A Birthday Surprise

Remember my first real attempt at papercutting? Well, I went straight from that to this! Talk about taking the bull by the horns!

Mister Handmade in Israel is very supportive of the work that I do. I'm really not complaining. However, he often tells me that I should work on some "real art", alongside the cards and albums that I create for other people. Well, that is a discussion for another time, but his comments lead me to finding the perfect present for his recent special birthday. A piece of art handmade by me!

To be honest, other than my arm aching for a day or two after cutting this piece - I think I need to work with some lighter weight paper - this may look complicated but it actually came together relatively easily. I knew that I wanted to mark his special birthday on the piece and also that some of his favourite things should be included there too. A little time spent checking out some talented papercutters blogs helped me decided how to put the piece together, of course being careful to keep to my very own style. I hope you can see a little "Handmade in Israel" in there. It does rather make a change from my usual line of work.

Mister Handmade in Israel's name and birth date feature prominently on the piece, along with the names of the rest of our family. I also added the Arsenal cannon, top right, taken from his favourite team's club crest. Priorities, priorities! A football was placed there too, along with the flag of England. Do you get the impression that he quite likes football? Finally, I added a Magen David, or Star of David, to represent his faith and the role that the Jewish religion plays in our lives. On top of the star perches a little bird. Just because.