Art Paper Doll

I found a neat paper doll template on the web at http://www.dollstreetdreamers.com/back_alley_articles/shashi_paper_doll.htm .

I printed it up and then transferred the pieces to a piece of comic book backing board. This is an acid-free heavy card stock with two different textures (I love it for many paper crafts).

1. I covered each piece with paper. I used pink parchment for her skin and floral paper for her dress.

2. After stamping her face, I drew in details such as fingers and toes.

3. I used an anywhere punch to make all connection holes.

4. The arm segments were attached with mini brads and the head, dress pieces and legs were connected with large jump rings.

5. I pulled the legs off a loop brad and glued it onto the back of the head with E-6000 and tied a fibre in it for a hanger.

6. I glued a piece of fancy fibre on her head for hair and let it all dry.


I plan on making several of these as holiday decorations. I think the whole project took a couple of hours. Try one yourself and have fun!

Quilled Cardinal - part 3

At this stage, the cardinal is beginning to take bird-shape. I am using red and dark red 3" marquises. I lay out the outline for a while and then fill in the body, squeezing to fit as necessary.

Quilled Cardinal

One of my other major interests is quilling. It is an ancient craft, nearly 500 years old. Basically it is thin pieces of paper rolled around a pin and shaped. I am doing a quilled 'painting' of a cardinal. I will share it with you as I work on it so you can see how it can come together from little pieces of paper.

This is the beginning. I took an acid-free magazine backing board (similar to hot press board) and did a simple watercolor to tone the background. I then transferred my design to the board to use as a guide.

I then took 1/8" wide paper strips and began the quilling.

1. The beak is done with an orange triangle and an orange marquise. I just guessed at the length of the strips to make them fit the outline of the beak.
2. The eye is a 4" black strip glued to a 2" white strip. I made a tight circle starting at the black end of the strip.
3. The black mask is made of 2" marquises. This is to make sure to properly fill in the mask area. I fit the eye in place at this time.

I will share my progress and instructions as I go along. It will not be every day, but at major stages in creation.

ATC Challenge

I entered a challenge over at Authentic Artistry on my favorite art form - the ATC! I wanted to share my submissions. Both are digitally created and 2.5" x 3.5". They will be available on my Flickr pages for trade after the competition.

This ATC started out in color (using Paint Shop Pro) with the background and doodle supplied by Authentic Artistry in their freebie. I then added the period lady and quote. The shading was added on separate layers before converting the whole piece to sepia tone. I then curled the edge to add further age.

This ATC was made in Paint. NET. The background is from a digiscrapping page by DDiva. The images are Victorian images from Dover Publishing. Shadows were added in layers. I then used the paintbrush to make the scalloped edge.