Book Review: Cut It Out! by Poppy Chancellor

A few weeks ago I went to TWO celebrations to mark the launch of Poppy Chancellor‘s incredible new book, Cut It Out! I went to the launch party, where we celebrated with Prosecco and Vicky’s Donuts (so good!), and then the next morning I was up bright and early to head over to Penguin’s HQ for a breakfast workshop with Poppy.

We went through the basics, and then worked on a cactus cut (see my efforts at the top of the page). It was a lovely morning and we were also treated to a copy of the book to take home.

That front cover itself is a paper cut; black on one side and neon coral on the other. It’s details like this that are an indication of how lovely this book is. I always think one of the fun things about paper cutting is that when you finish one, you’re left with confetti to celebrate with, and I love that this confetti weaves it’s way through the book and decorates each page.

I definitely came away from the workshop with the bug and recently worked through a pineapple template that we didn’t have time to do on the day. It took an afternoon but was so satisfying and I was really pleased with the outcome.

The book starts by talking you through which materials you’ll need, and how to present your paper cuts when you’re finished, and then moves on to practice sheets of small shapes and letters. It then goes through different chapters grouping the templates into themes: birthday parties, love, weddings, animals, halloween and Christmas.

It’s taken me a little while to write up this review (and I hope you’ll understand why) but I wanted to wait until I’d actually used it properly before I did. Cut It Out is designed so that all the templates are on coloured card, the idea being that you can cut out the pages and do the paper cuts directly on them. But I can’t handle the thought of this! I don’t want to “ruin” the book by cutting pages out (although I’m sure that is encouraged) so the way I’m using it is to photocopy the templates I need.

I wanted to make a wedding card for my friend’s Alice and James so I scanned in the Lover’s Heart template and then printed it at the right scale to fit the card I was going to stick it to. And here’s how it turned out…

I’m so pleased! I have zero ability at drawing and Poppy’s templates really make me feel like I can be artistic – I’d really recommend this book for anyone who likes to make pretty cards and decorations and is patient (don’t try and rush it – you might get hurt!). There are some really beautiful designs in there, including some slightly saucy (lolz) stuff, which Poppy is known for 🙂

You can get your copy here.

Please note I was given this book by Penguin Random House, but all opinions are my own.