Paper Cuts

In my mind, Halifax will always be the peninsula that welcomed me into the fold. In 2009, with my living arrangements in Ontario ending, I decided I’d rather hunt further afield than face the daunting chore of finding an apartment in the increasingly sprawling Waterloo region. Although I had planned to try out the East Coast lifestyle for just a few years, I soon realized how much there was to fall in love with — and my seasonal allergies were suddenly almost non-existent. I found a beautifully quirky community of mostly come-from-aways and married a sweet gal from Nova Scotia’s South Shore. At this point, it’s safe to say that I’m out here to stay.

After teaching myself how to illustrate, watching hours of YouTube videos, and reverse-engineering classic pop-up books (including Matthew Reinhart’s Mommy? and Robert Sabuda’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz), I sold my first...