мо матрёшка.....окончательно (My Matryoshka....Finally....)

огорченно для задержки (Sorry for the delay) I had started this card last week after we arrived on vacation and just never got back to it, so I sat down tonight and finished it up. This is the new set called My Matryoshka (мо матрёшка). Я люблю этот комплект (I love this set)!! I have always loved the Russian language, and while my written and spoken skills were never that great, I still loved speaking in Russian. My Great Grandmother was born in Russia and came to Canada when she was about 10. She used to try and teach us when we visited, but it never really stuck for long. I had always wanted to actually learn, and after a university course and dating a guy for 4 years that came from Russia I got pretty good. Unfortunately I have not really spoken or written Russian for ohhh about 9 years, so I am very rusty and if I have bad grammar or spelling I apologize.

This set actually has a set of 4 of these wonderful nesting dolls, and I only stamped the one for this card. I also used the brand new Scallop TRIM Punch (Thanks Diana for letting me borrow yours). Both the stamp set and the punch will be available Jan 5th, once the new Mini Occasion and the Sale-A-Bration catty's start. I also have to apologize for the horrific lighting and colors, I will re-do these once I get home so you can see how pretty it really is.



Stamp set: My Matryoshka
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Almost Amethyst, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, Mellow Moss, Certainly Celery, Lovely Lilac, and Pretty in Pink (all Markers)
Paper: Whisper White, Mellow Moss, Bashful Blue, Bashful Blue DSP, Lovely Lilac
Misc: Stampin' Dimensionals, Scallop TRIM Punch

In case you are interested I thought I would post a little bit about the Matryoshka dolls.... I copied most of this from google.....and if you are not interested this is basically the end of the post, so feel free to stop reading.

A matryoshka doll, also known as a Russian nested doll or a babushka doll, is a set of dolls of decreasing sizes placed one inside the other. A set of matryoshkas consists of a wooden figure which separates, top from bottom, to reveal another figure of the same sort inside, which has, in turn, another figure inside of it, and so on. The number of nested figures is usually five or more. The form is approximately cylindrical, with a rounded top for the head, tapering toward the bottom, with little or no protruding features; the dolls have no hands (except those that are painted). Traditionally the outer layer is a woman, dressed in a sarafan. The figures inside may be of either gender; the smallest, innermost doll is typically a baby, and does not open. The artistry is in the painting of each doll, which can be extremely elaborate.

Matryoshkas date from 1890, the first Russian nested doll set was carved by Vasily Zvyozdochkin from a design by Sergey Malyutin, who was a folk crafts painter in the Abramtsevo estate of the Russian industrialist and patron of arts Savva Mamontov. The doll set was painted by Maliutin himself. In 1900, Savva Mamontov's wife presented the dolls at the World Exhibition in Paris, and the toy earned a bronze medal. Soon after, matryoshki dolls were being made in several places in Russia.

Modern artists create many new styles of nesting dolls. Common themes include animal collections, portraits and caricatures of famous politicians, musicians and popular movie stars. Matryoshka dolls that feature communist leaders of Russia became very popular among Russian people in the early 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Today, some Russian artists specialize in painting themed matryoshka dolls that feature specific categories of subjects, people or nature.

A doll which represents an old woman is often called a baboushka or babushka, that which represents an old man a dedoushka or dedushka.

Areas with notable matryoshka styles include Sergiyev Posad, Semionovo (now the town of Semyonov), Polkholvsky Maidan, and Kirov

I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about these amazing nesting dolls. My hubby John actually has a set that he bought in France that are from Moscow originally, and I just love them. I used to have a set that I got in Novosibirsk and had the traditional 5 dolls, but a very not nice person stole them from me years ago, but I am hoping one day to go back there and get another set.

Until next time, Happy Scrappin'