Paper Playhouse: Fa-la-la-la-la

Last week I had a request to create an African skin toned girl. Now I must admit, I haven't tried that skin tone before because it makes me really nervous using darker shades on skin, but I can't turn down a request so I gave it a whirl.

And I'm quite pleased with how she turned out!!! I practiced with different colours on one image and didn't like the result so I tried again and this is how it turned out. Her face was a little dark at first but what I love about copic markers is how the colours layer, so I went over her face at the end with a lighter shade (either the E02 or E11, I can't recall) and I'm quite happy with the result.

The layout is SC413, flipped on it's side. I started with a card base of Whip Cream then layered on some Kraft and Wild Cherry card stocks. I used the Oval 1 STAX and Oval 2 STAX Die-namics to cut out the Hot Fudge cardstock and the patterned paper, which is from the Echo Park Very Merry Christmas collection. I stamped the girl from Pure Innocence Christmas Caroler with Memento Tuxedo Black onto X-Press It Blending Card then coloured her with copic markers and fussy cut around her. I added some white liquid appliqué to the fur on her boots but left it shiny instead of puffing it.

For the embellishment I created a loopy Hemp Cord bow (find my tutorial here) topped with a Whip Cream button. I used the Notched Tag Die-namics to cut out the Whip Cream tag then stamped the sentiment. I added a strip of Kraft grosgrain ribbon to the vertical element and used the Small Scallop Border Die-namics for the decorative edge.