Willow in a Post Apocalyptic Wasteland

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:  Mad Max, The End of the World, Ext. 

A post-apocalyptic fashion printable paper doll with a green and teal dress, boots and tattoos. Free to print and play with from paperthinpersonas.com.

A post-apocalyptic fashion printable paper doll with a dress, boots and tattoos. Free to print, color, and play with from paperthinpersonas.com.

First of all, I’d like to wish a Happy (as Happy as a holiday about fallen servicemen and women can be) Memorial Day to all my Readers who are celebrating today.

I always think I’m going to do thematic posts for Holidays. I even go as far as to make a list and tell myself I totally got this.

And then inevitably, I forget or get distracted and it doesn’t happen. So, today’s printable paper doll has nothing to do with Memorial Day.

Instead, I recently re-watched Mad Max: Fury Road and that inspired a round of sketching for post-apocalyptic paper doll attire. So, today we have Willow in her world end get up.

I wanted her boots to be mismatched, but not so mismatched that they didn’t coordinate. Her dress was super hard and took about three different versions. I really wanted to contrast the soft folds of fabric with a heavy leather harness going over the top.

Her other accessories are some fingerless gloves, a machete and a canteen.

The doll herself is Willow, one of the first Sprites paper dolls. Her tattoos are, of course, original to this version. You’ll need to clip across her hair to make the tabs work, but there’s a dotted line to guide you.

I hope people are spending time today with their family and friends whether you get the holiday off or not.

Looking for something else for today’s Sprite paper doll to wear? Pick out some clothing here.

The Poppets As Little Red Riding Hood

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:Little Red Riding Hood

A Little Red Riding Hood paper doll costume to print and play with. One of dozens of fairy tale paper doll designs from paperthinpersonas.com.

A Little Red Riding Hood paper doll costume to print, color, and play with. One of dozens of fairy tale paper doll designs from paperthinpersonas.com.

Today’s paper doll dress is part of the Poppet’s Fairy Tale and Nursery Rhyme Collection where I draw designs for different fairy tales. Today’s tale is Little Red Riding Hood. I knew from fairly early on that I would want to create a Little Red Riding Hood outfit. I don’t really feel like I need to recap Little Red Riding Hood, as it is a pretty well-known tale- girl goes into woods, girl meets wolf, girl gets eaten.

Depending on the version you read, that’s how it ends. Little girl and grandma devoured by wolf. In most modern tales, there is a friendly Woodcutter who saves the day, but in the early versions of the tale there was no Wood cutter.

The woods, in Little Red Riding Hood, are generally treated as a metaphor for growing up or recognizing a space where the rules of civilized society fail to function. The play Into the Woods takes this metaphor and really runs with it.

This is actually one of my favorite designs I’ve done so far for the Poppet’s Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes Poppet paper doll series. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to create a reference to the Woods in the story of Little Red Riding Hood.

So, I created this trim on the bottom of the hood to reflect the deep dark woods. Because of the shape of the hood, I designed floating tabs to be attached to the back of the hood to hold it onto the doll.

Her boots are a reddish brown leather and her dress is cream and inspired a little by the children’s illustrator Kate Greenaway.

Of course, you can see the other tales I’ve illustrated in the Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes Poppet paper doll series tag. If there’s one I haven’t done that you would like to see, let me know in a comment.

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend here in the United States.

Need a paper doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick a Poppet Paper Doll Here.

A Rockabilly Inspired Paper Doll Coloring Page

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Delaney, a Paper Doll From 2014
A rockabilly inspired paper doll dress covered in skulls, flowers, hearts and stars, plus matching boots. One of hundreds of paper doll designs from paperthinpersonas.com.
After you’ve created as many paper dolls as I have, I find I sometimes “forget” that certain paper dolls exist until I am going through my own archives for some reason. Part of the fun of the Facebook page is picking out older paper dolls to post each month, because I get to go back and see things that I barely remember or that I remember and think happened a lot sooner than I recall.

So, one I stumbled across was my Pixie printable paper doll named Delaney. She was a sort of sweet and punky paper doll with a little but of a vintage edge.

Using those same themes, I created today’s outfit for the mini-maiden printable paper doll series.

I am not totally pleased with how the pattern came out on the dress, I think the spacing is pretty poorly done, but I liked the concept at least.

And I think her boots are super cute.

The whole thing feels very rockabilly to me, but perhaps not to everyone. I confess that’s a style that I sometimes don’t feel like I totally understand.

If you want to color this to match Delaney, then I would go with pale blues and pinks, but I also think a black and red scheme could be really pretty. It is totally up to you, which is, I suppose, the point of having black and white paper dolls.

And, as I announced yesterday, there’s a new paper doll coloring sheet for purchase in my Etsy store. Check it out, if you haven’t (and there’s a color version, too.)

Need a Mini-Maiden paper doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick a Mini-Maiden Paper Doll Here.

Ms. Mannequinn’s Paper Doll Dresses for Spring or Summer

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Summer Dresses
Two summer dresses for paper dolls, free to print and play with from paperthinpersonas.com.

A paper doll prom dress with a cropped top and full floral skirt. Free to print from paperthinpersonas.com.

A pair of super cute summer dresses for the Ms. Mannequin series paper dolls. I really wish I could sit here and wax philosophical about this set. I could talk about inspiration and such…

However, the truth is that I just decided that I wanted to draw a pair of spring/summer dresses. The blue dress is sorta meant to be chambray which is a fabric that looks like denim, but is really light weight. (It’s great for sewing doll jeans, FYI.)

Along with the dresses, this set has two purses. I sorta thought the blue purse could go with the yellow dress and the pink purse with the blue dress, but I encourage you to pick your own favorite.

Being that I live in the Deep South, the weather has been already very hot and very humid, even though it is just May. So, I think I maybe breaking out my maxi dresses early this year. I’m not much of a short dress person, but part of the fun of paper dolls is that they get to have wardrobes that maybe I wouldn’t want to have.

I mean, I’m not exactly in the business of wearing dresses like this work every day. Unless, of course, my work was being an evil sorceress in which case… I would totally wear that dress.

I digress.

What do you think of these two dresses? Your style? I personally love the yellow one best, but what do you think?

Also, there’s a new set of paper doll clothing in the Etsy store. Super cute summery outfits in color or in black and white for coloring. Check them out here.

Need a paper doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick out a Ms. Mannequin Paper Doll Here

The Bodacious and Buxom Girls Get Pajamas

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Sleepwear!
A pair of paper doll pajama's with sheep on them, plus a teddy bear and a cup of joe. Free to print in color or black and white.

A pair of paper doll pajama's with sheep on them, plus a teddy bear and a cup of joe. Free to print in color or black and white.

At the end of 2016, I asked all my Patrons for requests for 2017. A patron who chose to remain anonymous asked for pajamas and a teddy bear. Well, who was I to argue?

Plus, I’ve noticed that I have done very few sets of pajama’s over the years. I do have a nightgown tag where you can see the few nightgowns I have done. I probably should change that tag to something like sleepwear, since this isn’t a nightgown, but there you go.

In fact, now that I mention it, I think this might be the first pair of pajama’s I’ve ever drawn. Hmmm… I could go through the archives and try to prove that, but I’m not sure I feel like it.

I will confess that I think the sheep on these pajama’s look a little deformed, but then I’m not really a sheep expert.

Personally, I think her mug is full of coffee, but it could be hot chocolate or whatever other brown liquid you might like. I am super proud of the teddy bear. I think he’s darling. I don’t draw toys enough, because I struggle with them. There were three deformed teddy bear versions, before I ended up with one I thought was cute.

I went back and forth on the color scheme. I wanted something girly and kinda cute. So, I settled on lavender and aqua blue trimming.

What do you think of today’s pajamas? Cute? Strange? Would you wear them?

Need to get a Bodacious & Buxom paper doll to wear these fabulous clothes? Pick one out here.

A Mia Paper Doll and Her Printable Summer Clothing

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Pantone 2017  Color Report
A printable paper doll in color of an Asian girl with some summer clothing based on the Pantone 2017 color report. She's one of hundreds of paper dolls from paperthinpersonas.com.

A printable paper doll with some summer clothing based on the Pantone 2017 color report. She's one of hundreds of paper dolls to color from paperthinpersonas.com.

I had the realization that the last time I had posted a Mia paper doll was back in November of 2016 when I was doing my Bird Masquerade series. She got a masquerade gown based on a Loon. I loved that gown.

Anyway, I felt pretty strongly that I wanted to create a new Mia, since it has been six months. I went back and forth about a style for her. I thought about doing a fantasy set or a cyberpunk set, but I ended up settling on a casual summer set.

Color scheme wise, I based these colors Pantone’s 2017 Spring color report. I set a personal rule for myself that I couldn’t use any warm colors- no pinks, yellows or reds. Those are some of my favorite colors, so saying no to them was hard.

However, limitations sometimes create better stuff and I really love the peaceful feeling that this Mia clothing set has without the warm colors.

To give credit where credit is due, the blouse on the left was inspired by one I saw a student wearing at the college where I work. Hers was in reds and yellows, but since I was on a “no warm colors” kick, I ended up doing with blues and greens.

Well, what do you think of Mia’s outfit? Love those colors? Wish I’d gone with my tendency towards pink? Let me know in a comment. I always love to hear from you.

Need a more outfits for today’s Marisole Monday & Friends Paper Doll? Find More Ladies Clothing Here. 

Marisole Monday & Friends in a Kimono and Qipao Inspired Fantasy Gown

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Kimono, Qipao and This Chinese Fan
A fantasy gown inspired by kimonos and qipao for the Marisole Monday & Friends free printable paper doll series.

A fantasy gown inspired by kimonos and qipao for the Marisole Monday & Friends free printable paper doll series.

In my original plan, today’s dress went with a paper doll, but I just couldn’t seem to draw a hair style that I liked to go with it. So, in the end, I decided to just post the dress all by its lonesome. However, there are a lot of dolls that could go with this set like this one or this one or this one.

The color scheme is based on this Chinese fan from the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. I often like to look for color schemes from cultures that are not my own. Which colors go with which other colors is often a matter of cultural preferences, so I like to sometimes look for a combination that I wouldn’t have thought of on my own. Although, for all my dabbling in different parts of the world, my love of teal and red together is well documented. It is entirely possible that’s the make up of my living room color scheme.

Other inspirations include this wa lolita outfit, a Chines informal robe covered in butterflies, this kimono and this kimono.I tend to collect my sources on Pinterest, so feel free to follow me there if you want some glimpses into what I’m interested in for any given afternoon.

The shoes have tabi style socks, because I wanted them to be wearable by any of the paper dolls skin tones.

So, what do you think about today’s paper doll dress? Let me know in a comment.

Need a Marisole Monday & Friends Lady Paper Doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick One Out Here. 

Sprites Go Out For Date Night

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: A Lack of Sprite Suits and Cocktail Dresses
Two cocktail dresses and a suit for the Sprites paper dolls. Free to print and color from paperthinpersonas.com.

Two cocktail dresses and a suit for the Sprites paper dolls. Free to print and color from paperthinpersonas.com.

I wanted to create some semi-formal clothing for the Sprites. I’ve done business formal suits (here and here) and I’ve done super formal tuxedos and red carpet gowns(here), but I haven’t done semi-formal. Cocktail attire, they used to call it. Maybe people who go to cocktail parties still call it that, but I’m not much of a cocktail party goer.

Ice cream and hot chocolate parties, I am all in for. I do actually own one cocktail dress. I had to buy it for an event. It is not a dress I like to wear, but at least I own one. Last minute shopping for something like that rarely ends well.

The black dress is based on this dress from Pinterest. I’m sure the blue dress was based on something, but I don’t recall what. The suit is, well.. a suit. I mean, suits are pretty straight forward.

(Sorry gents, your formal clothing isn’t as fun as the ladies.)

I wanted to do a navy suit, because I’d already done a grey suit and black suits are kinda boring.

Looking for some Sprite paper dolls to wear these outfits? Pick out Sprite paper dolls here.

Mini-Maiden’s As a Superhero

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Superheros! And Stars!
A paper doll superhero costume coloring page for the Mini-Maiden paper doll series from paperthinpersonas.com.

The Mini-Maidens are getting their first paper doll superhero costume. I chose a star as the symbol and create the staff/wand to be her signature item. You can decide if it is a weapon or just a stylin’ accessory.

I have a love hate relationship with the superhero genre. On one hand, I really enjoy exciting movies that require only limited brain power. On the other hand, I struggle with the common lack of repercussions in the genre. The total destruction of New York is pretty common (sometimes it is Chicago) and rarely does anyone pause to ask if the ends justify the means.

Not to mention the fact that there’s a high level of sexism in the genre with female superheros regularly depicted in way that are designed to entice men rather than empower women. And I can’t recall the last superhero film that actually passed the Bechdel test (anyone know?) and so I find that the feminist in me struggles with the genre as a whole.

Nevertheless, last year superhero costumes outsold princess costumes at Halloween, so clearly there’s a cultural shift in this direction. While some of my friends are excited, because superheros they see superheros as less problematic than princesses, I am not sure I agree. Both are problematic in their own ways, but I want to create paper dolls the reflect the world around me and the world around me is full of superheros.

Plus, my patrons the Steger Family asked for them, so there’s another reason to create some more.

Still, I’ll probably always have mixed feelings about superheros.

Need a Mini-Maiden paper doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick a Mini-Maiden Paper Doll Here.

The Poppet Printable Paper Dolls Finally Get Some Blue Jeans

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations:The Realization that the Poppets Have Very Few Pairs of Jeans
Two pairs of paper doll jeans and a t-shirt for the Poppet printable paper doll series from paperthinpersonas.com.

Two pairs of paper doll jeans and a t-shirt for the Poppet printable paper doll series from paperthinpersonas.com.

Most of us have jeans in our closets. I certainly do. In fact, since I am pretty picky about jean fit, I have three pairs of nearly identical jeans in my closet. Levi stopped making my favorite 514 curvy fit jeans and I have yet to forgive them for this, but I can still get them in talls from Amazon. Once they run out of stock, I really don’t know what I’ll do about jeans.

Anyway, my point is that jeans are central to most people’s wardrobes and I’ve always thought that every paper doll should have a few items that fall into the “basics” category- stuff you really need to mix and match with some of the more exciting clothing. Jeans fall into the “basics” category.

So, imagine my surprise when I realized there had literally only been one pair of traditional full length jeans for the Poppet paper dolls back in 2013 with literally the first Poppet paper doll ever Petunia. The second pair jeans are a pair of rolled shorts that I drew January and posted in February.

Well, all that changes today. Today’s Poppet paper doll clothing set includes a t-shirt with a pink elephant on it and two pairs of jeans. One is a light colored wash with a rolled hem and the other is a dark blue flared pair.

The way I see it, jeans go with pretty much any top I have ever drawn though this one might be a stretch. Ain’t gonna lie.

I also drew a stuffed teddy bear, because I like stuffed teddy bears. Not every choice is well justified in my world.

So, do you have jeans on your closet? Are they a favorite or a least favorite clothing item? (Also is there anything worse to shop for than jeans?) Let me know in a comment or just let me know what you think of today’s paper doll.

Need a paper doll to wear today’s outfit? Pick a Poppet Paper Doll Here.