Hi and thanks for stopping by. My name is Cheryl and I am the proprietress, designer and owner of ‘a paper life originals’ here on etsy. I design and create the blend of custom cards, 3 dimensional pieces, and framed art as well as design & print a wide variety of paper pieces for your events, in my little craft room from my home located in Surrey, BC, Canada (which is just outside the beautiful city of Vancouver).

I started my love of creating from a young age with my first easy-bake oven and always had the latest, coolest, creative toy on my Christmas wish list from Spirograph, to string art to tie-die and candle making. Although I loved my easy-bake oven as a kid, the love of cooking never materialized and in fact it is my least favourite thing to do. As an adult, I have dabbled in many crafts over the years from knitting, to dried flowers and décor items to polymer clay then card making and a little bit of scrapbooking. Once I started using the humble medium of paper I never looked back but it wasn’t until I stumbled across the technique called quilling I was hooked from my first paper cut.

I first started quilling in 2001 but it took a few years to develop my own style of clean, uncluttered cards with a touch of sass, humour and pops of colour. Quilling is basically rolling thin strips of paper in to circles that are then glued and formed in to any number of shapes. In the quilling world I consider myself a newbie since the technique actually started in the 1300's by nuns decorating religious items.

I love making cards that tell a little story in the small 4.25 x 5.5 surface but my quilled Nativities is what I sell the most of in my etsy shop. I made my first coloured Nativity in 2008 and sold a few of them in my shop but it wasn't until I quilled my all white version and started adding sheep, donkeys, camels and, in 2013 the oxen that the sales really started to take off until I received an order for 200 for a store in Utah.

So welcome to my little shop, take your time to look around and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to drop me a line.

Be sure to check out my blog and Facebook page too! If you are in the Vancouver area you can purchase my cards at The Essential Packaging Store and The Honeybee Centre both of which are in Surrey.