Apparently I like my witches to have pastel hair. Soft candy floss strands… Perhaps it’s a little Autumn festival inspiration.

While painting this doll, I couldn’t stop thinking of the word souffle. It seemed nonsensical at first but after a little brainstorming with my sister, we arrived at the name Sour Apple Souffle and it worked (for me at least!)

Sour Apple Souffle

Find her here!

I thought it might be fun to make a little shadow box for her. I made a loose photographic how-to so you can make one too. (instructions are behind the cut!)

This week in celebration of my new paper doll set, I’m having a 15% sale in my shop. Use the code FIFTEEN when checking out to save 15% on your total order.

Inspiration for this project came from one of those boxes that a certain mega online store ships books in… They have perforated flaps that can be easily removed (save those to make tree shapes) and usually have a flat piece of cardboard that the books are shrink wrapped onto to keep them from being damaged.

1. Once you’ve carefully removed the flaps, you can trace out tree shapes that are as tall as the box (as many or as few as you’d prefer). I used a box cutter to cut mine out (very carefully!).

2. Then take the loose piece of cardboard (the backing board for books) and push it into the bottom of the box to make a a smooth backdrop. Mine was a bit larger than the bottom of the box I had (it was from another box) so I trimmed it to fit.

3. Now is a good time to add a moon or some stars or whatever you like. You could paint the background if you like.

4. Stand the box upright so that the bottom is facing you. The trees should easily wedge into the box. Mine felt a bit loose so I added a bead of glue under each trunk. Once the glue dries, turn the box upside down and add some more to the top of the trees (to keep them fixed in place).

5. With scraps leftover from cutting out my doll pieces, I drew shapes to cut out and glitter. Stars & candy corn.

6. To prepare for the paper doll to be added, I poked two holes with the tip of my scissors into the top of the box (the holes should be approximate to the paper doll’s fastened shoulders) set back about an inch from the edge of the box.

7. To add the paper doll, I looped invisible thread around one of the fastened brads at the shoulder (on the backside of the doll), tied a simple knot, then pulled the thread up (from inside the box) out of the hole with the corresponding shoulder and looped it down (from on top of the box) the other hole and wound the remaining thread around the other shoulder.
Loosely pre-measure your invisible thread ahead of time.

Mine isn’t embellished much but yours could be painted from the background to the trees. It could be full of sparkling stars or bats. And the outside of the box could be wrapped with black paper or painted.