poupées en papier...my paper doll

a few weeks ago, i participated in my sis, Mary Ann's, itty bitty paper doll book swap.
this is what i contributed...

24 lil' blue poupées en papier (paper dolls in French)...

i was so inspired by my lil' shioban, our love for the French

and my sis' huge collection of paper dolls.

i knew that i wanted to hand-make my dolls...

it's just so funny how inspiration can hit you in unexpected times+places...

you see...we were spending spring break at my sis' up North.

the weather was amazingly beautiful.

the lil' munchkins wanted to ride their bikes while i dreamt of something to sketch.

my lil' ian accidently locked the door behind us and we were locked out of the house for

3 whole hours until my sis came home from work.

(keys+cellphone would've been helpful...duhhhh-lol)

boy, those 3 hours were rough...thank gosh i had my art supply with me...so i started to doodle in our van (also thank gosh, our car was unlocked) on top of the steering wheel and came up with this sweetheart of a gal...

i adore the colours pink+blue...it seems very playful to me.

i also love lil' girls with braids...orange/red hair...mary-jane shoes...bloomers...lil' peter-pan collar dresses...lollipops...French words + eiffel towers...

my sis finally came home and helped me jazz up my page by making some shrinky-dink lollipops...she just gave me a stamper with a lollipop on it and had such a cute idea with the shrinky-dink paper and her voluminous stash of ribbon/yarn...

thanks for ALL of your help, Reya! they turned out sooo adorable!

i also knew i wanted my dolls to be some sort of 3-d image...i remembered a cute x-mas angel card my sis had and thought what a cute way to make an image 3-d like...

but let me tell ya,

it sure was a lot of work...cutting each delicate image...one by one...

i started getting crossed-eyed...oh yea...before cutting these beauts, i also painted the original image then went to Staples and had them copied. i know, i know...

a real 'labour of love'

but it was so worth it...i loved how it turned out...

and i totally heart her adorable bloomers...

(inspired by one of my sis' paper dolls amongst her humongus collection)

here's the 3-d part...yep, had to cut+stick those lil' velcro squares... cut all those lil' dresses+ALL those lil' 'Bon-Bon gals' (that's what i'm calling these lil' gals-'Bon-Bon' after my lil' shioban (one of her nicknames my Pop calls her is truly: 'Bon-Bon' )

i'm thinking of doing more of this... painting a series of these lil' gals...and of course lil' guys inspired by my own lil' munchkins...

y'know...i'm finding that whenever i participate in my sis' or someone else's art or swap challenges...i'm discovering more of my hidden passions...

it's like unlocking all those dreams trapped behind dusty old doors...

i'm enjoying these detours...

finding unexpected beauty...

truly an inspiration!
how about you? ever created something magnificent unexpectedly?!
to see more adorable paper dolls check out my sis' slide show here!
bonne nuit!

xoxo jo ;)