As a little girl, I was absolutely infatuated with paper dolls. The smooth, glossy pages filled with statuesque figures and their treasure trove of haute couture and gleaming jewels kept me occupied for hours. I would mix-and-match and match-and-mix to my heart’s content. I remember giving my papery pals exotic names like Nikolette or Gabrielle and I remember wishing that I lived in their world or that they lived in mine. I don’t know whatever became of my beloved besties…perhaps a tear to the torso or a toss in the trash. But I’m certain that their fate was not as fabulous as mine.
Thanks to Pinterest, I recently stumbled upon a creative website that reminded me of my paper doll days. Artist and designer Joel Henriques is the brain behind Made by Joel, a crafty corner for kids where readers share art, crafts and handmade education projects. I made an immediate connection to Joel and his work when I discovered his silly shapes of cats and Parisian landmarks. The crafts were so Rue Le Chat…fancy felines and the fashion forefront that is Paris.
My heart melted and I was five-years-old again when I saw the video of Joel playing “Dressy Cats” with his daughter. It reminded me of my father who used to play the same kind of games with me as a little girl. If Dressy Cats and Paper City Paris were around when I was growing up, they would have definitely had a place in my collection.