The thing about this blog is that writing is hard. Drawing is hard too, but somehow less hard then writing. I think it’s because I draw in stages- pencil and then ink and then shade and then scan and then re-size. Sometimes those events occur in a slightly different order, but I always have multiple pieces in multiple stages of work. Yet, writing I find I stare at a white screen and have to think of something to say.

Ideally, something intelligent and nuanced to say… Okay, maybe not nuanced, but at least intelligent. Or coherent. I think I at least get coherent. Usually.

Boots wrote a really wonderful post a few weeks ago about momentum and how hard it is to keep it up. She’s right. When I get into a groove I can prep several paper dolls in a row and schedule them all and feel like I’m getting somewhere and when I’m not in a groove… well… it all takes much longer. Enjoy this pastel spring like Marisole. This paper doll is also available in black and white which I posted last week.

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Normally, I do my futuristic, cyber-punky sets in blacks with neons, but I wanted to play around with white as a base color, rather than black. Since I was using white, the citrus candy colors seemed proper to accent the clothes and the candy colors gave this paper doll her name- Kandi. Her dark skin tone was chosen to contrast with the white and pink scheme. I’m mostly pleased with how she came out, though I have some mixed feelings about the hair. It was originally black with pink highlights and I wonder if perhaps I should have kept it that way.

In the end, I’m fairly pleased with how she turned out. I like her clothes and her hair is okay, though I’m not totally pleased with it.

In my head, Kandi is from the same world Thorne, the Cyborg, Jay and Vera, though perhaps a happier more brightly colored part of that world… maybe the tropics.

So… this is practically late. I mean… it’s like 11:50 here in Illinois, but I really really wanted to get a Shadow and Light doll up since it’s been a while since I did one and I have been feeling bad about that.

Back in the 1980′s I was pretty young, but I remember wearing overall shorts, which were the latest thing, and having a weird affection for when I was old, because I was going to wear thigh high boots. I don’t know why I was so into the idea, but I remember drawing lots of paper dolls sporting thigh high boots and miniskirts in elementary school. Perhaps I saw Pretty Woman at too young of an age…. Oddly, my mother was never concerned as far as I could tell with my thigh high boot obsession.

As an adult, I have never worn thigh high boots… a pity perhaps.

Needless to say, my love of shoes was founded young and even now I love shoes (which I think comes through on my paper dolls.)

And, as you might notice, our pirate is sporting some pretty darn sexy boots.

1. Licca Paper Doll
2. Paper doll and her clothes with use of a modern Russian ornament.
3. Jonathan Coulton Paper Doll
4. corsetted skeleton paper doll
5. Mod Paper Dolls
6. Lettie’s Mother and Several of Her Costumes
7. Poppy Paper Dolls & two outfits
8. Paper Doll – Illustration
9. Ruby Bloom Paper Doll
10. Katy Keene Paper Doll 1956
11. “Marie” ~ Paper Doll
12. Ann Estelle sister paper doll Lilah
13. The Bionic Woman Paper Doll
14. Vintage Santa Paper Doll
15. “Downton Abbey” printable paper dolls
16. Women’s Weekly Paper Dolls – Libby
17. Paper doll Ann
18. Mon Petit Closet Magnetic Paper Doll
19. Paper doll owl
20. Paper Dolls- Fern Bisel Peat
21. Eden Paper Doll Full View
22. Gallarda Paper Doll
23. sailor moon4 paper doll
24. Boneca de papel / Paper doll
25. Vintage Paper Doll, Kangaroo
26. Paper Dolls from Jack and Jill,1962
27. Paper doll Patsy
28. Ddung Paper Dolls
29. Musical Bear
30. Vintage Ballerina Paper Dolls
31. Junko Mizuno Paper Doll
32. paper doll book for you to make
33. paper doll

Today’s paper doll is new and in black and white. Next week, she’ll be in color. I just don’t have the colored version done yet and I thought I would post a black and white version first. These are all pieces of clothing I found while looking through magazines in the airport. I really love the full skirted dress with the buttons. I would wear it, but then I love those full skirted vintage looking dresses.

So, I disappeared there for a few days. I got busy and then I got overwhelmed and then I got lazy. But life has settled down a little, though I must confess not very much, and I am able to get some time in to work on feeding the blog. The truth is that while classes are over I have a few things to finish before I graduate and then, only then, can I consider myself done. Plus I am moving soon, so that’s another series of problems to worry about.

I saw the James Bond film Quantum of Solace tonight with friends and I had no idea what was going on for most of the film. I was rather disappointed. I really like James Bond, but…. I dunno. It was an odd film.

Today’s Dictionary Girl paper doll was colored after a friend of my friend complained that I didn’t have enough brunette pale-skinned blue-eyed paper dolls like her and she thought this wasn’t fair. Well, there is some truth to her remark, since I tend to favor variety of skin tone over variety of hair color. That all began when I realized the internet was full of printable paper dolls and they all seemed awfully white. Still, when a someone demands a blue-eyed brown-haired paper doll, and when they live in the same apartment building, it seems hard to refuse.

So, here is Fleur. She has the same skin tone as Alyssa and therefore can share shoes with Alyssa though I can not promise wigs will work since they have two different hair styles.

What sort of coloring would people like to see for the next Dictionary Girl?

So… slightly slacker post from me today. I as out of town last week in Alabama and just got back. I prepped this while sitting in the Chicago airport waiting to get on a plane to go home. I posted Beneath the Waves in color last year in June. I found the file and decided to put it up in color. I have been getting more and more requests for paper dolls to color, so here is another one.

I love spring when the rains come and the paper doll blogs are in bloom. Actually, I joke, but I have stumbled across a few new blogs over the last few days. My latest find is called Miss Missy Paper Dolls, slightly unnerving for me since I have a good friend named Missy, never the less, I am enjoying the posts as I work my way through her archive. I recommend her blog to those of us who like such things (and if you don’t like such things, what the heck are you doing here anyhow?).

Confession time: I think men’s clothing is boring.

I know I shouldn’t, but I do.

Historically speaking, there’s some neat stuff for men, but right now it’s all trousers and shirts and jeans and shirts and suits and maybe some swim trunks and really… that gets old.

Still, my poll in January (and I, like apparently the caidates for president, take polling seriously) said that what people wanted to see was male paper dolls.

Originally, Ethan here had a girlfriend or just a friend… I shouldn’t make assumptions about my paper doll’s sexual orientation. However, I thought she looked like she’d just been hit with a brick or something, so I decided not to post her or draw her any clothing. She won’t be returning to the blog unless I decide I really feel like it and I doubt it.

Instead, I gave him a some clothing (including a styling Star Trek uniform) and have posted him.

Sorry about the image quality. I only have an iphone for picture taking and I know it’s not ideal.

Cut out the paper doll and place her on top of a spare strip of card stock, at least three or five inches wide. Carefully draw a line in a curved line down from the doll to the bottom of the card stock. I recommend doing this in pencil. I did it in bright red pen so it was visible.

So, after you cut out the stand, it should look like this. Draw a line a quarter inch in to make the tab to glue to the back of the doll. I’ve drawn the red line where I would fold back this tab.

Fold back the tab and then glue it to the back of the doll. Double sided tape would also work fine, I think, but I always used glue.

And now the paper doll can stand on her own.

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Happy Earth Day! There’s an Earth and we should be grateful or else we’d not exist. So, I’m glad for that. Beyond that, I try to avoid politics on this little corner of the web. There are other corners of the web for politics. Here is the corner of paper dolls.

Two of my favorite recent paper dolls are Constance and Prudence, who I’ve always thought of as best friends, and so today I present them both in black and white for coloring enjoyment. Each paper doll was meant to have a distinct casual and slightly indie style. Prudence is a little bit vintage and Constance is a little bit tomboy. The t-shirt styles for the Constance paper doll are based on mandala designs which are simplified for the small size.

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG to Print} {Click Here for The Rest of this Series}

So, today, I’d like to also call attention to a new blog with some delightful black and white paper dolls called Inflammation Of…, which is about both paper dolls and raising a child with chrons disease. I have had several thank yous sent to me over the years from parents with health issues in their families who like the paper dolls and I always feel very touched that my paper dolls can help in any small way for people in need. Plus there’s a whole set of clothes for her paper dolls inspired by Scoopy-Doo and who isn’t in favor of paper dolls inspired by Scooby-Doo? I loved Scooby-Doo when I was a kid.

(Actually, I still sorta love Scoopy-Doo, but I try to be more of an adult and not admit these things in public.)