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Shop the Paper Model Kiosk!
Carolyn's Nativity Sheet
A vintage nativity from the collection of Carolyn Loshbaugh to cut-out and assemble…
Children's Nativity
Even tiny hands can cut and assemble this lovely nativity!
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Annelies de Kort |
| So what do you do when you have learned to bobbin lace and designed so many beautiful patterns you just don’t know what to do with? Build a lace shop, of course, just as Annelies de Kort of the Netherlands did—but in miniature! You’ve guessed the next step: miniature creches... |
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Celso Battistini C. Rosa |
| "When I was a child," Celso says, "I simply couldn’t wait to put up the Christmas nativity in our house. I kept asking my Mom if I could start, and she would say, ‘We have to clean the house first... that will take about a month.’ Do you know how long a month is for a child? Nowadays, I smile remembering Christmases past, and I tell my children, ‘We’ll start putting up our crèches even though the house may not be clean!’" |
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Elisabetta Gulli Grigioni |
| She holds a degree in literature, but her subject is the human heart. She speaks eloquently about it’scapacity to love, to hate — and to embrace, acting as a manger, if you will, for Christ. And so, heart objects, many featuring the Christ Child, adorn her elegant Ravenna apartment. Come along for a morning visit to the world of this extraordinary philosopher, collector, teacher, and author. |
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Forrest Womack |
| "I am astonished and awestruck at just how lovely and lovingly detailed this crèche is," writes a young soldier from Iraq, "and I am impatient to see how it will look when I assemble it, having no doubt about its power to inspire…" |
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James A. Findley |
James A. Findlay
Librarian, author, The Bienes Center for the Literary Arts
Jim Findlay loves books—and he especially likes the books that Vojtech Kubasta illustrated: pop-ups, "flat books," nativities: "Kubasta's work has an innocence, a child-like quality," Jim says. What a great qualification for the Bienes Center Rare Book Collection, whose focus is children's literature… |
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James L. Govan |
| His book, ”Art of the Crèche: Nativities from Around the World,” was just published (Merrell, hardcover, 208 pages) and it celebrates the nativities that Jim and his late wife, Emilia, collected with love, faith, and love of art. |
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Judy Davis |
| Come on in; Judy Davis is hosting a Creche Open House. Her large picture windows, overlooking San Francisco Bay, let in lots of sunlight that bathes her creche collection in an afternoon golden glow. Judy, and her husband, Bob, are a cosmopolitan couple who love to travel. Thank you both for sharing your prodigious collection of world creches... |
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Julian Scicluna |
| It’s always delightful to hear from crèche afficionados, and even more exciting to have them share their collection. Julian Scicluna of Malta sent us his pop-up Christmas cards… |
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Matthew Powell, O.P. |
| Father Matthew Powell welcomes us to his world, a quite place, set in a picturesque college campus. It’s filled with prayer, teaching, writing, three-dimensional crèches, icons, and paper nativities. “This collection of paper expresses so much about my life,” Father Matthew says. “My faith; my love of art; my love of the theater; my love of doing things with my hands…” |
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Milan Zábranský |
| You're heading to Prague to meet a friend-of-a-friend—Milan Zábranský and his wife Jana—and you know you’ll enjoy their company very much. But what you don’t realize is that you’re getting on a plane with destination Crèche Heaven, about to embark on an exhilarating journey: the Prague of Kubasta; the beautiful Czech countryside; and all those marvelous paper, carved, and mechanical Czech nativities... |
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Miroslav Vodsedálek |
| It's one thing to expect a museum-quality mechanical nativity in a museum, but in someone's front parlor? That's a different story. But there it is, occupying most of a room, the proud pocession of its present owner who's eager to share his family heirloom with you… |
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Mrs. Poloprutská |
| In the village of Stara Ves, Milan knocks on Mrs. Poloprutská's door. Actually, it's not her door at all, but the door to her stable! But is there a more fitting place for a nativity — mechanical or otherwise? |
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Pat Koogle |
| "Since my husband's passing," writes Pat Koogle, "and my moving into the house in town I decided to downsize and let others enjoy and share my Christmas items. Of course, the really special ones that meant so much to us both I will always keep and use each year." But guess whom Pat shared some of her other nativities with? |
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Rose |
| Then one day I checked out what's new in Crèchemania and there it was — my old crèche staring at me from the web page! The Czechoslovakian Fold-out Nativity… The same red, waxy paper, behind the window and the star, broken on mine, and replaced by a home-made one… |
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Spencer and Ryan |
| Well, it's really Spencer who's the enthusiast—when he's not playing hockey—but Ryan is game for anything... |
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Svatava Vizinová |
| You open a large envelope to find not one, not two, but three beautiful nativities—and a wonderful letter from a woman you have never met, who's devoting her life to a paper nativity museum whose visitors "feel a beautiful warmth in their heart…" |
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Syler Womack |
| "Whether crèches are old friends, or sparkling new representations," writes Syler Womack, "the heart-breaking Joy is always there — that paradox that makes us want to fall on our knees; on our very faces — and fly with the angels at the same time. |
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Vittorio Pranzini |
| A former stable for a stately home has been transformed into an airy villa that houses Vittorio Pranzini‘s outstanding collection: the pages of “Santi Auguri!” spring to life as beautiful paper nativities and nativity sheets are spread out for you to enjoy. This soft-spoken, religious man—who has just retired as the Superintendent of Ravenna’s schools—shares his love of presepi di carta, a love he developed as a child, helping his father install his family’s Christmas crib... |
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