Papercutting with Keshet

Remember this card I made for Keshet back in June? Earlier this year I made a couple of customised Bat Mitzvah albums for her mum to give as gifts and Keshet was fascinated by what I do. Mum then asked me to make the card for Keshet's birthday, above, and as an extra treat I made a promise that she could come over and make a card with me one day during the summer holidays.

For various reasons I don't teach art or share my creative processes. I also have two boys who, when they were younger, didn't often want to sit and make things with their mum. (This was one rare occasion when we did sit down and papercut together.) Consequently I had no idea how much patience 8 year old Keshet would have for papercutting. Well let me tell you, she had a lot!

My plan was to make a couple of cards with Keshet. I chose a sweet yet simple design for her first card, above, which she completed quite quickly. After that I thought she might want to draw her own card design but Keshet already had ideas of her own. She wanted to make a door sign for her newly decorated bedroom. Great idea! I was happy to go with the flow.

The first thing to do was to draw out the design. I reminded Keshet to keep the shapes simple and a reasonable size since she was going to be cutting them out of paper. Then, using scissors only and not my scalpel, she carefully cut out her designs, listening attentively to my suggestions along the way.

The rainbow in the centre of Keshet's door sign was an obvious choice (the name Keshet means "rainbow" in Hebrew). She then chose her favourite emoji and a lovely little flower. I showed her how to trace the Hebrew letters of her and her sister's name. "We" had a few little slips when cutting those but, hey, that's how you learn isn't it?

Before I knew it Keshet and I had been drawing, cutting and sticking for 2.5 hours! The time had flown by. I had such fun with my young apprentice and mum reported back that she had loved it too.
Who knows if I will decide to teach papercut art one day? Maybe. All I know is that I now realise that there are youngsters out there who can happily sit and create for hours like me.
It's nice to know.

* This post has been shared on Sweet Inspiration Link Party, All Seasons, Pink Saturday, {nifty thrifty sunday}, The Homemaking Party, Happiness is Homemade, Creative Monday, The Good. The Random. The Fun., Make It Pretty Monday, Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) and The Keeping It Real Link Up.