Scherenschnitte Christmas Cards

 Santa’s Workshop Papercutting

Here it is January 19, and I haven’t gotten around to posting my Christmas card design from 2023.  Oops.

It’s always such an ordeal for me trying to figure out what the theme will be for my yearly card. I take forever and go through lots of prototypes. 

This year I ended up using the theme of Santa’s workshop. This way, I got to cut a fancy border design, which was the house. Architectural designs make such nice designs that can be set on a table or hung. And in Santa’s workshop, I got to add a bike, which was something I really wanted to include. 

Most of my cards were cut out of heavy drawing paper. After about 95% of them were cut, I noticed a pack of watercolor paper I have hoarded for years. And wouldn’t you know, that stuff is perfect for my greeting card snips! 

Scherenschnitte Vacation Memory

Vacation memory from Bulls Island, SC. Lots of alligators there!

My Christmas Scherenschnitte Cards for 2022

 Annual Scherenschnitte Christmas Cards

Oh, boy. I suck at taking pictures of white art work. Sheesh. But here are my paper cut Christmas cards this year.

I first decided that I wanted to have a bike design. I like designs that have different scenes on different sides. So, voíla! Here is card #1. Santa riding a bike through the woods. Okay, so fine. Simple. I cut a boat load of this design.

But then I wanted to cut a design for a thank you note to friends who live in a well appointed craftsman style house. I based this cut on a Frank Lloyd Wright design. I like this one soooooo much better than the Santa. 

But......I already cut a ton of the Santa ones. And this one takes longer to cut.  Ugh. Which ones to send to whom???

Mountain Biking

 I'm starting to get back into a couple of things I haven't done in a while. Snipping and mountain biking. Both things require that I put in some practice time to get back into the groove, but this is my start.

Scherenschnitte - Second 3D Flower Bouquet

 Scherenschnitte - Paper Flower Bouquet

This is the paper cutting from the drawing I showed the other day. I think I need a little more height in the middle, but it is okay. 

What I need to work on even more is taking photos of white paper! I just can't seem to get the balance or contrast how I want it. 

3D Bunch of Flowers - Scherenschnitte

 

Scherenschnitte Christmas Card 2020

 Every year, designing my 3D scherenschnitte (paper cutting) Christmas cards takes FOREVER! I cut designs that I love but they take too long to produce en masse. Here's the one I have settled on to send this year. 

I started far away from that design though. After contemplating cutting a fancy covid molecule, my first real attempt was at a Celtic knot, thinking it would be quick and easy.  Nope. Not quick and not easy. 

Then I went for a beloved image; the matryoshka or babushka. 

I took pictures of myself dressed as a babushka to have a model to work from.  I liked the design but just could not seem to cut them very quickly.  That, plus the fact that when I asked people to tell me what the image was, they called it a Santa. Instead of adding more details to make it look more grandma like, I went to other designs that I just never loved.  My Christmas cards are 3D and I was going to sew together the babushka and bunny side with the boy, tree, and house side. 

Russian stacking dolls followed that. The face took too long and easily fell apart because it is so delicate. Again, for multiples, it just would take too long.  There were multiple iterations of that as I was determined that this was going to be the theme. 

Next, we move to birds. This is a delicate and small design. Once again, the intricacy was just too much.

This one, not enough action.

The birds inspired the final design though.  Actually, I bought a dishcloth at a Norwegian festival that had a similar bird on it and that is the image that inspired the final designs.  

Now I am in production mode.  Each Christmas card takes a minimum of an hour to produce....but all made with love and care. All a little bit different than each other.

Where My Mind Is When I am Not Thinking of Anything

Scherenschnitte Valentines and Doctors Without Borders

Lately, I have wanted to contribute to many organizations who need help.  If I contributed to every one I wanted to, I would deplete my bank account pretty quickly.  So, I am going to try and contribute in a different way.

I am starting to put up some items in my long neglected Etsy shop.  Any proceeds (above shipping) from those sales will go to Doctors Without Borders.  As soon as I see the notice that an item has been sold, I will send the donation.  They will send you a notice that a donation has been made in your honor.

Here's my Etsy shop address: Snippety Gibbet.

Here are some valentines that are in there at the moment.

The Fat Fairy Meets Birdy

There was a dove sitting in a nest by our garage.  At eye level! I watched her until she left the nest and I peeked in .  An egg!  Then another trip out of the nest.  A second egg!  Yippee!!!

I watched her for what seemed like weeks and eventually saw baby birds. She saw us peek in so much she didn't seem to get flustered.  Every time I peeked in I would coo, "Hi, Birdy." I guess she figured out after a while that we were not a threat.

The birds grew and grew and I was getting hopeful that we would get to watch them fledge. I kept an ear out for dove cooing and peeked out frequently to see how the family was doing.

One afternoon I heard some odd sounds outside so I went to peek out.  There was fluttering and shrieking.  A blue jay was picking up and dropping the carcas of a baby dove on the driveway.  One of the parent doves was attacking the blue jay until the blue jay left.

Obviously the one bird was just.....desicated. I couldn't go out and deal with it, so Mark did.  We never saw the second baby dove out there so we assumed it had gotten carted away by the jay.

It was rainy out and the doves just kept hanging out on our steps in front of the next.  So much cooing and pittiful pacing. I left them some seeds and they seemed appreciative.

This went on for a couple of days.  We left out seeds.  The dove couple kept pacing around on our steps.

At some point Mark went out and picked up the lid of the yard waste can which was propped up on a cinder block.  Out ran a baby dove! It ran under our hosta plants and hung out there for a couple of days.  The parents looked after it and eventually they all left.  I am thinking it is a good thing.

My Day was Made - Meeting One of My Favorite Artists

Oh my gosh!  Elsa Mora! I went to the National Gallery the other day to hear Elsa Mora, the artist, lecture. I was not disappointed that I did.

I have loved her work for years. She is highly skilled in many media, but paper cutting is her specialty. Be still my heart.  A paper cutter giving a lecture!

She is so down-to-earth and humble. I was so touched to hear her speak about her life.  My eyes were teary through a lot of the lecture, although I think a lot of that was from just being so happy to be there.

I comment on her blog under the name "Snippety Gibbet."  That name is just odd enough, that she recognized it when I told her who I was.  My day was made.

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

The snip is finished.  Here I am as the old lady in the folk tale.  Well, I modeled her after me in my big, fuzzy, winter bathrobe. Hopefully we don't resemble each other beyond that.

©Janet Johnson
scherenschnitte 4" x 6"

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly...

"There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.
I don't know why she swallowed a fly.
Perhaps she'll die."

If you don't know this little ditty, check out this version by Simms Tayback.  It's a fun song though it does sound a bit morbid from that little phrase, doesn't it?

 

In my mind's eye I pictured a paper cut version of the old lady and wanted to cut it out.  I must say that this illustration looks absolutely nothing like what I see in my mind's eye.  Maybe I'll try again tomorrow. It is absolutely nuts how far away this is from what I indended.



I must say that I did thoroughly enjoy snipping it though.

P.S.  I was not the model for this one.


scherenschnitte
5" x 7"

Scherenschnitte Angel - Christmas Cards 2015

Every year I snip my own Christmas cards.  They're 3D and labor intensive.

This year I chose to make angels.  My initial thought was that these would be quick to do.  Hahaha!  They were not quick to make.  I also made many that I threw out.  Hours wasted, yes, but lessons learned.

The main problem that I had with my angels was the face.  Snipping is problematic at best because it is tricky to know where to cut so that the whole thing does not fall apart.  Double the problem when you are cutting it on the fold for four halves of a face.  I snipped some of the ugliest angel faces you have ever seen!  I learned way too late, that I needed to cut the faces first.  It was painful to have spent hours on body and wings only to snip an ugly face at the end.

I know on that top photo, the angel looks as though it was cut from black paper, but that's not so.  It was cut from white.  The January blizzard of '16 in the background is putting her in shadow.

I was pleased with many of the angels and sent them out.  My family and friends always tell me that they have a collection of my cards and many people display them every year.

I am finding that every year, fewer and fewer people send out cards. It brings me great joy to send mine out, but I also enjoy receiving cards.  I guess this is a tradition that is ending.  That makes me sad. I'm not sure how long I will keep on creating my own.

Namaste, Ya Little Buggars.

I encountered my first class of scoundrels as a substitute teacher.  Fifth graders.  They came in the classroom and never paused their playing for a second.  They didn't even give me a chance to announce that their teacher was out and had asked me to come in and be their "guest teacher" for the day.  They never got quiet.  Never got settled down.  Never acknowledged the chime we use for such purposes in "Responsive Classroom."  Didn't put their heads down when I finally gave up and told them to take a five minute break.

I refuse to yell at kids.  It does no good anyway. So I just took a breath for a moment to figure out my next move.

This is how I fantasized the scene.  Me....breathing deeply and removing myself mentally from the bad vibes...as big claws come in and pluck the ornery little buggars away.  There's a hook that comes in a takes one of the entertainers off the stage. I found this little fantasy quite calming.

As I walked over to the telephone and drew my finger down the phone directory list, the room grew increasingly quiet.  I dialed the phone and knew that I had their attention. As I began to speak to their teacher, you could hear a pin drop.

Unfortunately, she was in a meeting and could not come to give them a pep talk, but I didn't let on.  They thought she was on her way.

They sat with their heads down in silence as I gave the evil eye to anyone who dared look up.  Finally, I pretended to call the teacher again to tell her that they had done better and I would give them a second chance.

They were quiet enough for the rest of the class.  Not as quiet as I prefer, but quiet enough.

Thank goodness that as a sub, I can choose to work with them again or not.



Scherenschnitte 5"x7"       "Fat Fairy"

Christmas Cards for 2014

You would think that since I retired six months ago, my Christmas cards would have been snipped ages ago.  Not so.  I've busied myself with everything but snipping.  Once I got down to crunch time though, I enjoyed the task.  This year's batch are pleasing to me but they are more simple than those done in years past. Here are a few of them.

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Snippyville

It seems that my time these days is filled with everything except snipping. Though I am retired, I have felt as though I have no time for my artwork. Now that the holiday season is here, I have got to get to work. Christmas cards won't cut themselves.So, it's time to head down to Snippyville to get my work done.

Tribute Piece - Scherenschnitte for my First Art Teacher

My first art teacher is retiring.  (So am I, in case you didn't know!)  My home town is having an art show in her honor.  Former students have been asked to submit work.  So I made a snip for her. 

It is the largest paper sculpture I have done and it took me probably 20 hours or so from start to finish.  (Though I have yet to figure out how to put it on display without having it fly away when a breeze hits it.)

The figures represent parts of her life.  There is one figure of her painting.  There is a clothesline with tee shirts hanging that represent her annual tee shirt design for the town festival.

There is an image of her walking her dog and on the opposite side is her with her family.  Up in the tree limbs are hidden art supplies.  Palettes, paint brushes, tubes of paint and buckets of paint are just a few of the items.