Pink Art Dress 2013

"You feel very romantic when you're in a ball gown. 

Everyone should wear one once in a while."

Carolina Herrera, Designer

Although I didn't pursue my childhood dream of becoming a fashion designer, I still have a great appreciation for beautifully designed gowns and dresses.

The art dress below was inspired by the work of several, talented artists all of whom I've listed at the end of this post.

From straps to hem, the dress measures approximately 10".

The dress is a combination of paper, laces, 

and assorted trims I had in my stash.

 The bodice of the dress is a mini paper mache dress form purchased from Michael's $1.50 bin. I decoupaged bits of vintage book paper and layers of cheesecloth to give it added strength. 

Crystal Stickles was added to give it a little sparkle.

 The wide pink lace trim was purchased from The Jule Box a while ago. The white lace trim below is from a Goodwill score last year.

The backside. The underside of the dress is supported by three layers of vintage book paper, folded concertina style. I edged each layer with more vintage lace from my Goodwill finds.

I created the bustle using a pink rose made from vellum. I colored it with pink chalk and added Cotton Candy Pink Stickles for more sparkle. Next came a small piece of pale pink lace trim and a vintage crochet doily. The straps were created with just a small snip of some pearl trim.

For more inspiration:

Jeanette at Scrappin Happy XO (I used her tutorial for the construction of this dress.)

Sue at Messie Jessie (Absolutely gorgeous art dresses!)

Kellie at Kell Belle Studio (Currently, she is doing a series called The Corset Diaries)

Blessings,

Millie

CCL August Color Challenge 2013

Give me the joys of summer,

    Of SUMMER QUEEN so fair,

With wealth of lovely flowers

    And fruits and sun-kissed air!

This month, over at Creating the Crafty Life, they are hosting a color challenge! The rules are simple: design and create a project using the colors in the chosen palette. This month's palette is "All About Summer" and it reflects the beautiful colors of the season: 

I've been wanting to alter a matchbox for some time now and I thought this would be a great opportunity to do so. Below is my project for this challenge:

I used GCD's ''Funhouse'' paper stack for this project. It's an older collection but the colors were perfect for the challenge.

Found the image of the sweet little girls online. I made the ''sun'' by punching a circle then snipping all around to give it some ''rays''. I dyed the lace trims using my trusty Lindy's sprays. The shells and sand inside the box are souvenirs from our last trip to Florida. 

Side view. The teeny tiny wooden candlestick it rests on is a Goodwill find. 

Made the flowers using some of the paper and a couple of 5 petal flower punches.   The green bauble on top was created with some pretty beads (found at Goodwill) and a stick pin. 

Backside. 

Another fun project and a great way to preserve a bit of the joys of summer when winter rolls around! 

Talk not to me of winter

 With ice and frost and snow,

Nor changing spring and autumn

    When howling winds will blow.

No, I will take the joys

    Of SUMMER every time,

So to this Queen of Seasons

    I dedicate my rhyme.

*Visit Creating the Crafty Life by clicking on the link to the right. It's a great site full of creative people and tons of inspiration!

Blessings,

Millie

Catching Up

The last several months have been quite busy and although there have been pockets of time for creating, there hasn't been a whole lot of time for posting on the blog. Thus the lack of content. Hoping to change that.

Below are some things I worked on between April and June. Let me know what you think.

Blessings,
Millie

Birthday Easel card and matching origami gift box for a friend.

Birthday Shadow Box Easel card for my now teenaged son. YIPE!

                          

Shadowbox Book with Tag Pocket

 Father's Day Snack Caddy and Easel card for my hubby!