Father's Day Giveway: DIY Dad Word Book

In honor of good ole Dad and to end our month of firsts, PaperCuts is hosting its first giveaway. When I think Father's Day, I think homemade cards with giant hearts, tie's and lots of kisses.  So to continue the tradition, we are giving away a "Dad" DIY Word Book to decorate with the kiddies.

The giveway kit is valued at $15. It includes: 3 x 8 plain white word book, die cuts of the letters DAD (color of your choice), "your kids name", paper tie & hearts, and a 3 x 5 paper frame.

This is Mr PaperCuts word book which my daughter and I have secretly been making sshhhhhhh......

What you need to do to win your own "DAD" DIY Word Book:

- "Like" Paper Cuts on Facebook.
- Leave a comment on facebook about your father or your child's father.
- If you subscribe to PaperCuts Blog by becoming a Follower you will  receive a extra vote!


Contest ends June 4th Midnight. Winner will be annouced June 5th.


If anyone is interested in purchasing a word book with the caption of your choice, send us a message thru our 'Contact Us'  page.

Lions, Elephants and Giraffes Oh My!

I know the saying is "Lions, tigers and bears oh my" but that wouldn't fit with these cute little animals I created for a jungle animals themed baby shower. The soon-to-be mommy wasn't sure what she was looking for, so she asked me to model a welcome sign around her invites. I love it when a client give me creative freedom.  I have so much flexibility to play around and find the perfect fit.

Besides her sign, I also created a unisex onesie banner with animal spacers. It was fun mixing and matching patterns to find the right flow. Remember everything doesn't have to be the same color to match, when you are creating something try to change it up a bit. You'll love what you come up with.

Stepping out of the "paper" box

So even here are PaperCuts from time to time we step out the preverbal box or for us paper box.  So I thought you would like to see a non-paper project done for a wonderful friend's bridal shower.  We didn't want to do traditional decor of flowers on the table. So to "chic" it up we decided to add bridal mannequins to each table.

Each mannequin stood 8" tall and were done in various bridal styles. They came out beautifully and were a huge hit. The best part is they made wonderful shower game prizes since most of the guest wanted to take them home for their daughter or niece.  Even the bride took home her own 12" mannequin as a shower memorabilia. So never think you are stuck with just what the big box store has to offer, be sure to stop out of the box.

How Owls Inspired a Business

Since we have been reflecting on firsts, it only seems fitting to take a step back to see how it all began.  Some say I was born with a sketchbook in my hand. Ok I am only kidding but my kindergarten teacher did write in my report card “Stephanie will most likely grow up to be an artist”.  Wow, that woman was some kind of psychic. Maybe I should get back in contact with her for some lottery numbers because she was right I love art.  I will do just about anything related to art, drawing, painting, sculpting and above all crafts of course. I even minored in Art in college. For my wedding, I made everything right down to the aisle runner and pocket-fold invitation.

Although, I did a ton of art it never occurred to me to turn it into a business. I just did what I loved. I wasn’t inspired to create PaperCuts until July 2010. I was planning my daughters 1^st birthday and I wanted to do something unique. What’s more unique than owls, cute feathery little nocturnal creatures who can turn their head 180 degrees.  Reminds me of my first year of motherhood.

My search for Owl décor in general was pretty futile and to find it in my pink and green color scheme was laughable at best.  So I rolled out my craft table and started creating everything from scratch. The invitation, banners, felt owl decals, piñata and even ribbon trees because you can’t have owls without trees.  The feedback I got from the parents attending the party were “Where in the world did you find this stuff and it must have cost a fortune”.  Once I explained how each item was made and the low cost surrounding it, they were amazed.  The comment I most heard was “I wish there was a service like that available for me”.  I thought well there should be and from that a business was born.

Month of First

Today I shipped out our first professional package.  I spent a while pondering how the packaging should look. Should it be in a box or plastic, should the décor be simple or chic, eggs or ham? In the end I decided to go with soft packaging, stylish yet simply decorated.  

While standing in the looong line at the post office, I began to reflect on all the firsts that have happened this month.  Our first trade show, first official website, first PaperCuts customer.  Wow, how quickly thing change last year this was small idea in the cluttered file cabinet I call my brain.  I can’t wait to see what seconds we will have.

PaperCuts Coming Out Party!

PaperCuts was debuted in its first trade show on Friday!  The Yorkville Junior Women's Club was hosting an wonderful event called "Diva and Darlings" and imagine my surprise, excitement and panic when a member contacted me to say she felt PaperCuts would be a great addition. Although I have displayed my products at weddings and birthday parties, I had never put together a display in a trade show.  I spent a couple of sleepless nights mulling over what items could stand on their own. Finally I settled on several banners, flowers and favor boxes.

Talk about a stressful day between prepping our products, driving in traffic so bad I was sure I was just cast in Office Space 2 and navigating the unknown streets of Yorkville, I was seconds from a freak out.  Thank goodness for the sweet women of  the Yorkville Junior Women's Club.  They were so nice and put on a beautiful event. I was extremely impressed with all the beautifully adorned booth and talented women selling their products.  I learned a lot about running my own business and made some great business connections.  I hope to participate in another trade show soon!

Custom Die Cut What?!

The most common question I get when explaining my new business has been “What’s a die cut?”.  So I thought it would be appropriate to define die cut for the less than die-hard crafter. J

 

die  [′dī] noun, plural

1) A specialized tool used in manufacturing industries to cut or shape material using a press. Like molds, dies are generally customized to the item they are used to create.  (~Wikipedia)

 die cutting [′dī ‚kəd•iŋ] verb (used with object)

1) A manufacturing process used to generate large numbers of the same shape from various materials. The die cut shapes are sometimes called “blanks,” because they are usually finished and decorated before being sold. The process is widely used on an assortment of materials all over the world, and many manufactured products contain several die cut components, often assembled together in a series of steps to create a finished product. (~wiseGeek)

  

Die Cutting in PaperCuts terms:

Traditional dies have been replaced with digital design allowing for unparalleled custom cuts of any shape using any number of materials such as paper, chipboard, fabric and vinyl sheets.

PaperCuts projects coming soon to your computer screen!

Welcome to PaperCuts!

I am pleased to open the doors to PaperCuts.  I hope you enjoy reading about the ups and downs of turning my passion into a career. Please bear with me as I load pictures of my current projects. Feel free to contact me if you see something you would be interested in purchasing.