my paper dolls...

For years I was one of nine women who met once a month for lunch. One of our dear husbands dubbed us Nine Ladies a'Lunching, which after a few years morphed into the Nine Ladies Luncheon, and then Nine Ladies and finally, just The Nine. We have been together for about 15+ years. (I use the present tense even though I moved away 4 years ago - they still send me invitations and have never replaced me or renamed themselves The Eight!) We took turns being hostess, so each had a different month each year. This involved the hostess first sending an invitation, which set the "tone", or color scheme for her lunch. These women I had the privilege of breaking bread with, are incredible cooks and all are artistic in their own right, so it was an event we cleared our calenders for each and every month! I will talk more about The Nine in another post, because this one is all about the invitations...

Each invitation was better than the last, so it became a challenge to come up with something different and original each month. When it was my turn to hostess, I decided to create a paper doll "messenger" to carry my invitation. Now you already know by now that I collect (and LOVE) old sheet music, so I chose to use that for the body, and my adorable kitty Schmitty for the face/head. I had taken a picture of him once when he came home from the vet with one of those awful clown cones around his neck, so I sized it, printed it, and cut it out. I created a pattern for jointed arms, legs and a (headless)torso, and then placed it on some old, yellowed music and cut out all the pieces. His head was glued to his torso, and I used tiny scrapbooking grommets to put him together. (but small brads work just as well) I embellished with a glittered crown and a "grass" skirt made from upholstery fringe and added more trim at the neck to cover the seam between the head and the torso. I then printed out my invitation in a long column, cut it out, folded it up into an envelope shape, and glued it to Schmitty's "hand", with the words open me on top. Even though my beloved Schmitty has been gone for years, I still have this paper doll hanging on a mirror in my hallway - gone but not forgotten.....

Fast forward to Valentine's Day this year....what to do for the kids and grandkids???? How about paper dolls of them? (carrying Valentines of course!) How about using my sweet wee Monkey's face or Jaime's Murphy? The possibilities are endless! Think of how you can put a smile on a loved one's face if they see either themselves or their furry friends as a paper doll!

Maybe I've been alone a little too long in my attic, but I think my paper dolls are pretty darn cute, don't you? Here's all you need to make your own paper dolls:

cute faces!

body parts...

embellishments...

Voila!

My Prince...

Princess Reecie...

Sir Monkey...

Thanks for keeping me company....
PammyJ