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Like all my brith flower floral designs for the Cuties, this May birth flower coloring page for kids (and kids at heart) began as part of my quest to draw paper dolls during last year’s 100 Day Project. (I’m attempting it again right now on Patreon, though I confess I’m probably going to fall far short of 100 designs.) This set is inspired by May’s birth flower, the Lily of the Valley.
With these designs, I wanted to explore fantasy clothing inspired by Asian dress, featuring wide obi-like belts and long kimono-style sleeves. In the Victorian language of flowers, Lily of the Valley symbolizes the “return of happiness,” and it’s one of the earliest flowers to bloom each year. Also, apparently, their berries are poisonous? I truly had no idea they even made berries.
The biggest design challenge was figuring out how to turn such a delicate flower into a floral crown. In the end, I used the leaves to create a sort of backdrop for the blossoms. I also wanted to keep the design simple enough that it wouldn’t be too difficult to color or cut out.
Only afterward did it occur to me that the paper doll’s hair, with those big curled pigtails, might make fitting the crown a little tricky. I think it will still work, though it may need to sit over the pigtails.
May has been a blur this year. I traveled down to visit my sister and spend time with my niece and nephew for Mother’s Day, along with several family birthdays. It was lovely, though the drive is long from interior Alaska to Southeast Alaska. The border crossings into and out of Canada went smoothly, and the scenery along the way was beautiful. We saw swans, moose, rabbits, caribou, owls, mountain goats, porcupines, and, at one memorable moment, an owl eating a rabbit. Poor rabbit.
I finally seem to have recovered from a long, drawn-out illness that left me barely functional for much of March and all of April. One thing I always find fascinating about being sick for that long is that I never fully realize how exhausted I was until I start feeling better. Then suddenly it’s, “Oh, this is what my normal energy level feels like. This is so nice.”
If you enjoyed today’s May birth flower coloring page, be sure to explore the rest of the monthly floral Cuties collection. Each set is inspired by a different birth flower and a fantasy fashion theme, and who doesn’t want to see more of that? If you have a favorite flower you’d love to see turned into a paper doll design, leave a comment and let me know. I’m always looking for inspiration for future Cuties paper dolls.