Summer Fun - Coloring Sheet 3

My oldest started school this week...for two and a half days.  It feels like a bit of a waste, but once the snow days start piling up, I guess I'll feel better about it.  Weather forecasters have been calling for a superb New England fall (which is really why we all live here, afterall!!) followed by a brutal winter.  I'm less confident about that last part but I guess we'll see.

So I'm still not quite in the full swing of creating yet.  My youngest starts Kindergarten on Tuesday and this past week has been meet & greets with his teacher, evaluations, etc.  We've had an open house where my oldest & I were the representatives for our Cub Scout group.  It's been busy.

Right-click to download and print

I have managed to get a few paper doll related things done recently.  First, I finally published a Josephine book. I'm trying something different here. The book is available on Lulu and coming to Amazon soon, but I also have it listed as an ebook to download on Etsy.

I also changed the format of the At the Beach set from saddle stitch to perfect bound.  That means almost nothing to most of you.  For me, it means a slightly higher quality print and the ability to sell on Amazon, etc, and not just on Lulu.

These are the books side by side.  The one on the left is the perfect bound one, and the one on the right is the saddle stitch one.  The color is slightly different, with the left one more true to my illustrations.

You can see it a bit more in this close-up.  It's not to say the printing was bad - it was fine.  I just think the perfect bound is a bit superior.

Because I had two versions of the book, I decided to actually cut out the paper doll!! This set comes with coloring sheets, so I tested those out.  I'm not a big fan of coloring and I think it shows! I tested crayons, colored pencils, markers, and gel pens.  The markers and gel pens worked best.  I think if bought this set, I'd probably use my color copier and copy these on to cardstock, then color them.

I included a stand with this doll and it worked really well! I folded the stand, creased it, and used double stick tape to attach it. The doll in that image is standing independently.

The fit is pretty great, too.  I find wigs a bit challenging but they do fit!

I haven't had a chance to cut the whole book out yet, but I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  For reference, I cut out the saddle stitch book, so the colors are a little darker here.

You can grab a copy here and it'll be on Amazon soon.  Still coloring the Summer Fun book.

For those of you in the US, have a happy Labor Day!