Claudia Hopf lives in Kennebunk, Maine, and has been papercutting for more than thirty years. Her works has been exhibited in museums and shows across the country as well as galleries in France, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Africa, and Australia.

Aug 12An excellent inspiration book for those who are looking to take up a new craft or for those looking to expand their collection. The 275 patterns in the book are themed by season and many of them are geared towards celebrations such as Christmas and Easter. There are birth month flowers and zodiac signs, and the patterns are grouped by themes. I thought it had a strong American slant to it at first but even though it has a lot of American only celebrations in it they come to just 14 pages out of the total of 126 in the book. Summer, Halloween, Valentine's Day, Birth month flowers and Christmas are the main themes with the most pages. So if you love cutting out flowers, ghouls, hearts and christmas trees this is certainly the book for you. There are two introductory pages with clear instructions on how to cut and copy the patterns from the book. Advice is given on how to cut and the different types of effects you can create such as painting with watercolour and framing on a mount of black paper. This book is such good value for the amount of original patterns contained in the book. If you are thinking of trying paper craft or if you have your kids at home with you for the holidays and are looking for a new way to entertain them buy this book.

• • All original designs• Christmas, Hanukkah, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving and more• Flowers of the twelve months for birthdays and zodiac designs