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Happy Hanukkah from Marisole Monday & Friends!

December 6, 2023December 26, 2016

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Hanukkah, Also Ugly Holiday Sweaters

Happy Hanukkah! Here’s a Hanukkah paper doll!

So, Hanukkah celebrates the re-dedication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after the Maccabees led a rebellion and forced the Seleucid’s (Syrian-Greeks) out of Judea (AKA Israel).

So, when it came time to rededicate the Second Temple, which had been defiled by order of the Seleucid King, there was a problem. Very little holy oil remained to light the menorah (candelabrum) in the Temple. The menorah was supposed never go out, but there was only enough oil to burn for one day. It would take eight days to make more oil. Well, miraculously, the small amount of oil burned for those eight days.

So, Hanukkah is the celebration of this miracle. If, of course, it ever actually happened. There’s some debate about that part, because the references to the miracle only appears in the Talmud and are not verified by any other sources.

Anyhow, Hanukkah is celebrated by lighting a candle each night, saying prayers, giving small gifts, playing a gambling game called driedel and eating potato pancakes, known as latkes. If you want to know more, here’s a nice FAQ about the holiday.

In celebrating Hanukkah, Meaghan, our very un-Jewish named model, has a menorah, and a dreidel. You shall have to draw your own latkes. While today is third night of Hanukkah, I decided to draw the menorah as though it were the eighth night, since I think that is the most beautiful one- when all the candles are burning. You light one candle a night going right to left.

In designing today’s Hanukkah paper doll, I wanted to reference the ugly sweater trend and I wanted to try drawing a menorah again. My last attempt wasn’t great, I admit. This attempt is also super uneven looking, but I am getting better. I swear.

Meanwhile, I hope everyone has or had a wonderful Holiday time.

If you want to give the blog a holiday gift, might I suggest supporting it through Patreon?

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

B&B: An Asian-American Paper Doll with a Modern Dress

December 6, 2020December 5, 2016

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Shoes! Mostly.

Once in a while, it is all about the shoes and this is one of those once in a while moments, I gotta admit. I just had so much fun designing shoes, plus I wanted to make sure my new member of the B&B paper doll family had at least two options when she went out into the world.

There are other things going on here than shoes, of course, and one of them is that paper doll diversity is super important to me. I realized a few months ago that I hadn’t drawn an Asian paper doll for the B&B series since I made Chic Chick back in 2015.

So, I wanted to add another Asian or Asian-American paper doll girl to the B&B paper doll family. Plus, I just noticed she is in a very similar color scheme to Chic Chick, so she can totally share clothing, no problem. I did not do that on purpose.

I sometimes worry people think I am WAY more organized about that kinda stuff than I actually am.

Tomorrow, there will be a fantasy gown for the Mini-Maiden series. So, that should be super fun.

And if you love the blog, think about becoming a patron.

So, what do you think of today’s B&B paper doll? Do you love her shoes as much as I do? Leave me a comment and let me know. I love hearing from you guys.

Need to get some more clothing for this Bodacious & Buxom paper doll to wear? Pick out some clothing here

Faye in Fall Fashions: Printable Paper Doll

December 6, 2020November 14, 2016

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Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations: Fall Fashions 2016 and… Well, not much else

I love September fashion magazines. It’s when all the fall fashion magazines come out and it such a great time to see what is currently “on trend.” I am a huge believer in classic dressing, but I also believe you can’t start to understand fashion unless you know what is going on in it.

So, today’s Faye paper doll of the Mini-Maiden series is based on the September fashion magazines.

There is a real trend this year for romantic blouses. To go with that, I created a pair of skinny trousers and some ankle boots. I tend to think a person can’t have enough pairs of basic ankle boots.

My question for all of you is this: What is your favorite fall fashion item?

I am a sucker for tweed trousers and getting to pull out my oxford shoes.

As always, if you love the blog, think about becoming a Patron, following it on Twitter or telling a friend about it.

Need a more outfits for today’s Mini-Maiden Paper Doll? Find More Clothing Here.

Poppet: Vintage Paper Doll with Her Lavender Dress

December 6, 2020October 17, 2016

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First off, I want to say thank you for all the kind words I got while I was taking my week off. It was needed and it let me regroup a little. I’ll admit openly that this last few months have been among the crazier in my life.

Secondly, this week’s theme is for a vintage inspired school girl look which owes a lot to the Betsy McCall dolls and paper dolls of the 1950s and 1960s. I have always loved vintage children’s clothing, so we are starting with our unnamed member of the Poppet family and continuing with four other dresses.

Thirdly, starting next week, there will not always be a weekly theme. I’ll get more into that next Monday.

Today’s Printable Paper Doll Inspirations Include: Betsy McCall Paper Dolls, Two-Tone Shoes, Abby Glassenberg’s Soft Toy Designs, and The Color Lavender

Now, as I said, I didn’t name today’s paper doll. I just don’t know if naming dolls where I am never going to reuse the same face makes sense. Like it makes sense to me that maybe someone likes say 1830s Greta and therefore wants to see if there’s a Creepy Ghost Greta, but since I won’t ever use the face of this paper doll again, does it matter if she has a name?

I am thinking on this and I haven’t decided the future of naming the Poppets.

These are the questions that try men’s souls. Really.

Anyway, you can follow the blog on Twitter @paperpersonas and, if you love it, consider supporting it through Patreon.

Need more clothes for today’s Poppet paper doll? Find Additional Outfits Here.

Marisole’s Fresh Summer Fashions: Jumpsuit & White Shorts

December 6, 2020September 12, 2016

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Originally, back when I was making plans, I hadn’t planned on doing two contemporary fashion sets in a row. I thought I would do something else between, but then I ended up needing to move and life has away of laughing at our best laid plans.

So, here I am posting two contemporary fashion printable paper doll sets in a row, but they couldn’t be more different. Last week, I forayed into Hip-Hop paper doll fashion. This week we are sticking with what I am far more comfortable with, summer fashions from the fashion magazines like In-Style and Vogue.

This week, our paper doll model is Marisole. As some of you probably remember, Marisole is the first of the Marisole Monday & Friend’s paper dolls and she leads our charge. Today, she has a strapless jumpsuit and a pair of white shorts. I swear later on there will be top options to go with her shorts.

This week’s theme is fresh summer fashions- expect a lot of whimsical prints including lemons and flamingos, plus sundresses and cropped tops.

And of course, there’s Patreon if you want to help support the blog, plus PTP is on twitter- @paperpersonas. Twitter is a great way to ask me questions, because I tend to answer them faster than comments.

Alice & The Mad Hatter Paper Dolls: Alice & Her Yellow Dress

December 6, 2020August 15, 2016

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“Curiouser and curiouser!” — Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 2

As many of you might recall, I love Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and I love Alice in Wonderland paper dolls. It’s a story I have gone back to over and over again.

This time, the Sprites are getting into the action with Willow as my Alice paper doll today. Tomorrow, the Mad Hatter with make an appearance. Than there will be two more outfits for each of them and, of course, Accessory Thursday!

I made my Alice paper doll brunette as a nod to the actually girl for whom the story was written, Alice Liddell. Most people picture Alice in a blue dress (and I do have that color scheme over on my Patreon page), but the earliest color illustration is The Nursery Alice and in this version she wears yellow.

The playing card motifs are a reference, of course, to the playing card themes in the book. Some scholars think the whole book’s plot is based on the randomness of the rules of cards.

If you like the blog and you wanna know when I update or see selected stuff from my archives, than follow me on twitter! It’s more fun than a barrel of monkeys! Though that does bring up a good point… how much fun would a barrel of monkeys really be? And who put them in a barrel? And isn’t that cruel and unusual treatment of monkeys?

Anyway… There’s an different color scheme for today’s Alice in Wonderland paper doll on my Patreon page. It’ll be available to everyone until Friday. Patrons will also get an extra outfit for this week’s series later this week, so join if you haven’t!

Dreaming Princess: A Paper Doll Princess

December 6, 2020May 2, 2016

Whenever I meet young girls and ask them about paper dolls, which I confess I don’t do very often, they seem to often ask for Princesses. I don’t know what it is about paper doll princesses, but it seems to be a popular trend. As a child some of my favorite paper dolls were those of Peck-Grande which featured beautiful fairytale paper dolls with fantastic dresses (Here’s some images from their Beauty and the Beast paper doll or Sleeping Beauty paper doll). As far as I can tell, princess seems to translate to “amazing over the top gowns” and that works for me.

(The feminist in me always wants to give a lecture on the patriarchal nature of historical princess-dom right now, but the lover of pretty dresses in me doesn’t care.)

When I design complex patterns for paper doll clothing, I like to try to keep the outfits themselves fairly simple. I think it is easy to get the pattern “lost” in the lines needed for pleats and folds. So, when I decided I wanted to play around with complex patterns for these gowns, it wasn’t a hard decision to know that I needed a simpler silhouette.

Early Italian renaissance dresses (from about the 1490s) have always had a soft place in my heart. Someday I do want to do an actual “historical” paper doll from this period, but until then, I had fun playing with the silhouette in this paper doll princess set. These styles might look familiar if you remember Her Ladyship from 2014, she was inspired by the same time period.

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The model for today’s gowns is Monica. You can find more paper dolls featuring her here. Confusion about which Marisole Monday & Friend’s paper doll model is which? I wrote a guide a few months ago.

Every time I design a princess paper doll download with these sorts of elaborate patterned fantasy gowns, I swear that I won’t do it again and then I do. Insanity is doing the same thing over again, expecting different results, they say, but here I found myself once more painstakingly coloring an insanely complex pattern and grumbling about it.

My original plan was to go very traditional with the colors here. In the actual Renaissance, the expense of dye meant that darker colors were more fashionable and expensive than lighter colors. So, that was my first plan- black, red and gold would have abounded.

But then I realized that if I was going to use a dark brown skin-tone for the doll (which was my plan all along) and then went black and red with the clothing, it was going to be a really dark paper doll set. Plus dark colors on these kinda elaborately patterned outfits obscures the black line-work. I spent to darn long coloring this to obscure the nuances of those patterns. So, gold, red and black when out the window for rose, lime and teal. Nothing says spring to me like rose, teal and lime.

Plus, I think the brighter spring colors are nice for a May set. It’s spring here in Alabama, after all.

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If today’s Monica princess color page needs some friends or more dresses, there’s literally dozens of options, but I think A Noble Lady, Pattern & Grace, Queen of Dusk and Book Loving Princess all make nice accompanying black and white paper doll sets as they are in a similar silhouette. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with deciding today’s Monica freelances as a circus performer or pirate, but I thought if people wanted more “princessy” looks than the four paper doll sets I mentioned above would work well. As many of you know, versatility is very important to me in my paper doll related activities, so I try to point out where one set might interrelate to another set.

After all, I don’t expect y’all to keep track of the 500 paper dolls on the site, especially since I can’t always keep track of them myself.

In case you’re wondering why both the color and the black and white version of today’s paper doll are being posted, there will be a post explaining ALL on Wenesday, or at least MOST. 🙂

It is nice to be back.

Roses & Violins: A Lolita fashion Paper Doll in Color!

May 28, 2020March 7, 2016

Last Monday, I mentioned I used a lot of Lolita fashion blogs to do my research for my Lolita fashion paper doll, but I didn’t mention which ones specifically, so let me clear that up.

My favorite Lolita fashion blog was F Yeah Lolita which had a great post on Building a Complete Lolita Wardrobe. Her wardrobe template starts with sixteen pieces which can be mixed and matched into 14 different outfit combinations. I actually think her advice rings true even if you’re not trying to build a Lolita wardrobe. A few mix and match basics and a good pair of shoes, can get you through many a week of work, especially on a tight budget. Other blogs I found useful and interesting were Parfait Doll, Lolita Fashion(Tumblr), Ruffles & Steam (tumblr) and Portal of Fantasy (tumblr).

I also totally love Lolita Fashion Update where Lolita brand releases are posted (though it hasn’t been updated in a while 🙁 ). Store sites were hit and miss. As far as I can tell, a lot of these Japanese brands to pre-release sales and it seems like things sell out and therefore never get posted to their store sites. (Maybe I’m wrong about this, but that’s been my gut instinct), here’s the brands I based my designs off of Mary Magdalene, Victorian Maiden, Innocent World and Angelic Pretty (though they tend more towards Sweet Lolita).

Okay, so I was looking for photos of Classic Lolita style to link, so people would know what I was basing this on and I found this photo of two Lolitas on the street wearing Classic Lolita dresses from Tokyo Fashion and one of them has the Violin purse! Check it out. I was so excited to see the purse “in the wild”, so to speak. The larger version is a bit more complex than Mia’s mini paper version.

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I’m a big believer in using color to tell a story. Years ago, a friend used to joke that Steampunk was “Gothic clothing colored brown” and there is some truth to that observation. Color has a lot of power. I could have gone Gothic Lolita or Sweet Lolita with these outfits if I had chosen another color scheme, but I liked the soft hues associated with Classic Lolita, so that was what I settled on. Also, I have a Sweet and Gothic Lolita paper dolls already which illustrate this principle by being the same set colored two different ways.

I’m still regretting that I didn’t draw her any hats or bows. It was totally my intention to, but then I forgot and then I didn’t notice I’d forgotten until it was too late. Sigh. A rose cover bonnet like these one would really fill out her look. Oh well, I’m just going to have to save for a different paper doll set, I guess.

There is an extra outfit over on my Patreon page– shoes, a parasol and dress. You don’t have to be a patron to download it and it will fit in with the rest of Mia‘s Classic Lolita wardrobe. Also give her some pink shoes to go with her more pink dresses.

If you like the Lolita fashion style, check out my Lolita tag for more paper dolls inspired by this style.

Please leave a comment if you like, because you know I love feedback. 🙂

Roses & Violins: Classic Lolita Fashion Paper Doll

May 28, 2020February 29, 2016

As I mentioned on Wednesday, I had to get this set of paper dolls done, or I wouldn’t have anything to be posted today. Anyway, as I said today’s classic Lolita fashion paper doll set was partially the result of a request from a patron and partly the result of me never being able to extract decent black and white version of my sweet Lolita and gothic Lolita paper doll sets.

So, I inspired by this violin purse from the Japanese fashion company Innocent World. While I will admit in a heartbeat to not being an expect on Lolita fashion, which is a Japanese street style based on Victorian children’s clothing, I have noticed that a lot of Lolita outfits (called coordinates) seem to be heavily themed. Once I settled on the purse, I knew I wanted the patterns of several of the pieces to have a music or violin theme.

I’ve also noticed that many of the Lolita fashion blogs I read while working on this set, seem to recommend buying JSKs (Jumper-Skirts, I think?) over full dresses, since these can be worn over various blouses. The paper doll pose makes that sort of layering tough, but the short sleeved dress on the far left is meant to be a JSK. I have a Lolita Style pintrest board where you can see way more of my inspiration.

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My one big regret about this set is that I didn’t do any hats or bows, which are a big part of Lolita. Oh well… I suppose nothing is perfect. Mia is modeling today’s fashions, if you are keeping track of who is who in the Marisole Monday & Friend’s family.

I did kinda got carried away designing pieces for this set and I ended up with two many to fit on the page. Rather than just let them rot on my hard drive, I posted them over on my Patreon page. You don’t have to be a Patron to view or download them. You can see the extra dress, shoes and parasol here. Next week, I’ll post the color versions there as well.

I think if I end up with “extra” pieces in the future, my Patreon page will be a handy place to put them.

Thoughts on my foray into classic Lolita fashion? Feel free to leave me a comment.

Hazel’s Futuristic Fashions: A Paper Doll Coloring Sheet

May 19, 2020February 19, 2016

See this is where I would LOVE to say that this was some grand plan of mine to counter balance my post-apocalyptic paper doll set from last Friday against today’s futuristic paper doll coloring sheet, except that I totally didn’t plan it out that well. I am NOT that organized- except when I am and on those occasions, expect bragging.

The truth is that I am out of backlog which is hyper rare for me and not very fun, so I literally was working on this paper doll set at 11:30 last night, trying to get it all saved and then woke up early this morning to write this post before work. I do not like working this way, Sam I am. I do not like it at all.

So, hopefully this weekend (during which I do not have to work), I will finally be able to sit down and work solidly for a few hours and get some paper dolls ready for blog food. For the blog is like a monster, as I once explained, and it hungers.

Today, it gets to snack on a futuristic fashion paper doll with thirteen pieces. I have to confess I was a little jealous of Boots “separate head” method of making paper dolls while I struggled to think about all these high necklines on these paper doll clothes. But I guess you can always print out too, cut one’s head off and glue it to the other paper doll if you like. What’s a little paper doll surgery among friends?

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So, if the B&B paper doll last week was ready for the end of the world, I think today’s paper doll is much more about a semi-utopian future with glass dome houses, lots of white and probably space ships. You know, a very Star Trek kinda place.

To make her shirt on the left with the ridged shoulder, you’ll need to attach the floating tab, because the shoulder pieces stick out above the shoulder and otherwise the garment won’t fit properly. Just an FYI for everyone.

I have been seriously considering trying out Periscope to film myself maybe live inking a paper doll set? Is that something people would find interesting? Worth trying out or no?

Yumiko- Digital Girl: A Cyberpunk Paper Doll

December 6, 2020January 8, 2016

One of the rules of long term blogging (or anything really) is build with the assumption of growth. So, while I feel kinda absurd referring to the Sprites as a series, because this is only the second one and so it’s more like a sequel situation, I also recognize that in two years when I look back on this post (or more likely, when someone else does), it still needs to have all the links and make sense.

Speaking of building with the assumption of growth, I am currently converting from using my server to host my image files to using WordPress’ native image management tools. This is prep for a larger shift in the blog infrastructure. If I do my job right, y’all shouldn’t notice a thing; however, if you do find some posts those images are screwy, just drop me a note and I’ll look at it.

There are over 756 posts on this blog, so converting all those images over is going to take a bit of time and I wouldn’t be surprised if I miss something accidentally.

All right, so about today’s paper doll. Yumiko is a Japanese name. Again, there aren’t a lot of names for women that start with Y. I almost went with Yasmine, before I remember I already have a Yasmine paper doll. One of the problems of having drawn over 500 paper dolls for this blog is that at some point, you kinda run low on names.

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Anyway, Yumiko is the first Asian Sprite paper doll, though I confess that’s a little meaningless. I mean, there’s only two Sprite paper dolls right now. I also started the Pixie series off with an Asian paper doll named Zoe. I’d say there was something intentional with my starting series off with Asian paper dolls, but I’ll be darned if I know what it is.

Yumiko’s theme this week is cyberpunk, just like Zachary’s cyberpunk set last week.

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I chose a very different color scheme for Yumiko-Digital Girl. I knew from the start that I wanted to give her pink hair and black lips (it felt sufficiently cyberpunk), so than it was a matter of selecting colors that I thought would coordinate with those two colors. I really like how she came out.

Thoughts on the new series? Feel free to drop me a comment.

And if you’d like to support the blog in 2016, consider becoming a patron.

Greta in Autumn: A Printable Paper Doll in Black and White

December 6, 2020December 18, 2015

Today’s printable paper doll in black and white is Greta sporting an autumnal wardrobe. Greta’s wardrobe was inspired by what I see the college kids on the campus where I work wearing in the fall. Most of my paper dolls are pretty high fashion, or at least very trendy. This has to do with my source materials which tends towards InStyle and Bazaar, but most college students I work with seem a lot more attached to their jeans and t-shirts.

(In college, I lived in a hoodie, jeans and flip-flops- even when it was pouring rain.)

This more casual version of Greta has some jeans, shorts, capris and then a few tops. I focused on sweaters on this set and just gave her a casual t-shirt dress which seems to be a style I see around a lot these days. I can not wear t-shirt dresses, but hey- paper dolls don’t complain when you dress them. 🙂

{Download a PDF to Print} {View a 150 dpi PNG} {Check out some More Mini-Maiden Printable Paper Dolls}This is my fourth paper doll of 2015 with glasses. I am really embarrassed when I realized that in 2014 I only did one paper doll with glasses. So, one of my unstated goals of 2015, was to do more paper dolls with glasses. While four isn’t that many, I suppose, it is still better than one. I really want to do a historical paper doll with glasses ever since I saw this portrait from 1839 with the cutest glasses. I just haven’t gotten around to it. Researching accessories is an often time consuming part of historical paper doll production.

Right now, I am polling my readers on what they might like to see in the future, that is NOT paper doll related (or at least not a printable paper doll.)

[poll id=”13″]

As always, if you like the blog, I’d appreciate your support on Patreon. Thank you to everyone who already supports me. You guys rock!