Riley - Paper Doll of the Day

Just a quick one - we are on vacation in Florida visiting golfer son but I have a Riley makeover to show.

You may remember I mentioned coloring several doll stamps but liked the look of the cut-out paper dresses better. Here is Julie Nutting's gal named Riley. Her dress was colored with some Tim Holtz Distress markers - not great colors I chose - but she was an experiment and I kept her as a reminder. 

She was made before I discovered Prismacolor pencils so her skin is untouched - the color of the script paper. 

After I made Adam, I noticed his arms were similar to Riley's so I used the jacket stamp for a Riley fashion makeover. I did trim the jacket a bit, as well as her skirt, added leggings and some peachy color to her skin. I like her new look , don't you?

Bargains search for shoppers at Kohl's

I continue to be amazed at what one can get for one's $$$ at Kohl's. Around Valentine's Day, I was in search of a few new things to update the wardrobe for a Florida visit with the golfer son . . .

For less than $50 out of pocket, I came home with seven items . . .

Four tee shirts, a pair of lightweight blue jeans, a tweedy sweater, and the shades of rose infinity scarf  - to go with the pink sweater from the VVW - (vast & varied wardrobe, according to BFF Jane). Just a note . . . the scarf was the most costly item!

Granted . . . I had $10 in Kohl's cash, and the car-guy son offhandedly gave me a gift card he received at a gift exchange party . . . but even at $80, it's not a shabby haul. "How do they stay in business?" I asked the car-guy son.  "There's an enormous mark-up on soft goods," he replied. Guess so.

Now I'm coordinating the wardrobe and packing . . .

Cheers!

Paper Dolls of the Day - Lorrena & Adam & Julie Nutting at CHA

Introducing Lorrena, the first gal with a floor-length dress who appeared in the second group of Prima's Julie Nutting doll stamps. She is quite a fancy gal and could be dressed as a prom queen, a princess or a bride. If you browse Pinterest, you will find she has many lives. (FYI, the first six dolls did not have names . . . all dolls since do have names.  I believe Lorrena is named for Julie's daughter.)

Lorrena's prom-style dress was stamped upside down on patterned paper so the flowers would cascade down from the waist. The bottom ruffle was stamped on the edge of a coordinating paper for a watercolor-ish effect, cut out and placed over the original hemline.  Her script paper skin and dark hair were colored with Prismacolor pencils. I gave her dark hair for dramatic contrast. As a finishing touch, a headband was stamped (inking only the head of the doll stamp), cut out and added to Lorrena's up-do.

All dressed up . . . so where does Lorrena go? To the prom, of course. Meet Adam, Lorrena's date for this special occasion.  Notice she has put on some jewels - earrings and a long glitzy necklace - recently released self-stick bling accents from Prima.

The first adult-looking male doll, Adam is part of the most recent Prima doll stamp group that was unveiled at the Craft & Hobby Association merchandise show in January.  He arrives in his underwear - his jacket and trousers are a set and a separate purchase. However, the "business casual" suit is his only wardrobe choice - guess he's a suit kind of guy.   :-)  FYI Adam has a coordinating gal, Marisol, who arrives in a slip - her wardrobe stamps are also a separate purchase. Marisol has not moved into my house as yet . . . but give her time . . .

Back to Adam  . . . he was stamped on ledger paper - his skin and hair were colored with Prismacolor pencils.  His jacket and pants were stamped on smooth 65# black cardstock using VersaMagic Cloud White chalk ink. The black stamped shirt and tie were snipped away from the jacket and replaced with the same neckline stamped on white cardstock with black ink.  Prismacolor crimson red was used to color his tie. Nice looking pair, n'est-ce pas?

Speaking of the CHA show  . . . I would love to go there someday . . . but unfortunately I am not a "brand" and I don't own a craft store . . . I grabbed a few pictures from the many that were posted online  . . .

Here is Julie Nutting relaxing in the Prima Marketing booth at CHA

Fabulous wedding party display showcasing Julie Nutting doll stamps

Bride and Groom - Marisol and Adam

Imagine being paid to create these samples? It would be a dream job! (I'm sure there is a downside - there always is . . .)

Next time you'll meet Miss Riley  . . . and she'll be wearing an interesting outfit . . . 

Cheers!

Painted Paper Collage with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer

It was a Fabulous! workshop with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer at Papercraft Clubhouse in Westbrook on Sunday, March 15.  See pictures here on Julie's blog.  The first series of photos are of Saturday's "Art Journal Playground" so scroll down to the "Painted Paper Collage" group photo which begins the pictures of the workshop I attended.  You won't find me in the picture because I was called away before the photo was taken. (A story I won't tell here.) But I am visible (in miniature) in several photos . . . wearing a light denim shirt . . .

We spent the morning making the papers that we would be using in the afternoon for our collages. We put two colors of paint on sheets of deli paper and spread it around with a defunct plastic credit card. We were told by Julie to make a bazillion sheets of paper (I made about 25). Then when those were dry, we used stencils, stamps and gelli plate printing to add contrast, pattern and texture to the papers.

While the papers dried, we covered the surface we had chosen (mine was an 8x10 canvas) with book pages for a neutral background. Then we cut sections of our papers into shapes to make a simple design and using matte medium, affixed the shapes to the background. The thin deli paper seems to melt into the background and looks as if it was painted right onto the canvas. When the design was complete, we added some black "painterly" outlines. My masterpiece . . .

Meeting Julie was delightful . . . I've been following her blog for several years and it was a thrill to be in her workshop.  She is very open, has a sense of humor, commands the room easily and put everyone at ease.  Her demonstrations and suggestions as she walked among us were helpful and positive.  

Only two things I would have changed  . . . 

One - the size of my canvas. I would have liked mine a bit larger - but the supply list said "8x10" so Miss "Takes Direction Well" procured that size. 

Two - I would have squeezed out more paint on my papers - some were more translucent than I think was the intent of this technique. But I made another dozen or so papers on Wednesday afternoon (after the Sunday situation was finally over) and my technique was better.  I also learned by watching my more experienced table mates.

This was my first experience with paint . . . yes, I have painted objects but had never actually painted a picture or "made art" with paint (since grammar school, anyway). It was a pretty fun experience. I may have to do it again.

Oh wait . . . I am doing it again  . . . on April 19 with another celebrity mixed media artist - Dyan Reaveley. Stay tuned!

Cheers!

Chiara: Paper Doll of the Day

There have been eight groups of Julie Nutting Mixed Media doll stamps released  . . . I haven't bought many since release two . . . but in a visit to Papercraft Clubhouse in Westbrook last weekend, this gal was calling to me.  I tried to ignore her but was pulled back to that endcap. Sigh, must be fate. Her name is Chiara and I love her hair, stylish waist wrap and flippy skirt.

She had been stamped and dressed (twice!) before I went to bed that night. 

Chiara in the stripe dress is the original stamp image - I had this paper with a chevron design so took advantage of it. Chiara with the plaid leggings (love them) has trimmed hair and wears a slimmer skirt (snipped off the flip) which is more in keeping with a legging look.  The waist wrap is great . . . I made one to add as a neckline accent on one of the jointed gals . . . dresses up the pink tunic, I think.

I plan to draw up some trousers and bermuda shorts for Chiara - I think she would make a great golfer. :-) Most of the Julie Nutting doll stamps are in dresses or skirts and are "striking a pose" in the fashion sense. Their legs aren't trouser ready, so to speak, but Chiara is one who is.  

I'm beyond excited to be going to an all day "Painted Paper Collage" workshop on Sunday at Papercraft Clubhouse  with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (whose blog I've been following forever). INFO  I have done very little with paints so this will be a true learning experience for me. 

 An art journaling workshop is Julie's Saturday offering but that didn't call to me.  Journaling daily is way too much pressure in my life. Do a set task every day?  I'm not even good at taking vitamins!  The man of the house says I never do anything the same way twice. Lol. And I forgot to put my FitBit on today after my shower. Sigh.

Still to come - making a jointed paper doll (as soon as I take the right photos).

Cheers!

Paper Doll Tags with Julie Nutting Stamps

So what to do with these fabulous paper dolls once they are created?  Most of the paper artists I see online are making tags with the dolls. No surprise . . . Prima Marketing sells Tag Pads . . . 48 tags in a pad cut to just the right size (8.75" x 3.5") for the Julie Nutting doll stamps. There are several different backgrounds available now, but mine was purchased when the pad available had a script background, which I do like.

These were my first attempts (sorry . . .  pretty awful picture) . . .

Making the dolls with the doll stamps takes as little or as much time as one chooses to spend, depending on the particular stamp and the detail of the outfit. 

The process goes something like this: Stamp the doll onto the card stock chosen for the body -  white, off-white, text, script or whatever tickles your fancy and cut it out. Decide what papers to use for the clothes, ink the stamp for each part of the outfit and stamp onto the chosen papers. Cut out the clothing pieces and ink the edges if desired (white paper edges look unfinished to me now). Then it's time to put it all together. Ink the edges of the body or color the skin if desired; color the hair with pens, markers, or colored pencils.  Then glue the clothing pieces onto the base and voila! You have a paper doll to add to a tag, a package or a greeting card.

The green ballgown worn by the princess (above on the right) is a good example of a simple pieced dress.  Stamped once onto two shades of green paper, the bodice and hem were cut from the darker color paper and glued onto the light green dress.  Over time, I have become a better "partial inker" and I waste a less paper.

For a quicker paper doll, you can color the base doll with markers and not have to cut out any clothes. Copic markers are all the rage right now in the paper crafting world, but at $7.00 each, I'm not going there. FYI  I have made just two dolls that I colored with markers I had on hand, and decided I prefer the look of dresses cut from printed papers.

The doll pictured on the tag below was stamped onto a page from a telephone book.  I cut outside the stamped lines because the paper was so thin. The outfit was pieced using both sides of a sheet of double sided scrapbook paper and accented with Stickles glitz. I decorated the tag background using a doily that was inked, a strip of washi tape and some blooms punched from paper on a hand-drawn stem. 

A few more  . . . all of the dolls below were stamped on script paper and dressed with paper dresses. The headbands were stamped and cut out and some were embellished with punched shapes. Julie Nutting apparently likes headbands because most of her doll stamps have them. Some shoes are colored with Prismacolor pencils or black markers, others were cut from paper to match a dress.

  

  

You can see I was into the green and white checked paper.  :-)  The dress on the stamp used for the two younger gals (on the right) actually has only two tiers - I added the third tier because I liked the look.

The full collection of Julie Nutting stamps can be seen online on the Prima Marketing site.

If you are interested in seeing paper dolls made by other paper artists, I have collected my favorites on my Pinterest board HERE.

Or venture forth and search on "Julie Nutting" or "mixed media doll stamps" using any search engine such as Google or Bing.  There are literally thousands of  examples made by some very creative people out there.

And, if you are interested in giving paper doll making a try, we can do that, too.

Next time - making a jointed paper doll.

Cheers!

S.

Collage Couture and Paper Dolls

Several years ago I happened across a book by Julie Nutting titled Collage Couture: Techniques for Creating Fashionable Art and was so struck by the cover, I just had to thumb through it.  Collage dresses! With book pages. Needless to say, it came home with me.

I love collage and book pages, and the idea of combining these into great looking paper dolls and doll clothes appealed to me.  A treasure trove of illustrations and instruction, Collage Couture covers every facet of creating contemporary paper gals  - from proportioning a figure to drawing hair and sketching clothing. How to combine colors and patterns in clothing, techniques for creating backgrounds on canvas to show off the gals, and ideas for using them on cards and gifts are all described in detail. You can see the book on Amazon HERE.

Published in 2010, but as I discovered it, Prima Marketing had released a Julie Nutting stencil for making paper dolls as well as some doll rubber stamps.  I ordered the 12x12 stencil right away, since it meant I didn't have to draw anything (I'm not much of a draw-er). And I started making some gals.

 Stencil and dolls from Prima Marketing website

After getting inspiration from Julie Nutting's videos on the Prima Marketing website and looking around at what other paper artists had made with Julie's stencil on Pinterest, the gal below was my first creation. Made to accompany a christening gift for my friend's granddaughter, I arrived at the party and realized I had forgotten to take a picture of it. With Jane's voice resonating in my head, I propped the orange dotty gal on the seat of my car and preserved her for posterity just few minutes before I gave her away.  I liked how she came out so  . . .

Avery's paper doll

So I made a few more . . . and a few more . . .  gave a few away . . . . a couple went in the garbage because I didn't like their hair or dress or had mucked it up somehow. Drawing hair is a challenge for me . . .

 

By then I had purchased many of the first release of  Julie Nutting doll stamps . . . well, actually, all of them . . .

I liked the jointed dolls so decided to stamp the heads on the script or text paper and then use the template to draw the body to fit the head. Here's two examples. Oops - the head on the gal in the black dotted dress is from a stamp in the next release (yes, I bought more).

 

I have a few jointed gals waiting for garments . . .

Julie Nutting likes to use text or script paper for her dolls and I have followed her example.  In one of her videos Julie mentions she had been a fashion illustrator so she was focused on the garments, rather than the faces. She says she never learned to draw faces to her satisfaction.  Prima Marketing has since released a set of face stamps, but they aren't my cup of tea (below). See what I mean? FYI, that's the Prima Marketing logo over the middle face.

Next time -  a look at the tags I made using stamps from the first release.  Fun!

Cheers!

Paper Dolls Part 1: A China Head Doll

In the days when I was still playing with dolls, I wanted a porcelain doll desperately.  A catalog of porcelain doll kits came in the mail every so often (addressed to Mom) and I would spend hours poring over the choices of heads, arms and legs, picking out the ones I wanted to order.  The dolls were different sizes with black or blonde hair in various painted on styles. Owning one of these dolls was my heart's desire at age 10. The answer was always no. And life went on.

Doll similar to my heart's desire

Fast forward half a century  . . .  in my meanderings through cyberspace, what should I find but an online purveyor of rubber stamps offering a clear stamp for a china head doll named Lottie. All of those longings for a porcelain doll came surging back. Without hesitation I placed the order. Immediately. As a bonus, a template for Lottie's body as well as a basic dress were available to download.

Lottie from Pink Persimmon

The padded envelope containing Lottie arrived, I printed the body and dress templates and broke out the ink, paper and scissors.

Three of my paper dolls are shown below. Lottie is 8" tall with movable arms and lower legs. Small brads attach the arms and legs to the body and also secure the dress to her at the shoulders.  In traditional paper doll fashion, the dresses could be made with the fold back paper tabs of long ago, but I didn't choose to do that.

I have tweaked the dress pattern a bit, digging out my paper doll dressmaking skills from long ago and have several additional outfits in the closet. Lottie's skin is colored with Prismacolor colored pencils in shades of peach with pink cheeks and red lips.  A bit of blue dots the eyes. These are artist quality colored pencils (available at Michael's) with a waxy lead that can be blended to achieve many effects. I also extended Lottie's boots  to her knees with a black Sharpie marker.

So there she is. My first foray into paper dolls fas an adult.  (yes, there are more).

If you would like to make your own Lottie, you can find the stamp set HERE on Etsy or I can be convinced to share!

Cheers!

  

The Mezzanine and a Table Transformation

There is a spot in our living room we call "the mezzanine" - actually it is a parsons console table placed behind the main couch that faces the TV.  Two upholstered dining chairs from Pier 1 make this an ideal spot to have a snack, surf the net, or work on a crafty project while whatever "gripping" drama plays out on TV.

This parsons table was custom made many years ago in (wait for it) pale lavender laminate during my "Southwestern phase."  It coordinated with a rose/lavender/khaki tweed sectional couch and a custom pieced carpet. There have been several couches and carpets since that time, but the table has lingered on in various places around the room. It's a perfect size and quite functional - the only drawback being the color.

When the most recent couch came to live in the house, the lavender laminate just did not work with the cinnamon colored leather. I searched for a replacement table without success - how could one improve on perfection?  It became very clear that it was time to "refresh" or refinish the parsons table. (Note: I've been looking for a photo of the table in its lavender skin, but haven't found one.  Apparently it has been successfully obliterated from the history of our furniture.)

With the man of the house voicing his skepticism, a roll of brown kraft paper and a jar of Mod Podge began the transformation.  The paper was ripped into pieces of varying sizes and applied to the entire surface of the table overlapping the uneven edges.  In some places, the paper rippled a bit, but I liked the texture it gave to the table. It took a few evenings of work to cover the whole table - the legs were time-consuming since they had to be covered on all four sides.

Below you can see the torn edges of the paper on the legs and some of the uneven overlaps that add texture and interest to the surface.

Table legs

Parsons table corner

Parsons Table Top

After all the lavender laminate had been covered, the table cured for about two weeks. I wanted a "top coat" of something  to seal the surface and after some looking around decided to apply several coats of Mod Podge Hard Coat. It was looking good.


Below is the parsons table in all its glory.  It is the perfect color to give the perfect table a perfect new look to complement the most recent (and final) perfect couch purchase. Success!

Cheers!

S.

Baby Quilt Update

The  flannel baby rag QUILT  I made last month was washed (several times, actually) and the snipped edges frayed quite nicely. Here it is draped over a chair.  It is about 40" x 48" and not exactly square but . . . a man on a galloping horse wouldn't notice. :-)

A closer look at each side:

   

Just before wrapping this baby, I could hear my friend Jane's voice in my ear saying "You have to sign it" so back I went to the sewing machine. This was the result, easily done with the built-in alphabets.

My niece seemed pleased with my initial foray into rag quilt making so the wayward threads and fuzz on the carpet were worth it!

I followed the tutorial HERE on Do It Yourself Divas for the Flannel Baby Rag Quilt.

Cheers!

S.