The Last Collaborative Paper Doll Post for 2017


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Clothing for the Temp I prefer.
A printable paper doll coloring page from paperthinpersonas.com.
I can’t believe this is the last paper doll post of 2017 and the last of the collaborative paper doll I created with Boots of Popculture Looking Land, Julie of Paper Doll School,  and Miss Missy of Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls. What a fun project it has been!

We are planning to continue in 2018, so fear not! I know I’ve had several people tell me how much they have enjoyed this little project and we’ve all enjoyed it too. Well, I hope everyone has. I have and that should be something.

For December, the theme was to draw clothing from the temperature/weather that you most enjoy. Personally, I am a temperate loving gal. I prefer long pants and not having to wear a coat all the time.

So, that is what I created for today’s Paper Doll Collaboration 2017 post.

While I haven’t seen anyone eles’s contributions to the December paper doll theme, I thought I would share my favorites from everyone’s year. So, I picked one from each blog.

From Paper Doll School I have to give a huge shout out to her Mythological Creature paper doll outfit. She drew a centaur. A centaur! (I can not draw horses and am wicked jealous.)

Julie also deserves props for stepping up and creating the doll pose we all used.

From Popculture Looking Land, my favorite was probably her amazing paper doll version of Cihuateotl for our Halloween Vampire themed edition. Those skulls! Those feet! That truly creepy Aztec Goddess.

From Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls, I loved the set she created when we did the theme, last month, of personal heros. Her artistic inspirations were highlighted in a wonderful set of paper dolls. Plus, who doesn’t love a little Salior Moon in their paper dolls?

To see this month’s paper doll outfits, and all of those from this year, head over to Paper Doll School, Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls and Popculture Looking Land.

A big thank you to Julie, Boots and Missy for making this such a wonderful project in 2017. Looking forward, my friends, to 2018!

Mother Jone’s Inspired Paper Doll Outfit


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Mother Jones,
a personal hero

This year, Boots of Popculture Looking Land, Julie of Paper Doll School,  and Miss Missy of Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls are all collaborating on a paper doll series. Each month, we design a dress for a shared doll.

Each month has a different theme. This month’s theme was to draw a dress inspired by a personal hero. I chose Mother Jones, the famous labor organizer.

Mary Harris Jones “Mother Jones” was born in Ireland in 1837 and died in Maryland in 1930. At one point, she was labeled the most dangerous woman in America for her work organizing miners.

She lost her husband and four children to yellow fever in 1867. Just four years later, she lost her business, a dress shop, in the Chicago Fire of 1871. So, she began working as an organizer for many labor groups including United Mine Workers of America, then known as just the United Mine Workers.

In her 60s, she became known as Mother Jones, an image she cultivated by wearing black and dressing in out of date fashions.

I don’t agree with all of her views though. She was opposed to women’s suffrage and thought women shouldn’t work. She was also a bit of a publicity hound, but people are people. No one is perfect.

One of Mother Jone’s most famous quotes is, “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.”

I didn’t want to draw a literal 1890’s dress for my paper doll, so instead I created this victorian inspired dress (which should be black if you want it to really be a Mother Jone’s look) and gave her a protest sign of her own. Also, I doubt Mother Jones would approve of exposed knees, so I would suggest coloring her legs like she’s wearing tights.

I have no desire to discuss politics on this blog, but one thing I will say is this- the rights workers have today in the US like the 40 hour work week, no child labor, sick leave and overtime would not exist without the work of labor unions in the early part of the 20th century. Never forget that people literally died for these rights and we should be grateful for them.

So, pray for the dead, as Mother Jones would say, and fight like hell for the living.

Meanwhile, head over to Popculture Looking Land, Paper Doll School, and Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls to see other’s personal heroes. I have no idea who other people chose and I can’t wait to find out.

Need a doll to wear this stylish outfit? Grab the Doll here. 

Happy Halloween with the Paper Doll Collaboration 2017


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Halloween! Also, Bats and Vampires
A Halloween inspired vampire masquerade paper doll gown to print and color from paperthinpersonas.com.
For all of 2017, Julie of Paper Doll School, Boots of Popculture Looking Land and Miss Missy of Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls and I have collaborated on a shared paper doll project. Each month we each post a paper doll outfit at the end of the month for a shared theme.

The October theme for the 2017 Paper Doll Collaboration was Vampire Masquerade. I wasn’t sure what exactly a vampire would wear to a masquerade and then I thought, “Of course, they’d go as a vampire. That’s the ultimate camouflage.”

So, I set to work to draw a very cliched gown. There’s even bats on it!

And the dress is stained with blood which she says is fake. She might be lying.

For those of you who haven’t seen all outfits from the Collaborative Paper Doll 2017 Project check them out here.

And when you’ve got a change hit up Julie of Paper Doll School, Boots of Popculture Looking Land and Miss Missy of Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls. They should be sharing their own versions of this month’s theme.

I can’t wait to see what everyone came up with.

Need the doll to wear this stylish outfit? Grab the Doll here. 

A Paper Doll Outfit From the Year I Graduated High School


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Fashion from When I Graduated High School
A black and white paper doll outfit coloring page from the year 2003, which was the year I graduated high school.
As a lot of you know, I grew up in Alaska. I love my home state and I miss it all the time. Alaska is both totally unique and totally beautiful. It will always be my home, but when it come to fashion, Alaska isn’t exactly cutting edge. In fact, it always took a while for styles to filter there way up the 49th state.

So, Julie of Paper Doll School, Boots of Popculture Looking Land, Miss Missy of Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls and I decided on drawing a paper doll outfit from the year each of us graduate high school for the Collaborative Paper Doll 2017 Project. I graduated in 2003 and this is what I remember girls wearing.

I have no idea if it really is what was in style in 2003 is the point I am trying to make.

What I remember from that era (nearly 15 years ago which is crazy) is that the jeans were low rise and boot cut. The shirt were shorter and had tight sleeves. The shoes were heavy chunky boots.

These are all the things I recall from my high school years and I decided to include them in today’s paper doll outfit celebrating the year I graduated high school back in 2003.

Want to see more outfits from the Collaborative Paper Doll 2017 Project?

Go check out Julie of Paper Doll School, Boots of Popculture Looking Land and Miss Missy of Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls. They maybe posting their outfits in the next few days or today. The end of September snuck up on all of us.

By the way, I feel like I should add that while I drew this paper doll outfit, I am in no way nostalgic for high school. There’s basically no force on this planet that would make me want to return to that period of my life. Seriously.

Need a doll to wear this stylish outfit? Grab the Doll here. 

A 1927 Paper Doll Dress for the 2017 Collaborative Paper Doll Project


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Montgomery Ward Catalog 1927
A coloring page of a 1920s dress for a paper doll, based on Montgomery Ward catalog designs from 1927. The dress has a matching hat. Great for homeschooling history classes from paperthinpersonas.com.

As many of you know, this year on the last Friday of most months (we’ve also done the last day of the month), Julie of Paper Doll School, Boots of Popculture Looking Land, Miss Missy of Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls and I are all posting a black and white outfit for a shared paper doll. This has been such a rewarding project.

I confess there were times I wondered if I would really get it done.

And there have been times when I’ve wondered if we would stick with it.

But, here we are in the 8th Month of the year, August, and here’s another paper doll outfit.

I couldn’t be more thrilled.

So, today’s Collaborative Paper Doll 2017 Project theme was Favorite Historical Period. I chose the late 1920s.

And choosing one historical era wasn’t easy, because I love all sorts of eras. I have so many favorites, I felt a little absurd being asked to pick just one. How could I decide?

In the end, I chose the late 1920s, because it is an era I have loved for a long time. It is an era that I know I could never wear. I have both hips and a bust, which means the 1920s will never look good on me. I also chose it, because there was something about the base doll’s pose that reminded me of the 1920s, as well.

So, here it is! The dress was based on an illustration from the Montgomery Ward Catalog of 1927, sections of which are republished in the book, Montgomery Ward Fashions of the Twenties. I just got the book which is the other reason that I drew clothing from this era.

This month’s Paper Doll Collaboration theme was was really fun. Head over to Paper Doll SchoolPopculture Looking Land and Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls to see what other folks created to celebrate the theme.

Need a doll to wear this stylish outfit? Grab the Doll here. 

Expressing My Love of Punk Music Through Paper Dolls, Like You Do


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:1970s Punk Music, plus this picture, this picture and this picture
A black and white paper doll outfit coloring page. The outfit is inspired by 1970s punk and consists of a leather biker jacket, torn shirt and mini-skirt. The paper doll's wig is styled into a mohawk. The shoes are a leather knee high boots.
Here’s a fact most people don’t know about me. I love 1970s classic punk music.

It is not at all uncommon to hear me singing along loudly to the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, the Clash or Blondie while driving in my car. So, when July’s theme- Musical Genre rolled around, I knew from the get go that I was drawing a classic punk outfit for the Collaborative Paper Doll Project that myself, Boots, Miss. Missy and Julie have taken on.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t settle on punk at first. At first, I thought I would do jazz with a 1920s get up, or maybe country music (another love) with a banjo and a cowboy hat. But as I sat in my living room listening to the Ramones, I realized that I really should embrace one of my first and strongest musical loves. So, Punk it was.

(In case you are wondering, here’s a link to my favorite Ramones’ song.)

Once I settled on punk, I also knew I wasn’t going to do contempoary punk fashion or the punk fashion of my own adolsence. I wanted to draw a 1970s punk outfit.

That meant drawing what might be my first biker jacket, heavy duty boots and a mowhawk. I added buttons to the jacket and lots of spikes. The tiny mini-skirt and torn up shirt seemed to fit the aesthetic.

There’s lots of pictures of Punk attire on my Punk Fashion pinterest board, but this picture, this picture and this picture, all from the 1970s, inspired today’s punk look.

This month’s Paper Doll Collaboration theme was “Musical Styles” and obviously, I chose punk. Head over to Paper Doll School, Popculture Looking Land and Miss. Missy’s Paper Dolls to see what other folks are creating.

Need a doll to wear this stylish outfit? Grab the Doll here. 

A Mermaid for the 2017 Collaborative Paper Doll Project


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Mermaids! Because I like ’em.

So, this isn’t as inspired as Sekhmet by Boots or Julie Williams amazing centaur or Miss Missy’s Lamia/Naga, but this month has been crazy, so I went for a mermaid.

I like mermaids.

The truth is that I was sick at the start of this week and then I had some blog related problems, but I have been assured those are fixed.

However, if anyone has an issue, please email me at paperthinpersonas(at)gmail.com. It seems the blocking issue was only impacting people in specific geographic regions, so it was really hard to track down.

Of course, when the blog is down, I tend to stress out about it and it makes it hard to want to create new content. Luckily, things should be back to normal next week.

This collaborative paper doll project has been so much fun. When we came up with the idea, I confess that I wasn’t sure we’d be able to make it through the whole year, but here we are in June and we’re still going!

That’s very exciting.

Be sure to check out Popculture and Paper DollsMiss. Missy and Paper Doll School for three other literature inspired paper doll outfits.

Need a doll to wear this stylish outfit? Grab the Doll here. 

Occupations: An Archivist Complete with Her Own Hollinger Box


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: An Archivist, Because it is One Half of my Job Title
An Archivist paper doll outfit coloring page from paperthinpersonas.com.
So, this months theme was super hard for me. We all agreed to the themes back when we started this collab paper doll project, but I’ll confess that I really really struggled with this one. I just don’t draw a lot of occupations paper dolls.

So, my first idea was to do like a Fire Fighter, but that would have taken a lot of research. So, would have that the other ideas that I had. Finally, in the interest of not doing research, I decided to draw what I know.

Therefore, I am pleased to present a paper doll Archivist.

Why an Archivist? Because I am one. See, super simple?

But wait, you maybe thinking, I thought you were a librarian! Actually, I am both.

(I do tend to have stronger Librarian tendencies than Archivist tendencies, but that’s neither here nor there.)

After drawing an outfit, I decided that she needed a classic Archivist accessory and what could be more fitting than the ubiquitous to archives Hollinger Metal edge document case?

One thing I was NOT going to do was give her a bun, so I went with a casual long layered style. I though I always keep my hair in a ponytail at work to both keep it out of my face and out of my collections.

So, check out Popculture and Paper Dolls, Miss. Missy and Paper Doll School for three other occupation inspired paper doll outfits.

Need a doll to wear this stylish outfit? Grab the Doll here. 

Favorite Novels: Treasure Island and a Fantastic Pirate Paper Doll Outfit


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Treasure Island, One of my Favorite Novels
A black and white paper doll coloring page of a pirate outfit inspired by the novel Treasure Island.
As some of you may recall, in January, Boots, Julie and Myself started a collaborative paper doll project, all drawing clothing for a shared base doll. Missy joined us shortly there after and we have continued to create, each month, an outfit for our shared paper doll lady.

For month four, our theme was Favorite Novels. For me, I knew immediately that Treasure Island was the novel I was going to work with. I fell in love with Treasure Island when I was a child. It has everything- a coming of age story, pirates, buried treasure and lots of adventure and betrayal.

The lack of ladies in Treasure Island never bothered me, but since our paper doll is a lady, I created some fantastic pirate attire for her to wear. And there were plenty of lady pirates in the real world, though I doubt many of them wore things like this.

Back when this whole year long collaboration project was proposed, I thought there was basically no chance it would survive four whole months. Call me a cynic, I suppose, but here we are in March of 2017 and there’s another batch of paper doll outfits on the horizon for my wonderful fellow paper doll creators- Boots, Julie and Missy.

So, check out Popculture and Paper Dolls, Miss. Missy and Paper Doll School for three other literature inspired paper doll outfits.

Need a doll to wear this stylish outfit? Grab the Doll here. 

Fashions From Space: The Latests Looks From The Spring 2647 Runway’s of Proxima Centauri B


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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Space! The Final Frontier…

Today’s Paper Doll Collaboration 2017 outfit theme was “Fashions from Space” so I am super pleased to present an outfit straight of the Spring 2647 runway from the planet Proxima Centauri B.

Proxima Centauri B is the closest known planet to Earth to be in the “goldilocks zone” where liquid water could exist on the surface of the planet, making it potentially habitable.

According to my careful research (okay, so I really just read the Wikipedia article) Proxima Centauri B is regularly buffeted by solar winds and has a rocky icy surface. So, in my imaginary space future, the colonies on the planet are actually subterranean and in enclosed domes.

Due to the cold temps, the runway looks from Proxima Centauri B are cute, but functional. The thermal trousers and heavy boots are accompanied by a cap-sleeves insulated shell. Over that, our model wears an asymmetrical coat with elbow patches.

Ever since the military conflict between the Inner Colonies, closer to Earth, and the Outer Colonies, further from Earth, heated up back in 2642, there has been a real military influence on fashion and that can be seen in this look from Proxima Centauri B‘s runways.

Looking for more Space fashions? Then check out Popculture and Paper Dolls, Miss. Missy and Paper Doll School. We’re all teaming up on this project, so I’m sure they have some great looks to share, too.

Need a doll to wear this stylish outfit? Grab the Doll here.