE LOVE LOVE the ones you have done! those are AMAZING!! GORGEOUS!! i wish there was a way you could incorporate something like that into a digi-scrapping kit?! hint, hint
WOW WOW WOW… those are amazing Zoe!!! I LOVE the saying in your office one and the one for Lola is gorgeous!!!
Those are gorgeous! They literally took my breath away! Wow!
You are so clever Zoe! These are beautiful! Dream big…
These are BRILLIANT Zoe! Seriously, your talent has no limits I swear!
These are gorgeous, Zoe. And I like that I can find your “handwriting” in whatever artist work you do. You’re very talented, you really are. (But promise us, that you won’t neglect kit designing and do only papercutting, ok?
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Oh, my!!! Your work is incredible and inspirational. They are unbelievably beautiful. I love Lola’s since I sing that song to my daughter for 20 years.
WOW, it’s absolutly fantastic. Beautiful! Can’t find words
Zoe, these are seriously beautiful. I love both your quotes too. Lola’s is one that is attached to me eldest son. Just amazing work! Where do you do the design before cutting out? Is it drawn or on a pc?
this is AMAZING!!!!!!!! I love what you made even more than the samples you showed. Wow… I’d love to know where you got the design.
Thanks so much for all your wonderful comments! <3 For those who asked – they are both my own original design. I drew the design myself by hand, then perfected it in Illustrator, printed it flipped as a mirror image on the reverse side of the paper I wanted to use, then used a craft/exacto knife to cut out the bits. It's really easy, you just have to make sure to join all the parts of the design so there are no gaps otherwise it'll fall apart
So beautiful I had to Pin it. I wouldn’t even know where to start to make one.
This is amazing! These are just beautiful, and I second, and third the people above who think you should in corporate these into digital scrapbook elements. I am just amazed you sat down and drew it – much less the cutting out part LOL! What do the Swiss/Penna Dutch call it? Scherinschritte? And the Poles call it something else. IN case you get your walls totally filled, they used the cut pieces as decorative objects around the house, but not in frames. The ones I’ve seen are mostly uses as curtains (window shades that don’t move) and when they get wrinkled or soiled, they throw them out and cut out more. Someone else told me they used them as lampshades, too.
You ought to sell them printed on paper for people to cut out themselves.