latino paper doll

Calla in Color: Mango and Strawberry Paper Doll

I will be at work late tonight, so I am writing this post early in the morning. I do evening reference shifts about twice a month and I enjoy it. Since I work down in the Special Collections, I tend to get specialized varieties of questions, but when I’m at the reference desk, I get all sorts of random questions. My favorite was an evening when I got asked about both Chinese acrobats and the economics of fisheries on the Gulf of Mexico.

Anyway, my point is that when writing blog entries early in the morning, you have to lower your standards for my coherence.

 

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color-swatch-mangoWhen I use these cheery fruity colors, I always find myself thinking of the tropics. I imagine Calla walking the streets of somewhere warm- Miami or Brazil- and drinking something iced out of a coconut. By the way, I totally think Kandi would steal the black skirt with the pink piping.

I seem to have some weird conviction that tropical colors means tropical places.

The only downside of writing posts in the morning is that it makes it so I end up posting two in the same day…. I shall have to think on that one was a problem. Oh well….

Silk and Steel: Printable Paper Doll with Armor

Color schemes are always challenging. I wanted to keep the colors simple, since so much of it was going to be “silver grey”. As I see it, the “leather” can either be brown or black, but I think it looks off when there is a mix. After some debate, I settled on black and then decided to use white as a contrast color, rather than the more traditional dark shade. The rich red color has a lot of blue into it which keeps it from feeling too “blood red” and softens it against the black and the white.

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Okay, so a question…

Dreamed asked: If you could travel to any time era, in any part of the world, when and where would you go? Why?

Wow… hard question. I have no idea… not very helpful is it?

I guess if I had to go somewhere and visit a period of history, I would want to visit Mainz in Germany when Gutenberg was printing his bible in the mid-1400’s, just so that I could see the press. A little odd, but as a rare books person, I just really want to see it.

I would not want to have to wear the clothing of the early 1400s… that just does nothing for me.

On an utterly unrelated note, I found this beautiful Valentine paper doll on Flickr. I love the way water color looks when it’s well done. Makes me almost want to try traditional media… almost.

Flock Modern Girl: Magnetic Paper Dolls

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So, I know I said these would be up last week (or maybe the week before that), but some things came up and I didn’t get around to it. The irony is that I drew this set last year and it’s been sitting on my desktop waiting to be finished for a while.

I tried to make sure each page of this set was a consistent color scheme, so that each page can be printed and played with alone, along with combining with the other pieces in the set. I walso wanted to play a little with the options of a magnetic set of paper dolls which are different than the options for a non-magnetic set of paper doll. I think magnetic paper dolls have interesting options, but are not the same as paper paper dolls for various reasons.

The Modern Girl Set PDF Downloads
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Dove PDF Download Oriole PDF DownloadPhoebe PDF Download
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Robin PDF DownloadStarling PDF DownloadWren PDF Download
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Clothing Set 1
PDF Download		Clothing Set 2 PDF DownloadClothing Set 3 PDF Download
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Clothing Set 4
PDF Download		Clothing Set 5 PDF DownloadClothing Set 6 PDF Download
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Clothing Set 7
PDF Download		Clothing Set 8 PDF Download

Jose: Printable Paper Doll for Boys

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So, today, somewhat late, we have a new Puck paper doll named Jose. When I finished him, he looked like a Jose to me, so I decided that was his name. I like his nose.

I am tired of school, looking for work and stressed beyond belief. In truth, this printable paper doll has been sitting on my hard-drive for several weeks waiting for me to finish it up, reformat it and then posting it. I am continuing to work on drawing more men. I have another male paper doll finished and I hope to get it posted maybe this week, maybe next. I’ve not been very on the ball with this blog lately and that bothers me. Life is very complicated these days. I’ll be happy when school is over, I have a job and I feel a little more settled.

New Free Printable Magnetic Paper Dolls for Hanukkah

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Four of the six free printable Flock paper dolls are shown above, posing on my refrigerator
So, this was supposed to go up yesterday, but life got busy with travel.

Still, better late than never we have a new set of printable magnetic paper dolls in time for last minute gift giving (four of them are pictured above- my printer decided it really really didn’t want to keep printing magnetic sheets after I got through these ones, so the other two are waiting). As you can see, they have taken over my freezer door. In response to suggestions from some readers, I made the new Flock magnetic paper dolls larger for smaller hands to easily handle. There’s nothing specifically Hanukkah about the design, but I thought mermaids were a fun and fairly universal.

Anyway, I just bought a tin for my Flock paper dolls at the dollar store during a round of last minute shopping, though due to their larger size I recommend either printing one out on regular printer paper to take with you for sizing purposes or bringing the printed magnetic doll with you. Yes, you might get some funny looks (I did), but its good to know the paper doll will fit. When I was out tin shopping, I found these framesless magnetic whiteboards from Micheals for less then five dollars a piece. They will free up my fridge for important family photos and reminders.

Now, if you want to do something a little more festive (and who doesn’t?), Make it and Love it has this wonderful tutorial making magnetic paper dolls and then using on a cookie sheet for a play surface. She even show how to make a cover for the cookie sheet with fabric. The idea of covering the cookie sheet with fabric is ingenious. For kids, a magnetic cookie sheet might be the best option- it’s got a ridge around the edge to hold the pieces in place and they could play with it on the floor.

Just remember, that not all cookies sheets, tins or white boards are magnetic and the stronger the magnetism, the easier and better the paper dolls work. One of the reasons I like printable magnetic sheets over stick on magnetic sheets is that they seem to be stronger magnets.

The Flock Magnetic Mermaid Paper Doll Set

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Our first Flock set consists of six dolls, six pairs of shoes, There is also a set of tails and a set of dresses for when the mermaids are on land and not in the ocean.

 

The Mermaid Set PDF Downloads

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Dove PDF Download Oriole PDF DownloadPhoebe PDF Download
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Robin PDF DownloadStarling PDF DownloadWren PDF Download
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Dresses PDF DownloadTails PDF Download

 

 

D is for Davina of Curves 2.0

I know some people have been waiting on this paper doll, so I hope she doesn’t disappoint. I’m not totally pleased with her skin tone. I based her coloring of a young girl who rides the bus with me, but I think she looks a little too grey-toned. I’ve been debating about the skin tone for the whole day and finally decided to go for it. I think it’s a nice color, if a little less warm then I’d intended. My frustration, if I have one, is that.

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The weather is getting into fall here. The weather it turning cold and crisp. I’ve been walking to work and from work and I can feel the cold on my skin. Fall is fully here in the land of corn, so I suspect that soon it will be winter. Meanwhile, I’m doing my class work and working through my school stuff. Mid-terms just passed, so now it’s the long slow fight to the finish line. I always have trouble this time of the semester, but I’m in classes I enjoy.

So, I think I’m done with dolls for the Dictionary Girl’s for a while. I’d like to focus on clothing for them.

Elegant Princess Paper Doll to Print

When I was the child, one of my favorite dolls was a Rapunzael doll who had blond hair and a lavender and purple empire princess dress with slit sleeves. I still own the doll and the dress, though she’d gotten a hair cut since then. When I think of a “classic” princess, I don’t think of huge skirted dresses, I think of dresses like these.

And when I’m tried and I’m not sure what to draw, I tend to fall back on dresses like these. Ideas can, at times, be hard to come by.

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On an unrelated note, I noticed that this is my 65th Marisole Paper doll which I am fairly proud of. I suppose I should wait for the 75th before celebrating, but that would be in two and a half months and I doubt I would notice. Therefore, I have decided to do a drawing. Answer the question below in the comments of this post to enter.

The question: Which Marisole paper doll is your favorite? (And you can give a one word answer like “Zombie” or the full title.)

The Rules:
1) One answer per person.
2) Contest will run for this week.
3) At the end of the week, I will put the names of everyone who answered into a hat, draw one randomly, and announce the winner on next Monday with the Marisole post.
4) If you have won once this year, you’re not eligible to win, but feel free to answer my question.

The Prize: A custom paper doll (Marisole or otherwise) drawn to your request. This one or this one are examples from past drawings and contests.

A Walk in the Woods- Paper Doll to Print

So, I barely got this done on time. It’s nearly midnight on Monday and my brain is a little fried. I spent the day cleaning and doing some homework. I have nearly fiftly library books piled on my table and I think I need to sort through them and maybe return a few, but that’s a project for another night.

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Today Marisole has gone out hiking. Being from Alaska, long walks in the woods were always a big part of my life. There’s a bottle of sunscreen for her and a water bottle, based on the one I carried all through college. I have no idea what happened to that water bottle. She also has a practical pair of hiking shoes and pants with lots of pockets. The thing I am most pleased with is how the colors came out, I think they feel softer and less intense then computer color often looks. It adds the right “organic” feel to the clothing.

Edit 4/6/2014: This set is now available here in black and white for coloring. Yay!

Pixie & Puck: Rosalita

I’ve never really liked roses as a flower. I don’t buy them when I’m buying flowers, I’d rather have poppies or foxglove or tulips. But my grandfather grew roses and I remember learning how to prune them, so I have a certain soft spot for roses and I always will. I wanted to draw a formal paper doll, something fantasy based and a little over the top and roses seemed to fit the bill.

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I am trying to get better at writing things for this blog. I’m a rather private person by nature and I don’t really like to expose myself even to people in the real world. Adding to that is the feeling that I really shouldn’t talk about my job (at which I spend about 20% of my waking life) and I can’t imagine my classes would be that thrilling and the only other thing I do a lot is play board games which also doesn’t seem ripe for discussion. Winning at Settlers of Catan four times in a row is hardly the stuff of interesting blog reading. (Though I do tend to build entire empires based on sheep and sheep alone, I am the queen of sheep.)

In short, I never know what to say. I am trying to get better and more comfortable and not put off writing something to the last minute. I am getting better at it. It’s just not my strength.

Curves 2.0 Welcome Elena

This paper doll is named in honor of a good friend, as many of my paper dolls are. The moment I drew her, I thought she looked Hispanic, so I decided to make her Elena and I gave her more coral colored lips since I’ve done a lot of red lipped pin-up dolls. Someday I need to draw her a bull fighter costume in order to forefill a complicated inside joke, but until then she has some darn sexy underwear.

dictionary-girls-paper-dolls-elena

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She’s up a little late tonight, because I spent the evening baking rather then working on blog things. I am part of a club at my University and we’re having a bakesale. I promised to make stuff for it, so tonight I found myself putting together cookies. Tomorrow will be brownies and rice crispy treats- both easy enough to make though I confess I haven’t made rice crispy treats since I was about ten. Still, how complicated can they possibly be?

I forget sometimes how much I like baking until I get back into the kitchen to do it. I rarely bake for myself, because I live alone and it would be dangerous to have cookies around the house. Stuff like this is an excuse to pull out my grandmothers chocolate chip cookie recipe and use it, though I don’t make them as crispy as she always did.

And that, my friends, is more then I can imagine anyone wanted to know about my cooking habits. I am thinking now though that a series of aprons would be a fun thing to draw for Curves 2.0. I should get on that… but not until I finish my cookies.