High Fashion With Paper

 I have been so inspired by the little origami dresses that I've been seeing everywhere. Some are plain, some are fancy and some are almost couture. 

Of course I had to take it a smidge farther so I designed little pop out closets in my flip flop journal style book because I love the envelope sized cards and journals. And a closet seemed to me to be a perfect fit for them and to showcase my origami dresses.

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I went through quite a lot of paper getting this right but I knew what I wanted.  I wanted doors that opened and drawers that didn't. You could put a long dress in there with enough room to store it. The sides of the dressers are folded so that they lay flat when closed but pop up when the book opens.

I could have made this free standing just by putting a back on it and making the sides wider but like I said, I'm in slimline journal mode. Envelopes are free when you recycle junk mail.

This is the paper set from The Graphics Fairy that dropped October 23rd called Modern Fancy Ephemera. I used mostly printable papers from thegraphicsfairy.com to make my pages and covered both sides of the pages with them. I also tried to use up some more of my scrapbooking paper stash. I haven't bought scrapbooking paper since I got my ink tank printer. I just print what I want and no waste or leftovers now.

I also used the papers to make the dresses. You can get as fancy as you want with these. I knew I wanted a wedding dress in there somewhere.

The beauty of the pop up closets is that they keep the dresses from getting squished and the dresses are wide enough to fit in the sides where they can be held so they don't slip down.

I loved designing and making these cute little hangers. I cut my little hangers out of heavy card stock and they fit snug into the dress bodices so you don't need glue on anything but you could glue them on if you want.

I made these dresses in three sized. The smallest ones are paper clips on the backs. I made them 2", 3" and the larger dresses are 5" squares except for the wedding dress. It's 5" x 8" and then the length is adjusted not to hang down below the dresser. 

 

You could play with these forever with different tops, skirts, fabrics, gems, glitter, lace, etc. if you wanted to. I could add paper signatures to this and easily make it a fashion journal. I'm certainly not done playing with them yet.

Halloween and Half Composition Books

 I decided to try my hand at cutting a composition book in half and making a graphic book out of it. So I cut  this one in half with my xacto knife and pulled out my scrapbooking paper and got started.

First I tore out all but about 20 pages, maybe less to make room for covering the pages with heavier paper on both sides. 

I knew I was going to add tags and layers of cutouts so I gave them a lot of room.

I'm trying to use up my leftover scrap pages while I incorporate some print files I had. I didn't want a traditional Halloween, gorey or ugly book so I opted for Halloween fairies...

... and I really like them. I used a gazillion papers and pumpkins I got from thegraphicsfairy.com . It's my favorite go to place for royalty free graphics.

I really like making the fasteners for this one. I don't know what they are called but they are super easy to make and they do hold a book together.

I just love the blue pumpkins and the witchy fairies.

Not scary at all. This one turned out cute. I used glitter on the hand drawn spider webs.

To me, the scariest thing I can think of is "spiders". I really, really don't like them. 

All it takes to make the fairies are butterfly wings and old pictures of kids. I really like the way they turned out. 

This one's a keeper!

Style, Decor and Fashion

 I love to look at the old vintage fashions and furnishings. They really had style back then. Of course the colors are pumped up for graphics but the style still shows through.

I love the pinks, blues and all the lace. And the ladies had so much style back then in their matching dresses and hats.

I trimmed this one in old fashioned lace and hand dyed the ribbon a pale peach.

I did a lot of folded pages on this one because I had a few large rooms I wanted to use.

I sprayed the signatures with paper ink and sewed them in with a nylon thread that's as strong as fishing line but waxed for bookbinding.

I love the panelled walls and the old wall murals.

I kept in a few pockets to tuck things in. Most of the time I will glue the pockets closed and make my own but sometimes I use them to tuck pages into.

I love this blue bedroom set. It filled the page so I made it a tri-fold pull out.

I do cut out a lot of pieces in my journals. By the time I get my cricket hooked up and program the print then cut sheets, it's just easier to cut them out the old fashioned way with scissors. It's good therapy.

I kept a window in one of the envelopes to store extra furniture pieces in. 

Here's another pretty pink bedroom. So old fashioned. I love canopy beds and gold trimmed wall panels. I wish my room looked like this!

The Beauty of Architecture

 I've always loved the drawings of buildings and diagrams to make all kinds of stuff. 

Schematics are fascinating I think. So I was very much attracted to these blueprints and technical drawings when I first laid eyes on them.

I used to dream of houses and buildings when I was a kid. And more than once I would get lost so you really need a good visual map of a building sometimes.

But really, these drawings are so beautiful, it made me want to build a house. Maybe even a miniature one.

I used 3 or 4 different kit pieces from The Graphics Fairy. There are two or three just for architecture with really pretty drawings in them.

I didn't want to get into a lot of decorating with this one but just give a hint here and there of textures and patterns through windows.

Same thing with buildings like gazebos and gardens. Just a hint of what was possible besides the grand buildings. Something to go with them.

I enjoyed working on this one. I've always liked the design and drawing part of making anything. 

I mixed and matched several styles together to get a more interesting book. These are places I want to go see!

This beautiful drawing had nothing to do with architecture really but I thought it was so pretty and went so well with all the other drawings that I had to put it in.

I started getting into the wallpaper patterns and went from architecture to fashion and furnishings. My next journal has plenty of style, even if it's old fashioned and from another era.