A Christmas Room Cheat

This year, I've really had to think outside the box as I haven't really been able to get my hands on everything I need for every diorama idea I've had. So I've had to figure out little workarounds. Some of you may recall that I mentioned a while ago about the use of old magazine pages as backdrops which work particularly well for 1/6 scale dolls.They work similar to the vinyl backdrops you can buy for dolls except they're really only small enough to work well for smaller dolls.

If you're finding that time is an issue, particularly this time of year and you haven't been able to get a diorama together, the magazine page method is a quick solution. It's a no fuss, no frills version that can be put together in under five minutes.

Read on for instructions ...

To start, you'll need:
A4 binder (any kind will do)
Some pegs (for holding magazine pages to the binder)
Scrapbook Paper for flooring
Old Magazines
Doll of Choice
Some actual props (to make the scene look more realistic)

To assemble, it's as simple as picking an image from your old magazines. It doesn't matter if it has small white writing in the corners as you will most likely only use a small portion of the magazine image anyway. Open your A4 binder so it sits on a flat surface open. Take your magazine image and attach it to one side of the open binder with pegs. Slide flooring scrapbook paper under the binder. Add small props as required. Set up your doll. Click away.

A clean look at the set up (without the materials text). I picked scrapbook paper that was similar to the one shown on the magazine page for the floor. Lucky I had one handy already.  I added some small wrapped present boxes I had and a cushion and chair to give the whole effect a bit more of a 3D feel.

Then I took photographs playing with direction, angle and cropping. This is the fun part. If you do happen to get any of the small magazine text in your photo, you can just simply crop the photo.

There you have it, a quick and speedy way of getting a photo together when you're under the pump.

MyFroggyStuff has also posted a really great tutorial on a quick diorama using photos from magazines. Check it out here for another quick and speedy method.