2018 #10 Paper Dolls: We Dream of Summer Days with ESC {by Jennie Atkinson}

2018 Topic 10: Paper Dolls

Gorgeous composition from Jennie. These little girls are all dressed up, Jennie's choice of stamps suits them perfectly, and she shows you so many interesting details in her layers!! ~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Jennie (Live the Dream) here with you today, sharing a project with those fabulous Paper Dolls! They really have been absolute favourites of mine since I first saw them.  

I love these two girls in particular as they remind me so much of my cousin and I (I'm the eldest). As double first cousins (my Mum's sister married my Dad's brother) we are as close as sisters and share a number of loves, including gardening. So what better way than to celebrate these gorgeous girls with a panel using Scrapcosy's wonderful floral stamps and stencils. (And if I can bear to part with it, she might get it for her birthday!)

I thought it would be interesting to use Scrapcosy's stamps on patterned paper. I hadn't intended to go down the vintage brown route, but the papers sort of led me there. These are the stamp sets and stencil I used:

 Eclectica³ Scrapcosy Set 4 (ESC04)

Eclectica³ Scrapcosy Set 02 (ESC02)

Eclectica³ Scrapcosy Set03 (ESC03)

PaperArtsy Stencil 049 (PS049)

I was surprised how well this paper melted into the background when stamped with the large rose stamp using Potting Soil Archival Ink, yet here and there the pattern shows through. As usual I have used little bits of stamps as highlights.  The text is from the Carrot stamp! Although at this stage I have no idea how much of this paper will be seen I have used Texture Paste through the stencil along the outside edge.

If I have some Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics left over on my craft mat I always brayer them onto a piece of cardstock for later use. I am not sure what I have used here, but possibly Chalk and Mushroom. This is a second generation stamp (stamping off first onto a sheet of paper) with the Potting Soil Archival Ink to get a lighter touch.

I then started looking for some more scraps of paper and little stamps from each of the sets. I love how these all work together yet come from three separate stamp sets.

It is only at this stage that I start looking for matching embellishments. A lot of my supplies are packed in boxes by colour so it is easy to find matching elements. As you can imagine these are from my most used box!

And so to putting it together. At this stage I generally keep everything flat, ie not on any foam pads. If I could have got to my sewing machine (buried under a pile of knitting wool .... don't ask!) I would have sewn these together before glueing to the background board. Although I have used tape to stick them down I keep the tape to the middle of the piece so it seems to "float" rather than being stuck down right at the edges.

What I really love about the Paper Dolls is that you can paint them with a little ink here and there. My Grandfather used to paint on black and white photographs and made a wonderful job. Here I have just highlighted a few elements. I wanted  the Dolls to stand out so these were adhered with foam pads.

I play around with the cluster until I am happy with where it is all sitting before glueing anything. The little seed stamp got forgotten .... but it was easy enough to glue in under the lace and by positioning it at the end meant it didn't get lost under the cluster.

I love stamps with little words and figures and these botanical letters are just perfect. I use them all the time!

As much as I love creating in vintage browns I always feel that my project needs one element that is more dominant and these black background word elements to my mind really complete the project and bring the whole thing together.

In conclusion, all I can say is what a wonderful duo - Paper Dolls and Scrapcosy Vintage Florals. A match made in heaven for me!  As usual I hope I have shown how you can isolate small parts of stamps (as in the text on the Carrot stamp) and how all those little stamps  in a set can be tucked in here and there to create lovely layers.

As always thank you for joining me.

Jennie x

Blog: Live the Dream
Instagram: atkinsonjennie
Pinterest: jennieatk

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The current topic link Topic 10: Paper Dolls will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, June 17th 2018, and the winner will be announced 1 hour later at 18:00, because we have some new product announcements starting at 19:00.