All Happy

Mom and Dad, didn't cry all day today! Lisbeth gleefully reported to my husband Garry and I when we popped in to see her yesterday to deliver a couple of new packs of colored paper.
(A clear, happy day is a rarity for Lisbeth. Constant neurological interference causes her to be on an emotional see-saw. One of Lisbeth's two seizure foci is located in the front left temporal lobe, the area of the brain which rules behavior. Depending on where Lisbeth is in her seizure cycle, and the amount of "jiggling around" going on in there, she is like a puppet on strings regarding her emotions and behavior).
Lisbeth agreed to demonstrate her paper cutting technique. She starts by placing an overturned plastic plate onto an 8" x 11" piece of paper. (Lis and her helpers have made a nice little paper cutting nook for her to work on her snowflake/mandalas. A little studio corner in her living room. Lis cleaned her pink desk all out to make way for some new supplies, like the pastel and bright colored papers we brought).

This is the plate Lisbeth uses. She has used this 101 Dalmations plate for over 15 years to cut hundreds of snowflake/mandalas. (101 Dalmations Little Puppies Get Stolen, Lis's name for that movie, one of her famous Lis-isms, was one of three favorite movies of hers when she was a young girl: 101 Dalmations, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, and Hook. She watched these films over and over and over. It finally occurred to me one day that all three of these stories have at their core something or someone who is stolen or lost. The puppies are stolen, Pee Wee's bike gets stolen, and in Peter Pan, there are the lost boys. This is poignant considering Lisbeth's loss. She was a healthy, normal little girl up until the traumatic onset of her illness when she was six years old. Like all folks with a TBI, Lisbeth has the experience of a distinct before and after to her life. She remembers being well, and mourns for the life she used to have. This has been a struggle for Lisbeth and the cause of significant depression).

Tracing...

Her favorite cutting shears at the ready...

Cutting the circle. Lisbeth will demonstrate the folding and design cuts in a future post.

All Happy!