Asian Beauty

When spending time with my sister at Mayo Clinic following her Stem Cell Replacement surgery in July, I had lots of time to myself when she was resting. So I was glad that I planned ahead and brought some crafts to work on. I spent hours happily making Asian paper dolls embellishments to use on cards. This week I am hosting the Monday Challenge at the wecraftcards forum [wecraftcards.com/forum] and decided to invite participants to create a card using a handmade embellishment. This was the card I used as my sample. I made the background with scraps of origami paper and an upcycled greeting card. Then added a top layer of vellum so that the little beauty would have center stage. I looked for a pattern and instructions for Asian paper dolls on Pinterest and found a simple one here [omamorifromjapan.blogspot.com/2011/07/anesama-dolls.html]. I then studied photos of dozens of other dolls for variations and ideas. The result was a large assortment of Asian paper dolls. Each was dressed with scraps of beautiful Origami patterned paper, and each is unique. The flower in the hair was cut from a scrap of the Origami paper that was too small to use on her clothes. And I love how it makes her look so pretty and even festive. The hair picks are also snipped made from tiny scraps.  A dear friend gave me a few packets of this Origami paper years ago and it is precious. So I let none of it go to waste when I make these. The inside sentiment is computer generated and the Blessings block is a rubber stamp that I pulled from its wood mount years ago. It might be a Hero Arts or Embossing Arts stamp. I have four additional paper dolls ready to add to a card. I provided a close up so you can see how the each is unique.

Entered into:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge- Anything Goes                    (simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge)

We Craft Cards Monday Challenge- Embellish It                        (wecraftcards.com/forum)

Word Art Wednesday Challenge- #350-351 Anything Goes     (wordartwednesday.blogspot.com)

The Paper Shelter- #351 Make It Bloom                                       (thepapershelter.blogspot.com.ar)

DigiStamps4Joy- #152 Anything Goes                                         (digistamps4joy-sa.blogspot.co.za)

Pixie's Snippets-Week #333                                                            (pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.com) 

A recent posting featured a snow globe card [made with a template from www.birdscards.com]  I decided to make another snow globe card, this time using patterned paper instead of stamping and embossing the snowy scene. A brand new release from Di's Digi named "Christmas Crew" looks right at home in this snowglobe. I colored them with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. For the inside sentiment, I layered a few scraps of papers to match the front, and added a freebie sentiment from www.birdscards.com

 

Entered into: 

Di’s Digi Stamps- Fancy Folds                                                          (disdigidesignschallenge.blogspot.co.uk)

Crafty Hazelnut’s Christmas Challenge- #401 Anything Goes  (craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge.blogspot.co.uk)

Crafty Hazelnut’s Patterned Paper Challenge                               (craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper.blogspot.com)

Happy Little Stamper- Christmas-Anything Goes                       (happylittlestampers.blogspot.com)

The current Simon Says Monday Challenge is named "Stamp On It" and it makes me realize how seldom I use rubber or clear stamps these days. But it was kind of fun to dig into my boxes of stamps and pick out a few to use. Decided on a vintage wood mount Pinterest Bear and Printworks sentiment. The sentiment on the inside of the card was printed by hand… mainly because I couldn't find my Printworks dot-lettered Happy Birthday stamp. A heart punch, patterned paper and silver photo corners finished off a cute card.

 

Entered into: 

Simon Says Monday Challenge-Stamp On It                       (simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge)

Simon Says Wed Challenge- Stamp It for Stamptember  (simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge)