Cathies Sweet Spot: TIM HOLTZ DRESS FORM PROJECT

I have been wanting this TIM HOLTZ dress form die for ...
well I don't know how long... LOL...
I guess as long as it first came out by TH.
The shops were always out when I wanted to buy it or I was out of cash when they finally had it in stock. LOL

Well one of my 'besties' just recently let me buy it from her for the $10. she paid for it either shopping across the line or online - not sure which it was, but THANKS!! Aparently she wants the smaller version so it worked out. Yay. I think I want the small version now too! Already getting some ideas on using it when I get my hands on it. LOL

I know I wanted the dress from die for a long time and most recently I wanted it to use for presentation of crafty goodness to share with my crafty peeps on paper craft planet via swaps and also for the products I am about to launch for sale on ETSY.

Well I signed up for a swap on PCP and was racking my brain for ideas on presentation for the items I needed to include in it, when ... DUH...
the idea hit me to use this die... of course,
it was a 'no brainer' so why didn't I think of it sooner ?

Probably because I only just got the die from said 'bestie' and started cutting some scraps to try it out last night. Then today while thinking of getting my swap out to my partner the light bulb went off !! LOL : )

Here's how the swap came together:

First, I gathered the lengths of lace to share with my swap partner. This was the sharing part of the swap - include: 4-5 lengths of lace for your partner to play with while making their own cards or papercrafts. Check!

The second part of the swap was to present the lace in a card or in a reticule for your partner.
Say what? LOL

Reticule: a small pouch to store, hold or carry your lenghts of lace back in the day when you made your own lace by candlelight with a very fine crochet hook or maybe you were a talented tatter like one of the 'little women' of the day!

Like you didn't have enough to do... with making and baking your own bread everyday. Plus milking the cows to get the 'freshly squeezed' milk to add to your bread dough. Oh and don't forget the time alloted for gathering the eggs from the chicken coop to add nourishment to your recipe. Oops I forgot there was also the time you took in the first place to harvest the wheat and release the grain from the stalks and grind it down to a fine unbleached powder in which to make your wholesome nutritious white bread.

Mmmm...can't you just smell it?!

Nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread straight from the hearth. Oh yeah... I forgot to mention the time you took to gather the wood from the brambles to make the fire to bake your bread. LOL ; )

So in the evening you and every fine lady of the day deserved to relax by the fire - tatting or crocheting your lovely fine lace to put in your reticule to use on a future sewing project. ; )

Don't you just long for the old days...

...when life was slow and oh so mellow?!

Ok... well if I could get to the fabric store and support them with the purchase of a lovely bit of linen so they don't close their doors like the rest of the fabric stores of yore. I would make a FAB little reticule to do such.

But alas, I can't get there just now.
The horse has gone to town without me!
So what's the next best idea instead of a reticule?

A card?

Nah...I want something more impressive.

How about a merchandising card like something you would find hanging on a wall in 'ye old mercantile' with the lace wound around it? I could stamp some vintage images onto cardstock or use some vintage clip art like old button cards or sewing notion clips and punch a hole in the tops of each so it looks like they are actual merchandising cards.

Hmmm....

Nope that's not what I did, but all good ideas worth doing in the future. LOL ; )

Instead I pulled out the kraft cardstock dress forms I cut out the night before with plans to over stamp them with some swirly - flourish style stamps from my repritoire of stamps but alas, my new doily stamps by MME were sitting right next to me and aha...another light bulb went off. LOL

OMG...these will be perfect!
...and yes they were!
Sweet!

I stamped a small one on the top of the dress form giving it a lacey crocheted neckline.

Then using a larger doily from the same set I stamped it @ the waistline giving the effect of a lacey or crochet skirt.

Finaly to add some definition between the fabric part of the dress form and the base, I inked the stand in the same black ink. By simply swiping
the ink pad over (the parts of the dress form that would be wood or metal) leaving a little of the kraft paper exposed to act as highlights I managed to give it a bit of a 3 dimensional look. Don't you think?

Ok so now with that done I needed to present these little dress forms once they are wrapped in their fine lace.

Here's my idea: Take a piece of 12x12 cardstock and score and fold @ 3" intervals and create little pockets to put each of the dress forms in.
Kind of a card but a fold out with pockets.

Each little pocket is marked with a No.

like as if it were from a dress makers newly finished line of 'haute couture' destined for the runways of PARIS, ITALY or NEW YORK.

The floral side of the patterned paper is the backdrop to represent vintage wall paper
about to peel off the old walls of the
heritage loft the fashions were created in.

I made some tiny posters to add more interest to the wallpapered walls. A poster of paris. World map. Two advertising posters - one adertising Ladies hats of the day, the others is for knits. I also included a tiny invoice.