Happy Birthday, Doll - Julie Nutting Cassandra Stamp

The meaning of life is to find your gift.  
The purpose of life is to give it away.    William Shakespeare

Julie Nutting Cassandra stamp, Copic markers, Cricut card base, gold leafing pen,
 dp for dress and background, handmade flowers, beaded lace bow, butterfly die,
 beaded swirls, assorted gems, pom pom trim, 

 

Hey there,

Yipeeee!  Covid vaccinations abound and my friends and family are finally able to visit us in our new home.  Next week we will have two families staying just two days apart.  I'll be joyfully anticipating and frantically preparing for their stays.  One of our guests, my darling niece, has a birthday on Monday, so it'll be fun to celebrate and give her this card in person with a big hug.  

I've loved my stash of Julie Nutting paper doll stamps forever and I never grow tired of dressing them up in fancy frocks and creating girly cards.  Have I mentioned I had a class with Julie in person?  Okay, maybe only a dozen times because it was so exciting and I'm in awe of her talent which she so generously shared.  I dressed this cute Cassandra doll in a paper pieced party dress and mounted her on an elegant card base which I elongated  in Cricut Design Space.  I embellished the subtle DP in my background with handmade flowers, a beaded lace bow and a die cut metallic butterfly with added vellum wings. I created even more sparkle by adding gems to my birthday girl's metallic crown and swirly vines for her to dance in.  Every birthday card needs a bit of bling, right?  My stamped birthday message found a perfect place to live amongst all the party hoopla. 

I'm slowly getting on the slimline card bandwagon and this card might qualify because it fits in a regular size 10 envelope.  I'm collecting a few pretty slimline dies, so stay tuned for some proper skinny cards to come.  I think a little change is in order as the pandemic fog lifts! 

Thanks for visiting,

Go forth and get vaccinated and then hug some vaccinated loved ones!

Nancy

Playing along with:

Crafty Creations Challenge #419

Little Red Wagon Challenge #595

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #312

Crafty Sentiment Designs ATG

Through the Craft Room Door Wk beginning March 30

A Gem of a Challenge #7

Sweet Stampin' - Special Woman

Creative Moments Challenge #211

Shellabrate Like a Mermaid - Julie Nutting Sea Sally

Be a mermaid and make waves. 

Julie Nutting mermaid, Cricut Design Space tag card, Cricut seaweed shapes,
shell and writing feature, metallic flower, Close to My Heart Designer Paper,
 white Nuvo Drops for pearl necklace, white gel pen, aqua sequins for fin

Hey there,

Amid all the chaos and confusion around us, my world continues to be a thrilling adventure.  My hubby and I have just returned from St. George, Utah, were we found a beautiful new home!  I couldn't be more excited for the move, but packing up my craft room looms large as  an extremely daunting task.  I'm having some last minute fun creating a few cards to add to my blog que before I have to take a reluctant hiatus from crafting.  I know I'll be frantically unpacking boxes on the other end and arranging things in my shiny new craft room as soon as I get there.  It's #1 on my priority list, ahead of food and sleep.  I'm taking all my same furniture, so my room will look much like the room I have now,  only squeaky clean and organized for about 5 minutes.   I'm trying to keep the end in mind, so I won't get too overwhelmed but it might be too late for that.  I'll post my progress as I go along.

While going through my Julie Nutting paper dolls, I came across this darling Sea Sally in a folder with her fins and top already stamped in patterned paper.  I was elated that I had already stamped her cute face with a Peachy Keen stamp.  Some gorgeous Close to My Heart ocean themed paper, gifted to me by a friend, has been waiting to be used for the background of this tag-shaped card.  To my delight, I had already saved  the tag card base cut file  in Cricut Design Space.   I chose the shell shape from the image library and added the sentiment in a curve with the writing feature.  I easily found some sea weed images,  sized them to fit my tag, cut them on white card stock and  colored them with  Copics to coordinate with the designer paper.

I actually had the pleasure of taking a class from Julie Nutting a few years ago and I could hardly function because I was so awed by her presence.  She's a fabulous teacher and I came away with some fancy new skills for creating paper dolls.  Now I'm excited to  see what other treasures I discover while plunging head-first into my stash.

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and plunge head-first into YOUR stash and find some fabulous forgotten treasures.

Nancy

Playing along with:

Inkspirational Challenge #217

The Fairy and the Unicorn July Challenge

Colour Crazy Challenge Week 28

Pattie's Creations Design Challenge #172

Polkadoodle Craft Challenge Wk 29

Papercraft Challenge #31

Papercraft Challenges #60
Seize the Birthday #195

Pretty Pink Petal Skirt - Julie Nutting Paper Doll

You were placed on this earth to create, not to compete. 

Robert Anthony

Hey there,

I've been dying to create another Julie Nutting paper doll because they're such fun to dress and embellish.  I was ecstatic at the thought of making a flower petal skirt for this little sweetie and I think it turned out pretty cute. I enjoy dressing these little girls so much, and since I've started adding faces to them, they're a little more my style. I like the faceless originals also, but I really prefer to see some personality looking back at me when I'm making wardrobe decisions. 

I often use beautiful designer papers for my backgrounds rather than creating originals from scratch... kinda like my cooking,  I like the process and the results of creating something imaginative; I just don't like the clean-up.   I have tons of dazzling dp in my stash just waiting to be auditioned, tempting me to skip all the painting,  stenciling and stamping hoopla and concentrate on coloring my foreground images. For this card,  I originally cut out a tag card base in Cricut Design Studio,  but I ended up cutting off the tab after the card was finished.  I decided to forego the ribbon tassels this time and go for a simpler look.  I have plans to expand my creative horizons by working on some fun mixed media backgrounds very soon.   Just like I plan to make some tasty new recipes.  It could happen.  

I had the honor of speaking at a baptism for a darling little eight-year-old girl last weekend and I think she liked this dainty little card, sort of a valentine and congratulations card combined.  She calls me "Fancy Nancy".  She melts my heart. 

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and play enthusiastically with some stamps you love.

Nancy

Playing along with:

Coloring in Scrapland - February Challenge

Crafty Cardmakers - Challenge #250 

Creativ Fusion Arts & Crafts - Challenge #15

Creations in Pink - Challenge #19

Daisy Chain Challenges - Challenge #38

Love to Scrap - Challenge # 130

Tales From the Craft Room - Challenge #2

Daring Cardmakers -  Someone or Something You Love

QKR Stampede Challenge #385

My Time to Craft Challenge #425

Jeanne's Dragonfly Garden - Another Tag-Shaped Card for a Julie Nutting Doll

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.    

(R.W. Emerson)

I had such a delightful time coloring my last Julie Nutting Doll, I decided to try another chic little gal with a little different tag design.   I found a card in Cricut Design Studio  that  opens like this tag card I posted earlier but has more of an actual tag shape on the inside with an opening for ribbon embellishments.  I sized it to 4 1/4 x 9 1/4, a little larger than my usual cards, but  I'll have no problem making a custom envelope for it in Design Studio.  I stamped  Jeanne's face with a Peachy Keen stamp and colored her skin and face with copics. I really love her adorable smile!  Her dress is pieced  with designer paper and lightly shaded with copics.  I die cut a flower garland with cream card stock to add dimension to the background and colored the leaves with copics and Prismacolor pencils. I created .3-D flowers with a coordinating die to embellish the garland. and added a vellum and rhinestone dragonfly.  I used Nuvo drops for the flower centers. The collage background and card lining are cut with designer paper.

I love this card design because I was able to add some pretty ribbon and a pearl brad to garnish the tag opening.  The front panel is edged with a gold leafing pen and the edge of the card is sponged with Tim Holtz Tea Dye distress ink. 

It's a tag.  It's a card.  It's happy mail for one of my favorite people.

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and create something fabulous.

Nancy

Playing along with:

        Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #336

        Crafty Creations Challenge #388

        Creative Moments Challenge #166

        Through The Craftroom Door - Week of April 9

        Always Fun Challenge #105
        Dream Valley Challenge #199
        Crafty Hazelnut Patterned Paper Challenge - April 2019
        Daisy Chain Challenge #29

Julie Nutting Doll - Tag Shaped Card

“A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.” – William Arthur Ward

I just can't help it! Some of my Julie Nutting dolls are born with faces.  I guess it's because I color so many pretty lady faces with my copics, my dolls don't seem finished without a pretty smile.  I know most people, including Julie, don't draw faces on these sweeties and they still look adorable.  In my defense, Prima did come out with some face stamps for them but according to some YouTube videos I watched recently, they didn't work well.  I've been using these Peachy Keen face stamps and they stamp out so cute.

This is the first Prima doll I made several years ago and I think she looks very pretty without her face.  I still really love this cute image.  I think I'll give her a smile and a wink next time around.

I was honored to create these tags in a Julie Nutting class taught by Julie herself a few years ago.  I admire her artistic skills so much...I was agog during the whole class and I hung on her every word because she is a celebrity to me  I have two of her collage couture books in which she shows how to actually draw fashion dolls (and add faces if you want).  I think I'll just stick to the stamps for now, though.  Dressing them up and creating a place for them to live is enough fun for me.

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and creative something fabulous.

Nancy 

Playing along with:

       Allsorts Challenge #513 - Use Yellow

       A Vintage Journey Friday Tag Spectacular  

       Creative Fingers Challenge #160

       Aloha Friday Challenge #139

       QKR Stampede Challenge #341

       Crafting With an Attitude Challenge #49

       Crafty Creations Challenge #387 

       The House That Stamps Built Challenge #M2719

       The Crafty Addicts Challenge #58