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Day Twenty-Three 

Theme: Telling Stories and Paper Cutouts

Have you ever made a book or thought of making one? I'll bet the answer is yes. We all have a story in us. It could be a poem that is turned into a book. It can be a story about something that has happened to you. Or it can be something from your imagination. It can be just a few pages or as many as you like.

 

The important part of making a book is telling your story in a clear way so others can enjoy it. Some books only have pictures. (We've discussed this before!)


Today I want to share a story with you that I wrote and illustrated with paper cutouts. It's a book about clay. I titled it, Lump of Clay. The book is for young children and tells the story about the things you can make from a lump of clay. I wanted the pictures to be colorful, so I used bright card stock. If you don't have color paper, you can paint full sheets of white paper with bright colors and cut them out when the paint dries.

 

Paper cutouts can be as simple as you want. When you're older you can use a knife called an X-Acto to cut out pictures.

 

I used scissors, an X-Acto blade and a hole puncher to cut out my illustrations. Remember to ask for help if you need something cut out that's too difficult. It will get easier as you get older.

 

Once I cut out my shapes, I glued them onto colorful paper. I used the computer to type the words, and printed the pages before gluing down the pictures. But you can easily write the words by hand, if there are words. 

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Lump of Clay

I found a lump of clay

I rolled it into a ball,

I wondered what I would do with it.

Would I make a bowl

Or a vase,

A cup or a dish,

A heart panted red,

A blue wigglywish?

So I squished it and squashed it,

I rolled and pulled it,

I cut and flattened it,

I poked and smashed it.

I realized just then the clay

that I found, gave me so

much pleasure just making it round.

Nikki McClure is an artist who cuts images from black paper with an X-Acto knife. She says "Everything is connected. It is all one piece of paper, yet now it holds a story." She has illustrated many books, calendars and journals. Here are a couple of examples of her work. Maybe you already know her work.

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A New Materialism

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I hope you're inspired by Nikki McClure's artwork! I would love to see your cutouts! Don't forget to send pictures. Have fun!

Gratitude: I'm grateful for the wonderful inspiration I receive from children and nature! What are you grateful for today?

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