december dress and the artful bag challenge

It's hard to believe we're at the end of this delightful challenge. I have to thank Margaret of Alice and Camilla for being such a lovely host and inspiring us to create and play this past year. I joined in May and had the best time making my paper frocks and the fun wardrobe to put them in.

For December I created a little vintage Christmas gown with gold trim and lots of old world sparkle. The pearl buttons and paper flower are a nod to my wedding anniversary.

This flower reminded me of my bouquet which had gardenias, calla lilies, white roses, juniper berries and ivy. The scent of gardenias still reminds me of our Winter wedding in an old candlelit stone church 17 years ago.

 

Here are all of my paper dresses...all 13 of them! (I made 2 for October)

I'm going to miss doing this challenge. In fact I might just keep making a few of them every now and then. But doing this also inspired me to create my own year long project which I'm excited to share with you today.

You're invited to join me for The Artful Bag Challenge, a creative monthly project inspired by my love of bags! Please visit the challenge page here for details and schedule and if you'd like to play along just come back in January and post your first artful bag. There are different types of projects each month ranging from paper purses to altered bags and even an ATC swap.

The first project was inspired by Dress Up 2010 so I made one this month to hopefully inspire you to play along. Although it's not to scale I made this bag to go with my December dress.Doesn't it just make you want to put on a warm velvet coat and furry gloves for an afternoon Christmas tea?

♥

Please visit Alice and Camilla to see all the other pretty dresses and thank you again Margaret for a fun and inspiring year.

november paper dress and wardrobe

We're counting down to the final 2 dresses for Dress Up 2010 at Alice and Camilla. This month we also get to share our little wardrobes. Remember I made this shoebox wardrobe for my dresses when I first joined.

I loved it but it started to get a little beat up from all the moving around. When Margaret said we could show off our wardrobes this month I thought about changing it somehow. Then I saw my friend Marfi's gorgeous cabinet and the room she made for her gypsy doll and I was absolutely inspired.

I remembered this mini trunk that my son and I usually use for our Harry Potter events. It reminded me of the old steamer trunks people would take on travels to exotic places. It was just the right size so I turned it on it's side...

I brought over the mirror from my shoebox and also made a little chair to go with the other mirror. The black and white wallpaper and chair cover are Halloween napkins left from my tea party and the chandelier is one of my earrings that I added more dangly bits too. The lace trim valances are hanging from dowels with jump rings like cafe curtains.

My 2 October dresses finally got proper hangers and joined the others.

Silly me. I squeezed in all the other dresses but forgot to turn them around so only the October dresses were facing the right way. Oh well.

And here is my November dress. November to me is about the quiet comfort of late Autumn. After the excitement of October I can just enjoy the colors and leaves, listen to classical music and finally begin to bring some of my fuzzy sweaters and scarves out of hiding.

I had so much fun making my little wardrobe. Afterwards I couldn't help studying it and thinking how I'd love a full sized one to play in lol! I think this dress is also one of my favorites. And now we have just one dress left to go.

Big thank yous go to Linda who sent me the lovely laminated leaves, Angelique for the beautiful laces, paper flowers and vintage sheet music, Marfi for the awesome mirror frame. And Melinda, one of my Great ATC Witch Swaps for the colorful yarn.

You can see all the other pretty dresses and wardrobes at Alice and Camilla.

dress up paper dress challenge

Yay! I made it. Time for the Dress Up challenge at Alice and Camilla and here is my dress....or actually  my dresses. I ended up making two. Yes two because I wasn't too happy with the first one so I tried another one. But then I reworked the first one and ended up liking both of them. I thought I would just share both since October is my favorite month.

It's time for a Halloween Ball. An early evening gala at a an old spooky mansion. Where chandeliers seemingly sway in time to a haunted waltz. And candlelight reveals shadows of ghosts from another waltz danced long ago.

As the moon rises above the tree tops our witch changes into a more sinister gown with raven wings as black as night. Her gown rustles softly as she steps into an enchanted October evening.

I first made this dress with sleeves then decided it looked too much like a bathrobe. The wings are a damask taffeta ribbon but the pattern is hard to see in the pic. I liked it better after I cut off the sleeves.

These October dresses were having way too much fun that they asked to stay out a little while longer. I'll have to convince them to hop into the wardrobe later but for now I think I'll join them at the old spooky mansion. Thank you for stopping by.

Visit all the other dressmakers at Alice and Camilla.

dress up 2010

Hello again! I hope I don't overwhelm everyone with all my challenge posts this week.It's the beginning of the month so I have 2 monthly challenges to add.

It's dress up time at Alice and Camilla.

Here is my paper dress for September. And guess what?

I'm all caught up now so I just have 1 to show you.

It's time for a Harvest Ball under an autumn full moon.

Here is a dress to party the night away in.

For my autumn gown I played with my paper coffee filters again.

This time I soaked them in a bowl of dark Yorkshire tea and ended up with this

wonderful aged patina that reminded me of dried crispy leaves.

I discovered if I crinkled the edges the skirt fanned out in playful layers.

I used silk leaves and tea dyed lace for the bodice.

The skirt has a tule under layer and there is also a tule

bow at the back.

September goes into the wardrobe to join all the others.

As you can guess I'm already thinking about October's dress.

Come back and see what I have in store for Halloween!

Visit Alice and Camilla to see more pretty paper dresses.

Today I'm grateful for...

Teachers. I met my son's teachers today at his school's orientation.

Teachers do so much and are never appreciated enough.

If you're a teacher I say THANK YOU, YOU ARE AMAZING!

dress up challenge august

Yipee! I'm finally caught up this month and actually have 8 dresses for 8 months.

It's time for the Dress Up Challenge at Alice and Camilla.

I can't believe it's August already! Where did the year go?

This is January, my last catch up dress.

 I imagined a frost and sparkle covered gown

for a fabulous Winter Ball. I painted an antique ivory wash on the paper

but it isn't showing up that well on the pic. Maybe you can see

it better on your monitor. The bodice is made from silver glitter

paper and I added more glitter and frost to the

neckline, hem and on the velvet pansy.

I love books and libraries. The older the better.

During the summer break my son and I try to visit as many libraries

and bookstores as we can and discover new ones we

haven't been to before. I was also a school librarian for a few years.

So I thought for August I would make a dress with a library theme.

I used text from an old book, an image of Charlotte Bronte, another image

of an old library card and pieces of vintage lace. The antique book

is one of my treasured copies of poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

My little wardrobe is filling up! I can't wait to do the Fall

dresses so come back and check for September.

♥

july dress up challenge

Goodness it's July already! Where did the year go? It's time to add another 2 dresses to my wardrobe for the Dress Up Challenge at Alice and Camilla.

With all the parties and events from last month I think I may still

be in party mode. So I made 2 sweet little confections for this month.

For July I made a dress for a summer garden party.

Perhaps for a lovely southern belle or an enchanted summer faerie ball.

This wired ribbon is so much fun to play with and the petals and

leaves are an old Dollar Store find.

I found this Valentines paper at a local art shop last week and I knew

I had to use it for my February dress. I added the vintage music paper, lace,

my favorite pink velvet petunia and a few doodles to finish.

And into the wardrobe they go. That makes # 5 and 6 which

means next month I'll be caught up with January and August!

There are lots of gorgeous dresses to see so make sure to stop

by Alice and Camilla to visit the other dressmakers.

june paper dress

It's time to add another paper dress to my little wardrobe for the Dress Up 2010 challenge at Alice and Camilla.

For June I made an Alice in Wonderland inspired dress.

I imagined wearing it to the upcoming Mad Tea Party.

 

I used  blue distressed style cardstock, pieces of a

vintage lace doillie, buttons and a flower graphic I cut from

scrapbook paper. All ready for the tea party!

And here is my dress for March.

I made this party dress in honor of Spring 

and also my birthday which is in  March.

I used a pretty napkin and crumpled and glued it onto

a fuschia damask design paper dress.

I gathered the waistline so the skirt would poof up.

Finished with gold trim and millinery flower.

Into the wardrobe they go to join April and May!

Click on the Dress Up 2010 button on my sidebar for more

beautiful paper dresses at Alice and Camilla.

may paper dress up challenge

Up late, late, late (like 2:30 am late) again but I made my dress for Dress Up 2010 at Alice and Camilla. This is my entry for May. Flowery and sweet. I'm joining up late so I've got some catching up to do and hopefully I'll have April done this week too.

I made my own template and added bits of tissue, gold trim, vintage ribbon and sheet music. I antiqued the edges of the sheet music bits but they're not showing up that well in the pic for some reason.

I also liked the idea of putting the dresses in a little wardrobe like Margaret did. She used a cigar box for hers. I made my dresses a little bigger so I dug around and found an old shoe box. Cut and pasted scrapbook paper. Added the dowel and made a teeny tiny hanger.

Ta-daa!

I added the chair and looking glass this morning.

I don't know which was more fun. Making the wee dress or the wardrobe!

And there's lots of room for 11 more!

I wish I could shrink like Alice

and play in my little wardrobe for a while!

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Update. I finished the April dress too!

April to me means Paris. April In Paris....

Ahh...L'Amour!

This is my little Pariesienne number. Fun and flirty.

I used black french ribbon and the pink and white one can

be pulled to create ruffles. Shall we go for a cafe au lait and croissants?

Two down. Ten to go!

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