Today I am going to share a quick paper doll card tutorial to make a cute little greetings card that can easily be adapted for lots of situations.
I wanted to enter this card into the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge for April. The theme this month is to use a complimentary or Split Compliment Color Scheme. I have gone for the latter, my colours being Blue-violet with Yellow and Orange.
The Paper Doll
I printed out one sheet from the Tin Teddy 1950s Dress Up Paper Dolls set on to photographic paper. She is the default size (ie. printed at 100%).
I cut out the doll and a cute little dress. Well, actually I cut out quite a few dresses and tried them on, I am not too old to play dress up! The dress I chose is blue-violet in colour, so this set the colour scheme for the card.
I removed the stand from the doll and the tags from the dress and glued the dress to the doll with Cosmic Shimmer glue.
I used an oval die from the excellent valueEcstasy Crafts Nellie’s Choice Multi Frame Dies, Straight Oval set and cut out some orange, grungy scrapbook paper. The paper is from a pad called Heritage from The Works. I added a little Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink around the edge of the oval.
Then I used the next biggest size of oval and die cut it from some blue-violet card. I glued the two together with Cosmic Shimmer glue.
And then I fixed the paper doll to the ovals with sticky foam pads.
The Funky Background
I cut a piece of cold-pressed watercolour card to 5″ by 4″. I am using watercolour card so I can use lots of water-based techniques on it in a minute. The card is Bockingford Watercolour Block 140lb/300gms. My block is vintage (1970s!) but it is still available and the new blocks are just as good quality as always. This is my favourite watercolour substrate.
I added some Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide Ink to the card. Distress Oxide inks blend really well and I was able to get a lovely smooth covering.
Next I sprinkled some Brusho powder on to the card. I used Lemon, Yellow and Orange.
Once I had a good coverage I sprayed the card with Spray & Sparkle Iridescent varnish. This didn’t have quite the effect I had hoped, so I quickly added water and more Brusho. Ah, that’s better, the Brusho began to bleed nicely. The Distress Oxide also began to react with the water, despite the Spray & Sparkle! I left this to dry naturally. You can not see the sparkle in the photos, but it looks rather interesting in real life.
I made sure the card was dry. Then I took the Holiday Knit stencil from Tim Holtz and stuck it over the card with low-tack tape. I took an orange Faber-Castell Gelato and scribbled a bit on my craft mat. I added a wee bit of water and then stippled the Gelato through the stencil with a very course stencil brush.
When I removed the stencil the Gelato had bled quite a bit at the bottom. But that is ok, this is crafting, not brain surgery! I blotted up the most obvious puddles and again I left the card to dry.
I used Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and roughly stamped a honeycomb stamp around the edges of the card.
The Card Base
Next I took an A6 card blank. I used one of the 300gsm Pearlescent White cards by Payper Box. It has a nice shimmer to it. I inked about an inch around the edges with Faded Jeans Distress Ink. I really wanted “Blue-violet” and not just blue. But I could not find a Blue-Violet ink in my collection. So I then went over the edges again with Peacock Feather Distressed Ink. The end result, coupled with the irridescence of the card, doesn’t look to bad. Not a lot of it will show anyway – I am an optimistic crafter 🙂
When I was sure the watercolour card had dried, I mounted it to the card base with double sided sticky tape. I usually use tape for this type of task as it is very clean and easy. Because the watercolour card is a little smaller than the A6 card a bit of the “Blue-violet-ish” inking shows around the edge.
Finishing the Paper Doll Card
I die cut the word “Hello” from blue-violet card stock using a die from a multi-pack (link below). I added this to the card front. I also added the paper doll on her ovals.
Then I added a generous blob of Midnight Sky Tonic Nuvo Glitter Drops to each corner.
Finally I added a wooden yellow flower, with another blog of Glitter Drops in the centre.
I will be giving my paper doll card as a thank you to a friend. I will make a few more for birthday cards.
I have another tutorial, for another paper doll card. This one features the paper dolls from Set 2 of the Tin Teddy 1950s Dress Up series. The dolls from each set are the same size and can share clothes. Tutorial for 1950s Style Paper Doll Folding Card
I am entering this card into the April round of the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog.

I love the background, the stencilled area with Gelatos looks great, the bleed actually adds something!
Thank you. I have to admit I rather love that you never quite know what will happen with crafting. Especially when one is as messy as I am, hehe.
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FAB background, and great color scheme. Thanks for playing along at Mixed Media Monthly