Fussy cutting and paper piecing with Laurel Seabrook!

My guest today is multi-tasker extraordinaire Laurel Seabrook of Seabrook Designs. I swear she churns out 2 cards by the time I decide on my paper choices for my first project! ;) Yes, this woman is a force to be reckon with. She shares a gazillion gorgeous projects on her blog each day and still has time to submit to publications and leave lovely comments on blogs! Today, she shares a tutorial on fussy cutting and paper piecing. There's also a challenge with a fabulous prize courtesy of Laurel! :)

But first, let's have a look at Laurel's awesome creations!

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Hi everyone, Laurel here and I am so honoured that Yvonne has asked me to be a Guest on her blog Do More With Less!  I have been following Yvonne for a long time now and am always inspired with her talent with misting and upcycling.  She also is so good with the copic markers.  Now I like copics, but I prefer paper piecing and fussy cutting my images out to mount onto a project.  I get asked a lot how I do such ‘good fussy cutting’ so I am here to show you.

First of all stamp your image:

I then color what needs to be colored.  Stamp onto pattern paper for paper piecing.  When I cut them out I try to do the least amount of cutting and piecing so I think about how I can layer.  You can see that here by how I cut out her top.

Adhere the pieces and then cut out the image.  The tricky part is the part under her arms.  I used to use my craft knife for those areas, and did have some success.  However, I have since learned an easier way to do it.

I find a place that is a natural join and cut right through the image, making it easier to cut out the inside pieces.  When the image is adhered to the project, you will not see these cut marks.

 

Now here is the finished product, can’t tell where they have been cut and the fussy cutting is much easier to do!

Now my challenge to you is to do some paper piecing and fussy cutting on a project.

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Hmmm...paper piecing can be a great way to use up those small paper scraps I've had for the longest time...Are you ready to play along? Link up your creations using InLinkz (located at the end of this post) by Friday, March 11.

As always, please leave a little love for my guest Laurel.