Prima Dolls tags for Halloween

I love the line of Prima doll stamps.  They are so much fun to use and create unique pieces.  The stamps themselves are very reasonably priced and that's always a plus.  These tags are made using the Giulia girl stamp.  The stamp is about 7 1/4 inch high and the tag itself is about 8 1/2 by 5 inches.  I cut the tag out of heavy cardboard I had in my stash.  (As a side note, the Fiskars Amplify scissors make easy work of cutting through cardboard).

To make these, I started with a Halloween background paper that I did not particularly care for.  I did have some elements I liked so a little of that pokes through in the design.  I cut the paper about 3/4 of an inch bigger than the front and glued it in place.  I then trimmed the corners a little and wrapped the paper around the sides to the back.   This gives a nice finished look to the tag.  Once the first layer was down, I randomly applied bits of book pages and other Halloween papers and glued them in place.  I applied a brown stain over the whole tag.  Once the base was all dry, I just dug though my stash and began placing pieces along with the doll.

The doll is created by stamping her on white paper and then stamping her again on colored papers.  The white paper is then colored in with copic markers at the skin areas, the shoes and the hair.  The colored papers are cut out for the outfit.  I used black for the pants and coordinating oranges for the two pieces of the top.  Once the clothes are cut, they are glued directly to the doll.

Many folks who love the Prima doll line, collect these tags so, you can often find swap events going on.  I am in one through the swap bot trading site on the internet.  I've seen dolls made with costumes on also and they are very cute.  There are all kinds of ways to use the dolls to make witches and more.

Front of the two tags

Backs of the two tags

I zoomed in a little so you can see the background better

Another close up of the background.  The books pages are in German.  I thought the look of the font gave a gothic look to the piece.

Inspiration

Sometimes I see a picture and it so inspires me I want to draw it right away.  That's what happened when I saw a photo of my little grandson and my son in law.  It was such a sweet image.  The nice thing about drawing is that you can manipulate the picture.  In the photo, there are cars and sidewalks but I decided to put it in a different setting.  I think it makes the picture seem even more peaceful.  I did the first one in graphite and then tried it again in colored pencil with a soft pastel background.  I think I like the graphite version best.  I call this "An evening walk with Dad".

Fall

I can't believe it's already September.  The summer has flown by. Of course now that fall is approaching, I start thinking of Halloween.  It's so much fun to create and trade Halloween ATC cards.  I have a good collection already started and have been tossing around ideas in my head of how to display them.  Last year, I put some in a small printers type box but, it only held 12 cards and I would like to go bigger this year.  I'll post whatever I come up with.  Here are some of the fun cards I have recently created.  These are all mixed media and most use stamps or digital stamps in the designs

Marker and Ink, inspired by a picture on the Graphics Fairy website

Digital stamp on mixed media background

Digital stamp from the Dearie Doll free digital stamp website

Digital stamp with mixed media background

I have previously talked about the Graphic Fairy website but, I also use the Dearie Doll website.  She offers loads of free downloadable digital stamps  They are all extremely cute and fun.

Here is the link to that site:
http://freedeariedollsdigistamps.blogspot.com/