Mini-Series

Bianca Boo’s Frightful Frocks: Ghost

Printable Halloween ghost paper doll outfit titled “Bianca Boo’s Frightful Frocks: Ghost.” The design features a pale lavender and white 18th-century–inspired dress with a deconstructed hoop skirt splattered with red blood, striped stockings, and matching shoes. A separate curled wig with a piece labeled “Floating back for wig” sits above the outfit. Decorative spiderweb borders frame the page, with the poem: “Beneath the moon’s silver light, Bianca Boo floats out tonight. Her tears fall where love has bled, A bloody ghost among the dead.” The text “Happy Halloween 2025” appears on the right side.
Printable Halloween ghost paper doll outfit titled “Bianca Boo’s Frightful Frocks: Ghost.” The design features a pale lavender and white 18th-century–inspired dress with a deconstructed hoop skirt, striped stockings, and matching shoes. A separate curled wig with a piece labeled “Floating back for wig” sits above the outfit. Decorative spiderweb borders frame the page, with the poem: “Beneath the moon’s silver light, Bianca Boo floats out tonight. Her tears fall where love has bled, A silent ghost among the dead.” The text “Happy Halloween 2025” appears on the right side.

Download Page 7: Bianca Boo Bloody Ghost | Download Page 7: Bianca Boo Ghost | The Bianca Boo Collection

Today’s costume for Bianca Boo’s Frightful Frocks is a Halloween ghost outfit! It’s inspired by 18th-century rococo style and my love of deconstructed hoop skirts (even if it’s not exactly historically accurate). I made two versions. There’s one with blood splatter and one without. The splatter version was really just an excuse to finally use my ink splatter brushes in Procreate, and honestly, I love it. But I also know not everyone wants to hand their kiddo a blood-splattered dress, so there’s a “cute” version for those who prefer their Halloween less creepy.

Speaking of ghosts: Occasionally, I think this blog might be haunted. My server’s been acting up for days. It’s nothing major, just those annoying little downtimes that fix themselves if I wait long enough.

Anyway, here’s a poem, as usual for my Halloween ghost paper doll, two versions for the two dresses:

Beneath the moon’s silver light,
Bianca Boo floats out tonight,
Her tears fall where love has bled,
A bloody ghost among the dead.

—or—

Beneath the moon’s silver light,
Bianca Boo floats out tonight,
Her tears fall where love has bled,
A silent ghost among the dead.

The idea behind this one was more costume than literal ghost. Transparent people just aren’t that exciting to draw. I’m usually a “creepy but not gory” Halloween person, so the blood surprised even me, but once I did it, I thought, “Huh, maybe I should splatter more things with blood.”

When Julie and I started this project, she suggested reasonable black and white designs, and I was like, “Nope! Full color, patterns, shadows. The works!”

(She was right, by the way. This was way more work than I anticipated when I schemed it up.)

At the time, I wanted to push myself creatively, focus on painting, and not worry about the usual mix-and-match practicality. Normally, I design paper dolls that can swap clothes endlessly (because representation and flexibility matter!), but for this project, it was just seven dresses, one doll. Totally manageable—and honestly, a breath of fresh air. I don’t regret the decision to go full color and try my hand at digital painting, but I admit I might not be doing it again for a while.

Paper dolls have always felt a little like theater to me. Change the costume, change the character. Funny story: when I named Paper Thin Personas, I discovered that the “correct” plural of persona is personae, but in theater, cast lists are often titled Personas. I loved that. So, each paper doll is a performer, and every outfit is a new role to play. Super fun! And in this case, the transformation is into a Halloween ghost!

Oh—and don’t miss Julie’s ghost! Hers is totally 1980s-inspired and so much fun.

If you’re enjoying Bianca Boo’s Frightful Frocks, consider supporting me on Patreon and leave a comment. The full set will be available to download soon. I need to catch my breath.

Bianca Boo’s Frightful Frocks: Pumpkin

A printable paper doll for Halloween themed around pumpkins with a wig and stockings.

Download Page 6: Bianca Boo Pumpkin | The Bianca Boo Collection

Today’s theme for Bianca Boo’s Frightful Frocks is Pumpkins!

This paper doll outfit was another case where I designed the hair before I designed the outfit. (Just like I did with the Bat design) I feel like I must have seen this somewhere. I don’t imagine I came up with entirely on my own, but I have a sort of “no research” rule when I do Halloween things. So, I don’t know where it came from even though I imagine it came from somewhere.

For the outfit, I was inspired in part by a these pumpkin designs from (I think) Nyahallo. The designs aren’t signed, which is hard. I love pumpkins. Not only do I love to eat them (I do love that), but I love the shapes and colors of them. They’re so sculptural. I wanted to bring this love of the shape of pumpkins to the outfit.

I wish I had not used the word “rows” twice in the poem. I was writing fast, because I was behind. “Oh, well, perhaps something I’ll fix someday in revision.” (I say this knowing I will never do that.)

Bianca Boo with laughter sweet,
Steps through rows of pumpkins neat,
Orange globes in cheerful rows,
Her Halloween magic clearly shows!

While Julie Matthews from Paper Doll School and I are doing a fun joint paper doll project between our two sites: Paper Thin Personas (mine) and Paper Doll School (hers), we didn’t consult about what out ideas were for the themes. So, I have no idea what she’s done. It looks amazing though. You should go check it out.

I think this one really captures what I love about Halloween paper doll design. Those little intersections of whimsy, nostalgia, and seasonal color. Pumpkins have such a joyful presence, and translating that into a costume was just plain fun.

As always, I hope you enjoy dressing up your dolls in these frightful frocks and maybe feel a little pumpkin magic of your own this spooky season.

Bianca Boo’s Frightful Frocks: Fortune Teller

Printable Halloween paper doll outfit titled Bianca Boo’s Frightful Frocks: Fortune Teller, featuring a purple and green tarot card–themed dress with a headscarf and boots, framed by spiderwebs with Halloween poem text and ‘Happy Halloween 2025.’ Created by Rachel Cohen.

Download Page 5: Bianca Boo Fortune Teller | The Bianca Boo Collection

Today’s Halloween paper doll dress theme is “Fortune Teller.” I don’t have a lot to say about this one. I really struggled to come up with an idea. I think this ended up somewhere between a mystical wanderer, pirate, and a free-spirited artist. I spent quite a while experimenting before finally finding a direction that felt right. I decided to center the look around a dress decorated with classic Rider–Waite tarot card designs. These cards were first published in December 1909 by William Rider & Son of London. Because the original cards were printed cheaply, the color palette was quite limited. I don’t know tarot, so the one I chose mostly had to do with what I thought I could draw and simpify and would still be clearly cards. If you know how to read these cards, let me know!

It’s deeply hilarious to me how close Julie’s design and my design are. We do not consult when we do these! I had no idea what she was planning.

Today’s little poem:

Bianca Boo with a knowing grin,
Foretells where your fate will begin.
As cards reveal their mystic hue,
Dark whispers tell what waits for you

As in many Octobers past, I’m teaming up with Julie Matthews from Paper Doll School for this fun joint paper doll project between our two sites: Paper Thin Personas (mine) and Paper Doll School (hers). This year, though, things are a little more hectic than usual. I usually like to have everything finished a few days ahead, but right now I’m definitely scrambling. Still, we’re determined to make it happen and with a bit of luck (and plenty of caffeine), the spooky magic will come together once again.

If you enjoyed today’s design, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments! You can also check out Julie’s latest Frightful Frock over on her site, or join me on Patreon to help keep the paper dolls coming (and get a few fun extras along the way).

Bianca Boo’s Frightful Frocks: Bat!

A printable halloween paper doll dress with a bat theme in lilac and black from paperthinpersonas.com

Download Page 3: Bianca Boo Moth Queen | The Bianca Boo Collection

Today’s Frightful Frock for Bianca Boo is a bat-themed dress in lilac and black. It is probably the darkest of all the dresses I designed for this series. From the very beginning, I knew I wanted to give her a bat hair clip, and the rest of the look grew from there. I don’t usually start with a hair idea, but in this case, that was how my brain worked.

This was actually the first dress I designed, and its over-skirt (meant to resemble bat wings) made it tricky to come up with a unique idea for the Moth Queen gown later on. My early drafts for that one looked way too much like this bat-themed dress! That’s part of why I leaned into the Qi Lolita style for the Moth Queen from yesterday’s post. Of course, I didn’t work in order, because I am not that organized.

There’s a subtle pattern on this dress, though I wish I’d pushed the contrast a bit more. That is something I’m still learning to balance in digital art. One of my “rules” for this was that I was designing things that were inspired by their themes, rather than literal costumes for those things; however, I didn’t 100% follow that, as you shall see later on.

Here’s her poem:

Bianca Boo with lilac hair,
Found a bat swooping through the air,
They spiraled past the haunted trees,
Two happy friends on a ghostly breeze.

For the poetry fans out there: each of these poems is a quatrain, a four-line stanza. This one uses an AA/BB rhyme scheme, meaning lines one and two rhyme, and lines three and four rhyme. This is a very common poetic form. I had planned to write limericks, but limericks are actually a really complicated form to work in.

And can we talk about Julie’s bat corset? It’s an absolute delight. I wish I’d thought of it first! She also has a procreate “bat brush” available for folks over on Paper Doll School. So much fun.

The epic of Halloween’s paper doll dresses continues!

Bianca Boo’s Frightful Frocks: Moth Queen

Printable paper doll outfit titled “Bianca Boo’s Frightful Frocks: Moth Queen.” The sheet features a blonde wig, a blue and purple dress decorated with gold stars and a crescent moon, and a moth-shaped crown with dangling stars and moons. Spiderweb borders frame the design, along with the poem: “Bianco Boo in a frock so bright / Dancing and twirling through the night / With wings unfurled in golden gloss, / She crowned herself the queen of moths.” The text “Happy Halloween 2025” appears on the right.

Download Page 3: Bianca Boo Moth Queen | The Bianca Boo Collection

Today’s Fright Frock for Bianca Boo, my Halloween printable paper doll project with Julie Matthews, is a “Moth Queen” themed gown. So, of course, I needed a dress and a crown and a wig, because Bianca’s hair has to match the rest of her style. When Julie and I first brainstormed this Halloween paper doll project, we started with a list of thirteen ideas and narrowed it down to our favorites. Today’s design, The Moth Queen, isn’t a costume exactly, it is more of an “inspired by” outfit. I admit that I first thought of a more “fairy” feeling sort of dress, but that felt cliche, so I turned to other ideas.

Lolita fashion has always fascinated me. Originating from Japanese street fashion, Lolita draws inspiration from Victorian and Rococo clothing, creating that signature modest, doll-like silhouette full of lace, bows, and ruffles. What I find endlessly inspiring about the style is that outfits are organized into coordinates around themes, so everything matches from the purse to the dress. I think that’s very rich fodder for paper dolls, myself. For today’s Moth Queen themed paper doll outfit, I was inspired by Qi Lolita fashion, a substyle that mixes the frilly sweetness of Lolita with traditional Chinese clothing details.

Moths seem to be having a real moment right now. I’m not sure why, but then again, I rarely understand fashion trends, and that’s never stopped me from drawing them anyway. Personally, I like to think of moths as butterflies for autumn. They are a little moodier and perfect for spooky season (which is apparently what the internet is calling ‘fall’ these days).

As with the rest of Bianca Boo’s Frightful Frocks, I’ve been pairing each outfit with a short, whimsical poem. I don’t usually write formal verse, but I’ve been having so much fun experimenting with these little rhymes. Here’s the poem for today’s dress:

Bianco Boo in a frock so bright,
Dancing and twirling through the night,
With wings unfurled in golden gloss,
She crowned herself the queen of moths.

If you’d like to add The Moth Queen to your collection, you can download the printable paper doll outfit above. And if you missed the earlier designs in this Halloween series, be sure to check out the rest of Bianca Boo’s Frightful Frocks. Each one comes with its own little verse to celebrate the spooky season. Also, be sure to check out Julie Matthew’s Paper Doll School where she’s also creating outfits for these themes.

Bianca Boo’s Frightful Frocks: Vampire Aristocrat

Download Page 3: Bianca Boo Vampire Aristocrat | The Bianca Boo Collection

Today’s Halloween paper doll dress theme is “Vampire Aristocrat.”

You might wonder, what exactly makes a vampire an aristocrat?

If we’re being literary about it, Dracula can be read as an exploration of how the powerful exploit the powerless: noble men with titles preying on young women without them, a subtle class critique of late Victorian England.

Or, more likely, I just thought it sounded cool.

Speaking of cool, did you see Julie Matthews’ “Poison Bottle” dress? It’s stunning. And really creative.

Every so often, I find myself feeling lucky to have a friend like Julie. She’s someone I can text and say, “Look at the reflection I did on the gems! I’m so proud,” and she completely understands. She also understands digital art far better than I do, which is another blessing. It’s invaluable to have creative friends who are more skilled in areas you want to grow in. Very handy.

Julie mentioned she’s challenging herself to use as little black as possible in the Frightful Frock Halloween project we’re both doing. I really admire that kind of artistic restraint. I didn’t set out with the same rule, but now that I think about it, there isn’t much black in my own designs either. Not intentionally; it just didn’t happen. Art is like that.

Here’s the poem that goes with my Vampire Aristocrat dress:

Bianca Boo, her fangs so bright
Glides through shadows, pale as light.
With velvet grace and eyes that gleam,
Her fancy frock a monster’s dream.

I tried to work the word vampire into the poem, but it’s not the easiest term to rhyme elegantly. It’s also three syllables which makes meter a little rough with it. I could go on… I admit formal verse isn’t really my thing, but I love nonsense verse and light verse.

I wasn’t sure this dress really said “vampire” after I finished it. For testing purposes, I turned to my ever-patient husband. I showed him the design and asked, “Okay, what’s the theme?”
He looked at it for a moment and said, “Vampire?”
Success! The message came through.

That’s exactly what I was hoping for: something elegant and just a little eerie, leaning fully into the creepy-cute aesthetic that makes Halloween design so much fun.

Meet Bianca Boo my Halloween Printable Paper Doll for 2025

Download Page 1: Bianca Boo Doll | Download Page 2: Poison Bottle | The Bianca Boo Collection

Like I’ve done many Octobers before, I’m teaming up with Julie Matthews over at Paper Doll School for a fun little joint art project between our two sites: Paper Thin Personas (mine) and Paper Doll School (hers). We’re each making different paper dolls that play around with the same spooky themes: Poison Bottles, Vampire Aristocrat, Moth Queen, Bats, Fortune Teller, Pumpkins, and Ghosts. It’s our shared paper doll adventure for the season! That said, this October has been kind of a whirlwind (lots of panicked emails back and forth), so we’ll see if we actually manage to pull it off this year. Fingers crossed! I know we’re both excited, but also life gets rough.

So with that context, Happy Halloween everyone! Meet Bianca Boo!

Not only do I have a Halloween printable paper doll, I have a poem for my Halloween printable paper doll.

“Bianca Boo, the paper doll of night,
Wears frightful frocks that cause delight.
With ghostly grace she’ll charm your view
Beware her style… it may haunt you too!

As candle’s flicker and cauldron’s brew,
Bianca Boo stirs something new.
A dash of venom, a drop of spite—
She brews her poison dark as night.”

I don’t usually write rhyming verse, so I am quite proud of those two efforts. There may be more. I have a few more already written, but I don’t have one written for every gown yet.

This whole halloween project was a stretch for me, creatively. I don’t often work as a digital painter, and patterns aren’t usually my thing, but I really wanted to push myself for this one. Bianca Boo was inspired by Betty Boop, so I aimed for something that felt vintage, a little Art Deco, and delightfully quirky. Her outfits are all meant to be costumes with a mix of vintage silhouettes and a dash of Lolita flair.

Her first dress around the theme “Poison Bottle” and I decided to use that as a silhouette on the skirt and then made a plague doctor style mask. One of the things I’ve been working on is coloring both the glass in the mask and the brass accents with some colors. I decided to work with patterns as well, something that I have never been very comfortable with, mostly because I get frustrated with the challenge of making patterns directional when working with digital brushes, but that’s another issue all together.

And that’s Bianca Boo! I hope she brings a little extra fun to your Halloween. Whether you’re dressing up, passing out candy, or just curling up with something pumpkin-flavored, I hope your night is full of treats and creativity. Check back in soon, as there are more Bianca Boo frocks to enjoy.

Hanukkah Paper Dolls: The Eighth Night

Hanukkah Paper Doll Templates with menorahs for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

Download Black and White PDF | Download All Eight Pages as One PDF | The Other Days of the Hanukkah Series

Happy eighth night of Hanukkah and our paper dolls have many menorahs to show off, all shining brightly.

I wanted to make it super easy to download these Hanukkah paper dolls, so I added a link to a full 8 page PDF of the whole set that you can grab.

Today, let’s talk about menorahs. A Hanukkah menorah, also known as a hanukkiah, is a special nine-branched candle holder. Out of the nine lights, eight represent the nights of the holiday. Every night, an additional light is lit compared to the previous one. By the last night, all eight branches are shining brightly.

The ninth light is called the shamash (“helper”), which is used in some traditions to light the other eight. The purpose of the shamash is to adhere to the prohibition, specified in the Talmud, against using the Hanukkah lights for anything other than showing and thinking about the Hanukkah miracle. So, the shamash is available to do the work of lighting the other lights and give light if needed.

Except in times when antisemitism is so high that it would be dangerous to do so, menorahs are typically placed in windows, visible from the street. I like to position mine where I can keep an eye on it and ensure my cat doesn’t get too close. She tends to get closer than I would like to candles.

If you have more questions about Hanukkah, Chabad has a handy Hanukkah FAQ.

I wanted to draw three different styles of menorah, because they can look like all sorts of different things. I like this dinosaur one, myself.

This is the end of this series for Hanukkah 2023! I’ve been wanting to do a Hanukkah series for years, so I am happy I finally buckled down and got it done.

Hanukkah Paper Dolls: Seventh Night

A printable Hanukkah paper doll coloring page with a menorah, jelly donuts, and two outfits. Holiday-themed Jewish paper doll coloring pages for kids.

Download Black and White PDF | The Other Days of the Hanukkah Series

Happy Hanukkah Night 7!

Continuing the theme of food for Hannukah, I had originally planned to feature challah here. Hanukkah was the only time of year other than Rosh Hashanah that I recall my mom making challah. Challah is more of a Sabbath than a Hanukkah thing, of course. I’m not trying to draw universal Holiday-themed Jewish paper doll coloring pages. I’m trying to draw ones that reflect, to some degree, my childhood memories of this Jewish holiday- Hanukkah.

But I heard from other people that jelly donuts are a Hannukah thing for a lot of families. So, I did my best to draw a plate of Sufganiyot, a type of jelly donut. I confess I have never had them and I have no idea if they are recognizable, but I hope so!

I added some mugs, because well, everyone likes hot chocolate or coffee or tea or something hot.

By the way, my favorite challah recipe this is one from Smitten Kitchen. I do not have a favorite jelly donut recipe, because I’ve never made them. Frying things scares me! But cooking stuff in oil is 100% a Hanukkah tradition.

Tomorrow the Hanukkah paper dolls will wrap up. Plus I’ll also share a single download of all 8 pages, which will be easier to print.

BTW: I’ve stuck with the spelling Hanukkah for the holiday, but you can also spell it Chanukah, or several other ways. Hebrew doesn’t transliterate into English very well. The first letter of the word Hanukkah is the eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet- chet/het – which is pronounced sort of like the “ch” in loch. It’s a guttural sound. Anyway, this is why there’s a lot of different spellings of Hanukkah. None of them are wrong. I just had to chose one, so I chose the one I was seeing the most of.

Hanukkah Paper Dolls: The Sixth Night

A Hanukkah printable paper doll coloring page with nightgowns and a menorah on it.

Download Black and White PDF | The Other Days of the Hanukkah Series

Happy Night six of Hanukkah!

I feel like all dolls need nightgowns, don’t you? I think they’re such a critical part of a paper doll’s wardrobe. Other than that, there’s nothing really Hanukkah related in today’s post, except the menorah. I think I’ll save talking about those until the end of the holiday. I have a plan for that.

Anyway, there’s not a lot to say about this set, so here are some nightgowns for the Hanukkah paper dolls and I hope everyone is still having a warm and wonderful December.

Hannukah Paper Dolls: The Fifth Night

A ballgown coloring page for Hannukah with gelt and a menorah. A very cute hand-drawn Hanukkah paper doll craft for kids.

Download Black and White PDF | The Other Days of the Hanukkah Series

And on the fifth night of Hanukkah, we have gelt and party dresses which seem like they should be part of any Hanukkah themed paper doll.

So, you might recall that last night, I talked about gifts. Well, gifts are very much a USA thing. In a lot of world and for a long time, money was traditionally given to the children during Hanukkah- usually in the form of coins. I still remember getting a silver dollar on Hanukkah more than one year. Those coins are called gelt, a Yiddish word for money.

Today, that money is usually chocolate coins, but still fun. Maybe more fun, because who really wants a handful of quarters? I try to buy gelt when I see it in stores.

Both of these party dresses were inspired by dresses from the 1830s. This dress to be specific. I love the fashion from the 1830s. It’s such a very not restrained period in women’s clothing.

Hanukkah Paper Dolls: The Fourth Night

Download Black and White PDF | The Other Days of the Hanukkah Series

It’s the fourth night of Hanukkah, so that seems an appropriate time to finally talk about latkes. I’ll openly confess that drawing latkes is not the easiest thing I’ve ever done. But I couldn’t imagine drawing paper dolls and not including a frying pan with latkes in it, plus aprons because they do splatter a lot when cooking.

A latke is a potato fritter from Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine that is traditionally prepared to celebrate Hanukkah. I grew up eating latkes. Jewish traditions are not monolithic, so there are lots of different foods. The one thing that is similar to almost all Hanukkah foods is that they are usually cooked in oil, because the original miracle involved oil.

I don’t know or have enough experience with Sephardim or Mizrahim foods to speak about them at all (or attempt to draw them), but I do like latkes. Some people eat them with apple sauce, but I’ve always been more of a sour cream person.

Here’s a recipe for latkes which is super close to my recipe, especially the part about adding the potato starch back into the mixture to help it crisp.

And that’s all for night four of our Hanukkah paper doll.