Fun with Penny’s Paper Doll Family from Graphic 45

Hello, G45er’s!   When I was a little girl, I loved to play with paper dolls.  I spent hours stuck in bed due to childhood illnesses.  Playing with paper dolls helped to fill many a long day.   So when Graphic 45 released their gorgeous Penny’s Paper Doll Family collection this summer, it was love at first sight for me.

While creating with this beautiful vintage collection, I found I had not lost my childhood love for paper dolls.  There’s just something magical about fussy cutting these handsome paper dolls and their matching outfits and accouterments!  So today I have 2 fun cards made with Penny’s Paper Doll Family to share with you.

Flowers from the Same Garden: Penny’s Paper Doll Family card with Pockets

Card makers will just fall in love with this amazing collection because it is loaded with gorgeous patterns, beautiful images and sentiment panels that are perfect for family cards.  This 5″ x 7″ top fold card was so much fun to make.  The patterns remind me of the wallpaper in my childhood bedroom.

I love the sentiment panels in Graphic 45’s Penny’s Paper Doll Family.  Not only do they look like vintage embroidery panels, they also make for very quick and easy card design!  Add a border strip, die cut doilies, a large banner layer, vintage buttons and flowers and you have a charming vintage style greeting card in no time!

Tips

1. To add depth and dimension to this simple card design, I double matted each card layer.  This keeps the layers from getting muddled.  It also gives the focal image on the card the appearance of having been framed.
2. Cut doilies in half to get more mileage out of them.  I tucked half a doily above and below the focal image.
3. Create a custom doily by adding designer paper to the solid center.  To do this, I lay my doily on top of the paper, traced around the inner edge of the doily, then cut the circle out with scissors.  

Supply List for Flowers from the Same Garden Card

Penny’s Paper Doll Family Collection

• Penny’s Paper Doll Family
• Beyond Borders
• Sweet Sister
• Garden Path

Other Supplies:

• Kraft and Brick Red Cardstock
• Petaloo Briar Roses
• Burlap String, Red Taffeta Ribbon
• Vintage Buttons from my Stash
• Die cut doilies

Happy Family Bendi Card

Penny’s Paper Doll Family is the perfect collection to use in a fun Bendi Card design.  This card design can double as table decor at a birthday party, baby shower, tea party or housewarming.  You can learn how to make a Bendi card HERE.  The collection I used is different, but the steps and measurements are the same.

TIPS

1. When it comes to fussy cutting, there are several little tips that can make the job easier:
   1. First, make sure you have a really sharp pair of small scissors.  I like to use Tim Holtz’s Tonic mini snips.
   2. Don’t try to cut a small image from a huge piece of paper.  Instead , remove the image by cutting well around it.  Then do your fussy cutting.  Having less bulk around the image makes it much easier to get a clean cut.
   3. When cutting an image that has small parts, like the stems of flowers or hands and feet, I cut the small parts last.  This way, I’m less likely to accidentally snip them off.
   4. Don’t make chopping motions with your scissors.  Hold the blades steady and glide them against the paper.  You can practice this skill on magazine images.
2. To create extra dimension in this Bendi card, I backed the paper doll family with cardboard from packing boxes.  I find that Priority Mail boxes are about the right thickness.  The cardboard also strengthens the images and helps prevent tearing.

Happy Family Bendi Card Supply List

Penny’s Paper Doll Family Collection

• Penny’s Paper Doll Family
• Sweet Sister
• Mothers and Daughters
• Color Your World
• Garden Path
• Beyond Borders

Other Supplies:

• Brick Red Cardstock
• Scoring Tool, Ruler, Craft Knife
• Petaloo Flowers
• Burlap String
• Fussy Cutting Scissors, Hot Glue Gun

I hope this post has brought back some of your happy childhood memories and inspired you to break out your Graphic 45 paper pretties and get your craft on.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheerio,

kathy