Paper and Lace Dress on Mixed Media Canvas

Today I wanted to create something a little different. Paper dolls were always a favorite for me as a little girl. After seeing all the paper craft posts on Pinterest, specifically the images by Brenda Henning, I decided to give it a shot.

The bottom half of the dress was created by folding craft papers accordion style like a fan. Some of the pages had frayed edges, some scalloped, some torn, some distressed. I kept gathering and clipping together the folded pages at the top to create the small “waist” of my dress, fanning out the edges to create the dress shape. Once satisfied with the shape, I stapled the form to keep it together at the top. The bodice was created in the same manner, just at a much smaller scale. In my opinion, it needed some glitter. I coated the paper sections with some extreme glitter mod podge that I just happened to have. Imagine that! I glued lace trim in between the pleats of my dress and added some washi tape strips. This really added to the dimension of the dress.

Connecting the bottom to the top of the dress was simple: staple it! To hide the staple I added black ribbon to her waist. All of the jewels , feathers and pearls were glued on with E6000 for extra staying power.

Now that my paper dress was complete, I wanted to be able to display it. That’s where the 12 x 12″ canvas came in. Starting with some of the same craft papers I used in my dress, I decoupaged the bottom layer and added some strips of paper randomly to the canvas. Layering from there, I added distressed music pages around the edges, along with a washi tape border.

To create a more 3D look, I stenciled certain areas of my canvas around the outside using modeling paste. I kept the middle bare since that is where I wanted to attach my dress. After the stenciling was dry, I sealed the canvas with another layer of mod podge.

I felt the corners of my canvas needed some color, so again, looking thru my paper stash I found an old sheet of wallpaper with pink roses on it. Perfect! I fussy cut the flowers and outlined the petals and leaves with thin ink pens to make them stand out. Then distressed the edges using Tim Holtz distressed ink in antique linen. I coated each flower with a thin layer of mod podge. While the mod podge was still damp, I bent the flower image to give it a 3D look and let them dry that way. After drying, spraying them with a touch of glimmer mist made them sparkle.

Adding a few faux flowers, plastic leaves (from an old flower arrangement I had) buttons and jewels, I attached the flowers using E6000 in the corners of my canvas.

Using the same ribbon, lace and pearls found on the dress, I added a hanging tag glued to the upper right hand corner.

This project came together so well, it is one of my favorites! I hope you like it.

Glitter on friends,