Paper Doll Collaboration 2017: Occupations

There are some people who are lucky enough to know exactly what they want to do in life. And some of those are lucky enough to do it.  I feel particularly lucky to fall in both of those categories.  In fact, I know a surprising amount of people who are both.  My husband is a chemical engineer & that's always what he wanted to do.  My sister is a brilliant early childhood teacher and she's been doing that since she was 17.  And my dad, too -- he's been a machinist since he was a teen and still loves it.

So for today's collaboration project, I made an artist.

Download the Occupations: Artist pdf here

Grab the doll here

I wanted some mix & match options, so this artist has very practical overalls, a painting smock, as well as a skirt, top, and a kerchief hairstyle.

I'm not overly thrilled with the way the hand holding the paint brush came out.  It's not the best, but it's not the worst, either.  That's the fourth or fifth iteration of that hand and I finally just let it go.

Continue on to Paper Thin Personas, Pop Culture and Paper Dolls, and Miss Missy for more in the series! 

The Eclectic Wardrobe of Josephine - Coloring Sheet 1

I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend (if you were in the US).  We had a super busy weekend - my husband, father, and I all worked on some house projects.  We decided to bunk the boys & they wanted a Minecraft themed bedroom to share.  So there was much painting, organizing, and building of bunk beds.  The boys spent the weekend with my mother and it sounds like everyone had a good time!

Summer is almost here & as I look at my schedule, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.  The kids and I have a lot of fun activities planned for the summer.  Some of them are starting even before school gets at! And so I thought, how can I free up my schedule and bit and not totally neglect the blog?

My solution? June is black and white coloring sheet month! I know it isn't actually June yet, but it's close enough! I'm going to have Josephine and tween paper dolls in black and white all month.  It's not terribly taxing for me and fun for you (I hope!)

Right-click to download and print

If you decide to color Josephine, feel free to share! I'd love to see other iterations of Josephine's wardrobe.

So tomorrow I'll have the collaboration set posted and on Friday, there will be a black and white tween coloring sheet, so look for that!!

Tween Fashion Friiday - Linnet

It's the last Friday of the month and typically I'd post our paper doll collaboration project.  We all decided to postpone it until Wednesday, May 31st.  Here in the US, we're celebrating Memorial Day so most of us 1) have a lot of things that need to get done before the holiday and 2) have a bit of time over the 3 day weekend to work on fun stuff!! It'll be worth the wait....

Instead of the collaboration project, I have another tween set for today.  I wanted a fun, peachy colored set.  I actually kinda forgot about Memorial Day, so I didn't go patriotic on this one.  Just fun and summery.

Download Tween Fashion Friday - Linnet pdf here

I love peach and grey.  I found a peach and grey fabric at a store a couple of years ago and bought ever top that used that specific fabric!! LOVE it!

So enjoy the long weekend if you have one.  We're using this weekend to bunk my two sons in one room and decorate it with an awesome Minecraft theme while they're off at my parents' house. Look for the collaboration set Wednesday!

The Eclectic Wardrobe of Josephine - Page 15

Today's Josephine was inspired by a comment on the last Josephine set.  It was suggested (among other ideas!!) that Josephine needed a goth wardrobe.  Now, I'm not much of a goth.  Like, at all. But, I was a teen in the heyday of goth. It was the kind of thing I wish I had been cool enough to pull off but definitely wasn't!!

Right-click to download and print

This is almost a goth-meets-beatnik kind of wardrobe.  I wanted something a little bit grown-up.  Except the purple hair.  That was another thing - I didn't want all black.  Dark purple felt like a nice compromise.

Any more ideas for Josephine?  I'll try to get to some of the other suggestions, too, as I find the time.    

Tween Fashion Friday - Serena

Yesterday was my birthday, so I thought I'd bring out the birthday pattern from the Maybelle doll.  Like most years, I had a relatively quiet day.  The boys and I skipped my son's baseball game (shhhh, don't tell!!).  Instead, we went to see an ice cream social/art show at my nieces' s school.  They were excited that I visited their school and we had a blast!!

Download Tween Fashion Friday- Serena pdf here

I didn't get to see much of my husband today -- he worked late and I was in New Hampshire with the kids.  We have plans to go out this weekend for a late celebration (without the kiddos!) so that should be fun!

The Eclectic Wardrobe of Josephine - Page 14

Today's Josephine was inspired by a pattern set I had in my stash.  It's a retro rocket set in these great greens & yellows.  I loved everything about it! In the spirit of this pattern set, I made a retro wardrobe for Josephine.

Right-click to download and print

The plate got a little crowded this week.... I started with two tops & it looked like I could fit one more, so I made the sweater, too. The grey top with the skirt should fit to look like a one-piece dress when it's work under the skirt.  And the yellowish top looks best under the pants & skirt.

Not sure what's next for Miss Josephine... Thoughts?

Tween Fashion Friday - Soledad

I knew exactly what I wanted to create for today: a sun and cloud pattern.  It's not a complicated pattern but I like how it turned out.  I made both the sun and cloud out of circles -- just circles. Might not look like it, but really, that's it.

I also thought, let's have a bright and sunny name! So I found "Soledad"....and discovered it means "solitude" instead of something sunny.  That's ok. I still like the name.

Download Tween Fashion Friday - Soledad pdf here

Isn't this just the epitome of summer?! Despite the ongoing 50 degree/overcast/rainy weather here in New England, I'm ready for some bright colors! And I'm already counting down to summer with the kiddos.  I'll admit, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with summer vacation -- it's nice to have both boys home with me, except when it isn't.  They're good brothers (and genuinely good friends) but the petty bickering over things like who gets to be Player 1 in the video game or who gets the last granola bar (seriously, we can just go to the store and get more!!) eventually gets to me.  We already have some summer adventures planned and THAT will be fun :)

The Eclectic Wardrobe of Josephine - Page 13

Despite the grey skies and rain this week, I wanted a bright summer Josephine set today! Something almost tie-dyed.  So today we've got some bright purples & blues!

Right-click to download and print

Looking back, it looks like I really, really like this bright aqua blue color for Josephine! Not much to say about this set really but there IS something else I want to share....

....A mini book!

I'm testing out a new format for my paper dolls & I just got my proof in the mail.  I took the beach paper doll and created a 6 inch by 9 inch book for it.  That sounded really small, but honestly was bigger than I anticipated.

Grab the book here

Here's the back and front cover.  It's a saddle stitched paper back with glossy covers and a full-color interior. I expanded the set so there's two tops for every bottom as well as additional sets.

My photos came out a little dark, but the set is bright & beautiful! Along with 10 full-color pages I included 4 coloring pages for a 14 plate book.

I'm thinking about making this a series of mini books.  They're a nice, portable size and a book this size is $10.  It's available exclusively through my Lulu shop -- it isn't available on Amazon or anywhere else at the moment.


So go check it out.  I'm happy with how it printed!

More tweens for Friday :)

Tween Fashion Friday - Coral

For some reason, I'm loving nautical colors & patterns right now.  It's not like I spend my summers on the Cape or anything!! It's just such a classic color scheme & fashion style, I guess.

Aside from that, I don't have much to say about this set.  She's a super pale blonde because my boys always have super blond hair in the summer.  We've got a busy summer ahead of us and I'm already trying to come up with a plan to fit everything in! We'll see how it goes....

Download Tween Fashion Friday - Coral pdf here

I'll have another Josephine ready for Tuesday.  Not sure what yet....but it's coming.

The Eclectic Wardrobe of Josephine - Special Edition

For those of you who subscribe to Paper Doll Studio Magazine (and if you don't, check it out here), you've already seen this set.  For those of you who haven't, here's a new Josephine!

The theme for the current Paper Doll Studio magazine was Project Paper Doll, featuring original designs by paper doll artists as well as a dress-a-doll.  Both were really fun to work on!

I knew when I saw the theme that I wanted to adapt Josephine to the theme.  At the time, Josephine was a very new project & I just HAD to make more!

Right click to download and print each image

At the time, I had acquired some beautiful digital papers and wanted to use those.  I chose a soft pink & brown pattern collection because I loved the colors.  These aren't the most elaborate or original fashions & I'm ok with that.

So all of the clothes here will fit the other Josephine paper doll, and all of those outfits will fit this one (with the exception of the crop tops from page 11 - they just wouldn't look right!).

It's getting to the point where I could collect Josephine into a book.  I'm trying to decide the best way to do that.  I might go with multiple volumes - one of contemporary clothing like these, one of fantasy clothing like the Steampunk set, maybe one of formal wear.... Thoughts?