And the Winner Is. . . .

Congratulations to Gillian Moyle Johnston for creating the winning submission for the Halloween Crafters' Challenge!! (PZ employees, we will be announcing an internal winner later this week). Gillian's paper doll stage immediately caught our eye, taking our imagination to a Halloween playland full of charm and whimsy.

I asked Gillian to be a guest blogger and tell us her inspiration behind the project and this is what she had to say:

"My inspiration for this project came when I was at Paper Zone to pick out the items I would use in my project and saw the paper doll kit in the Halloween section. I was immediately drawn to it and knew that I had to incorporate them. I thought about how much fun I use to have with my sisters and friends when I was little and how a play stage would be perfect for these charming paper dolls. In designing the stage set for a Halloween theme, I chose a haunted house on a hill (made out of cardstock from an online clip art image embellished with orange and black glitter), the bat flying in the sky, and a tree (drawn and cut out of cardstock, embellished with some stamp pad ink). I imagined a couple of little girls playing with this which is why I wanted the stage to be playful and fun rather than dark and spooky, thus the choice of blue cloud paper for the sky, green cardstock for the grass, and the colorful fall leaves. I thought the star side of the paper was very fitting for a stage floor and the closet door labels. The right side closet I left with just a faux mirror as I thought a little girl would want to be able to have a place for her own creativity to be incorporated, whether that be costumes she creates herself or additional props for play time.

The last element I created was the closure, I thought a simple ribbon with the skull embellishment completed the project nicely and gave a hint of what the theme inside would be. The hardest part was choosing the adhesive for the costumes as I wanted them to stick inside the closet when they were not in use but be able to come off easily during play; I did have to return to Paper Zone and purchase a second paper doll kit as the first attempt to find a good adhesive did not work as planned; ultimately I used the re-positionable liquid glue for the Slice glass mat. This was so much fun creating, I do sometimes have a hard time deciding what to create, so having the paper, ribbons, and embellishments as a starting point really got this project started. Not to mention having a really good excuse for stopping by the store! Kind Regards, Gillian"

We are thrilled Gillian had the inspiration she did because the end result was a delight! Please check back with us to see the winning submission created by a Paper Zone insider.

--Kim