Thank You Elaine and Ellen

To two of my most avid readers, I wanted to say thank you and tell you how much your comments mean. I have not been good at visiting blogs lately but it does not mean I don't cherish your visits.

Thank You Elaine and Ellen

Thank you for your comments, your encouragement, your sympathy and for your blogosphere friendship. You are magnificent!

Christmas Paper Dress Inspiration

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to think about the Christmas paper dress. Since I seem to post about dress inspiration so often, I could just make a regular feature out it.

Christmas paper dress sketch 1

I've actually been harboring a secret desire to turn my blog into an e-zine of sorts where others could draw paper couture inspiration. I think this idea is a great start!

Christmas paper dress sketch 2

This time I didn't find my holiday inspiration from an image search. I already have an idea about what I want to do. Think red velvet bustier, glittered red tulle and a sparkling white gown. Ooooh! I'm drooling already.

How to Print Templates

I thought it was worth it to address printing separately since I have had a few comments about it. Template sizes are posted in the captions under the template. To download, hold down the Option key (Alt key for PC) and click the image. Save it to your desktop.

Open the image in your favorite photo editing program and print from there. DO NOT try to print these from your browser window as they will most likely print enormously larger than intended. Each template has a border around it so you can see the dimensions and resize up or down if necessary.

repeat after me . . . 

Please do not e-mail me with printing problems. Truly, I love you all but I do not have the time to troubleshoot printing issues on an individual basis. These instructions should help you, please try them. You can do it! I have faith in you because you're a printing genius. ;)

How to Outsmart a Turkey

They say that to tackle any problem with a material object, you need only be smarter than the object. Thanks, that's an enormously helpful piece of advice. Explain that to my lower back! A 10 pound turkey got the better of me the other night when I tried to lift it, quite obviously incorrectly, from the oven.

Oh ma GAWD! Shooting pain in the lower back that even copious quantities of ibuprofen hasn't been able to solve yet and killing the flippin' bird is no longer an option! Maybe I could just beat the stuffing out of it instead.

my entire lower back/tailbone area is under siege!

I'm at the tail end of a glorious 4-day weekend due to the holiday and I don't remember ever feeling so much physical pain in my entire life! Sleeping, walking, sitting, bending everything is so exquisitely painful. Waaaaah!

Paper Couture XVII: Pocahontas Double Bonus

Paper couture is giving you a Pocahontas double bonus this month. For those of you not brave enough to try out the one shouldered dress you can use Pocahontas 1.

Pocahontas 1 print size is 5" x 7"

I encourage you to challenge yourselves a little bit and try out Pocahontas 2. There are a couple of things to be aware of when using this template which are discussed in the video so be sure to check it out.

Pocahontas 2 print size is 5" x 7"

The video tutorial below does not show you how to cover the pieces so if you missed that or need a refresher, please refer to the Basic Tank video. A link to that instruction can be found in the left sidebar.

Thanks for joining me! I hope you enjoyed this and as always, if you create this dress, feel free to leave a comment on this post with a link to your work so I can have a peek!

Pocahontas as Miss November

Tada! Presenting paper couture's Pocahontas as Miss November. As you can probably tell, I took my dress inspiration mainly from Disney's Pocahontas character.

I encountered a few challenges putting this together which I will discuss in the video but until then, I get to dazzle you with the apparent ease and perfection at which I am able to create this. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving

Kell Belle Studio wishes you and your family a pleasant and bountiful holiday.

Thanksgiving Inspiration for Paper Dresses

With regard to Thanksgiving inspired paper dresses, lemme try this again. Earlier I talked about not doing a pilgrim outfit but after some consideration I concluded that one of the purposes of the Paper Wardrobe project is to challenge myself.

sexy native American indian maiden costume

Let's not forget the other side of the proverbial Thanksgiving coin though - the native Americans. Ahhh! Indian dress? I have to laugh at what the retail world has come up with in that regard because realistically (correct me if I'm wrong) I don't think those hip indian chicks ever wore anything like this back then but I just love the look of this sexy native american indian costume.

Disney's Pocahontas

Then there's Pocahontas. Combine this look with the sexy indian dress above and you've got the potential for a really great Thanksgiving dress. Okay, now I'm certain I will not be making a pilgrim dress this month. Ha!

Note: Pocahontas image associated with this post remains the intellectual property of Walt Disney Studios. Costume image courtesy of costumesupercenter.com

Elegant Thanksgiving Place Cards

Egads! Thanksgiving is exactly one week away! While we're getting into the holiday spirit, Martha Stewart has some D.I.Y. crafts to help dress up your holiday table.

Thanksgiving clip-art place cards

These are simple clip art place cards but they look oh so elegant here. Visit Martha Stewart's Clip Art and Templates for Thanksgiving to get the printable template for these beauties.

Note: Image associated with this post remains the copyrighted, intellectual property of marthastewart.com

November Holiday Dress Inspiration

Being November I went looking for a holiday dress inspired by the season. Pilgrim? After perusing outfits like this one my chest began to tighten and I wanted to run screaming in the opposite direction.

pilgrim woman adult costume

It definitely would not have been much of a reach to apply our basic tank and skirt to make one of these though would it?! Couldn't do it! There's just gotta be some pretty, sexy in it someplace. At least for me.

Thanksgiving holiday party dress

Ah! A breath of fresh air! How about this cute little number? What I love about this besides its obvious adaptability to our templates is the sash.  Although November's dress will not look exactly like this one, this is a perfect place to start!

Paper Couture XVI: Basic Paper Tank Top

Since I have used this basic tank top as part of my paper dress projects for the last 3 months, I think merits its own post. This way I can refer you back to one central place without repeating myself in the videos.

basic paper tank print size 3 x 5 inches

To print this, you will need to copy it to your desktop, open it with your favorite photo editor and print from there. This template is not intended to be printed directly from your browser window or it will come out HUGE!

I plan to use this paper tank again in future projects so please bookmark this page for future reference. I'll call this . . what else. .  the basic paper tank top so you'll know what I'm talking about. Enjoy!

Paper Couture XV: Mini Corset for Victorian Witch

Paper couture proudly presents this mini corset template to help you complete your victorian witch ensemble for the month of October. The actual size of the template is 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 so you should print accordingly. 

Halloween corset - click to download full size

This short video will demonstrate one possible way to use the mini corset on a paper dress. I've added a black tulle treatment to the bottom to give you an idea of cute things you can do.

If you use the materials to create an original work, please share a link to your project by leaving a comment. I would love to come by for a peek! Enjoy!

Note: By downloading or sharing material from this blog you agree to be bound by my terms of use posted in the left sidebar. Thanks.

Miss October Paper Dress

I'm late again on the Paper Wardrobe Project with the paper dress for Miss October but hey, at least it's not the end of November. Ha!

I call this Victorian Witch Dress. Video and templates to be posted later this week so stay tuned.

Catholic School Girl Dress Form Doll Donation

As it turns out, my catholic school girl dress form doll is not so reinvented. She looks pretty traditional with a few new twists like the rose at the neckline. All in all I think she's cute as a button!

catholic school girl dress form doll

I have lovingly donated the Catholic School Girl dress form doll to the Rooted in Spirit Auction benefiting St Joseph School in Issaquah, Washington.