A Compassion International Project- Paper Dolls

I have previously blogged about Compassion International and the fact that I've joined their program to sponsor Yuli, a young lady from the Dominican Republic.  Compassion has some rather narrow guidelines on what you can send to your child, financial gift aside.  Being a crafty person, I can definitely get on board with the requirement to send paper crafted items no larger than 8 1/2 x 11 inches and no thicker than 1/4 inch.  Still, pretty cards are nice, but what is a ten year old suppose to do with them once she's read them?










Enter paper dolls.  One day I might take photos of the paper dolls that Brandy and I made for one of my daughter's birthdays many years back.  No promises as I can barely keep up with the projects I currently make.  Suffice it to say that we might have overdid it a bit.  I picked up this set off of Amazon for Yuli. 




You think I could send it intact and let her cut the dresses out.  No, I just couldn't resist the opportunity to embellish the dresses a bit. 

After trimming out all the dresses and the crowns/headpieces, I set about adding glitter with a glue pen.  Getting this to show up on film is a bit of a challenge so you'll have to take my word for it.  These dresses are sparkly. 

I even added some pearl elements to the crowns.  This is not strictly paper, so I'm not sure whether they'll make it through customs.  I thought I'd give it a try.

 I found a Close to My Heart paper collection of ballerina mice.  I used the double sided paper to make two envelopes that I adhered to the back of the paper doll book (which also serves as a backdrop to the ballerina dolls.  I slid the dresses and crowns into their separate enveloped.  The envelopes were made with my Envelope Punch Board.

I've picked up this fairy paper doll set that I intend to send intact.  Surely Yuli will like to cut out some dresses herself?  I'm hoping that both sets will help her to feel like someone half a world away cares about her.  It is joy to share the love that Jesus has given me to one of His own a long distance away. 

Our Beautiful World- Week 38- Green

I was so inspired by the photos shared by Kirsty over at Handmade Little Things and her post for Our Beautiful World that I just had to join in.

The word prompt is Green.  My favorite color.  On a day that we wear green (my favorite color) and eat green (at least at my house where I use St. Patrick's Day to celebrate, you guessed it, my favorite color) and drink green (ok, not me because I'll celebrate this evening at home with the family, but lots of folks drink green beer today!).

I thought I'd share these photos taken with my camera at the Desert Botanical Garden here in Phoenix, Arizona. 

The cactus is somewhat green- you'll forgive the photos taken with my phone.  These glass sculptures, created by Dan Chihuly, are on display until May 18th.  I snapped these photos last December on a visit.  We've been back many times since then.  The photos do not do the sculptures any justice whatsoever as they are just beautiful in person.

I've linked a photo up over at Our Beautiful World.  

Come see the entries which are much more beautiful than my photos.   'Course, they all feature green heavily.  I'm biased.

Best Mom Ever- A Mother's Day Card

I'd mentioned that I picked up a clearance priced package of Authentique's Grace collection at my LSS.  The package came with many different embellishments mostly geared to mothers and Mother's Day sentiments.  I just couldn't resist the opportunity to put together a card with these colorful and stylish papers.  Here's the details:

• All papers are from the collection, even the brown matting paper and they are all edged in Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  
• The floral and swirls are cut from matching patterned paper and cardstock using my Our Daily Bread Fancy Foliage, Sizzix Decorative Swirls, Spellbinders Floral Flourish dies.

• The flower is store bought and has long since been separated from it's package.  I also rubbed on some Vintage Photo Distress Ink to tie this in.
• The pearl swirl came from the stash.  
• On the inside, I stamped the sentiment on a piece of patterned paper to create the flag and used foam squares to adhere some of the tag sentiments from the collection.  

I'm linking this card up at Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge blog: Mother's Day or Special Girl.  Come join the fun!

ETA:  I'm linking this up with The Shabby Tea Room's Week #210: Anything Goes challenge.   Come join the fun or have a look around.  The ladies who share at these challenges are sooooo talented!

A Get Well Wish

I created another get well card for my grandma.  She's got to be wondering what the fuss is all about considering how well the surgery went and how positive her healing is progressing.  If she searched her mind and heart she'd know that I need little prodding to take time to craft.  She's just been the narrow focus for a while.


Here's the details:

• The image was stamped onto watercolor paper using brown Archival Ink and colored with  Distress Markers using the watercoloring technique- Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Scattered Straw, Fired Brick, Weathered Wood, and Worn Lipstick.  
• The patterned papers and the flower are all from Basic Grey's Sweet Threads. A gem accent was added to the paper flower to bling it up.
• The branches and leaves were cut from various dies, most notably my ODBD Fancy Foliage set.  I actually had these on hand/leftover from various other projects.
• The organza ribbon is actually pink and I sponged it with some Ripe Persimmons Distress Ink to bring it closer to the color scheme.  
• The sentiment was stamped and cut using my Heartfelt Creations Burnished Key stamp and die.  I edged the frame with Ripe Persimmons Distress Ink to bring it more closely in line with the color scheme.  

My wish for my grandma is that she continue on the path towards healing in the rapid and productive manner that she began.  We couldn't have hoped for a better outcome and I am grateful.

I'm linking this up with Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge: D is for Distress because I used my Distress Markers to color the images and edge the paper pieces.   

 

Two Bad Mice- Another Get Well Card

Here's another quick card I made using my Crafter's Companion Beatrix Potter stamp set.  The polka dot paper is from American Crafts City Park collection.  The stickers come from my Basic Grey Sweet Threads collection.  The image was stamped onto watercolor paper using brown Archival Ink and colored with my Distress Markers using the watercoloring technique- Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Scattered Straw, Fired Brick, and Worn Lipstick.

These cards are becoming quite the set.  Unfortunately (or fortunately depending upon how you look at it), I'm writing them up and sending them out just as fast as I can make them.  This one was removed from the stamped, addressed envelope as I forgot to photograph it.  Maybe I'll do a repeat performance and make a gift set with a box.  Still, I'm sure my grandma will love these cards and ultimately, that was my purpose in making them anyway.