Happy Holidays!

Did I mean to skip the whole month of November? No, I did not!! Things got a bit hectic and I just lost track of time. I've had a bit of artist's block, too, I guess. I don't know what else to call it.  

I also accidentally got a job. Long story short, I'm working a couple days a week in a commercial photography/picture framing studio. It isn't a huge time commitment but it gets me out of the house. I spent WAY too much of 2025 in my own head and this little job has been good for my mental health. 

 

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My plan right now is to put together my annual wrap-up in January and then see if I can create a little structure in my life! I grabbed three new mini sketchbooks, a couple of fashion illustration books, and several apps/programs that I'd like to experiment with for the blog. I'm also looking into an anti-AI glazing effect for my art. Maybe I won't feel so annoying about posting online if I add that to my images! 

Anyway...that's all a rant for another time! For now, enjoy the little snowy paper doll and whatever it is you might celebrate, I hope it's filled with delicious foods and excellent company! 
 

 

Frightful Frocks: Ghosts

 Two things conspired against me for today's theme: time and inspiration. I had no motivation or inspiration to make a ghost themed outfit. And I was rushing to do it! I really wanted to wrap this up for Halloween. 

I poked around Pinterest for inspiration and there were a lot of Victorian style ghosts. YAWN. Kinda bored with that idea. And then I saw some costumes that were sort of rags and chains. I wasn't crazy about that either. I liked the idea of like a handkerchief skirt so I started there.

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What I ended up with was a totally 80s ghost! It's almost like a monochrome Cyndi Lauper! It's definitely a rushed set but it's ok. I haven't seen Rachel's ghost yet - that'll be a fun reveal! Things have been so hectic around here that I've had a quick look at she's working on and that's about it. I'll likely download her whole project and look at it sometime next week. 

You can grab my whole set here. If there are any problems with the link, please let me know. And thanks to Rachel for coming up with a fun project and asking me to join in!   

 

Frightful Frocks: Pumpkins

 Today is the penultimate post for our Frightful Frocks! That is an excellent word - penultimate. It means "next to last" and the only reason I remember that word at all is because my family is completely obsessed with Taskmaster, a British comedy competition show on YouTube. It's fantastic and mostly family friendly. A little language, a little suggestiveness... but for teens like ours, it's hysterical! 

Anyway, that's my fun new word at the moment.

We have a pumpkin page for today. One more to go for tomorrow and I am trying my absolute best to get it out on time! 

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 I wasn't quite sure where to go with this one. I made a couple of fantastic pumpkin dresses for my Flapper Halloween book and I didn't want to repeat those ideas. Instead, I went in a sort of 19th century direction. I saw a few costume enthusiasts who designed some pumpkin themed dresses and I sort of riffed on those. The hat, however, was VERY inspired this specific hat: 

I think hers is far better than my orange-on-orange rendering. It's lovely! Her blog and social media seems to be inactive but still worth a look. 

Take a look at Rachel's totally different take on the theme! It's neat seeing how differently we tackle these ideas. 

So tomorrow (fingers crossed) I'll post the last costume. 

ALSO, for anyone looking for digital art software, Affinity just announced today that is free for all. Might be time to finally commit to learning it...
 

Frightful Frocks: Fortune Teller

 When Rachel was work shopping her theme ideas for this project, I knew I definitely wanted to tackle the fortune teller! There were so many ways this could go. 

 I wanted a vintage vibe and a Romani feel. When I came across this pattern cover, it seemed perfect!

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 For the skirt, I swapped out playing cards for Tarot cards and created the color scheme around that. I like the bold primaries for this. The skirt was almost took big for my page! 

Hopefully you're all enjoying these pages from me & Rachel. She has a really sweet poem with each theme and I think that's just a delightful little bonus! Check back the rest of this week - I'm trying my hardest to get the last two outfits drawn up! 

Frightful Frocks: Bats

Fun fact: this week it's Bat Appreciation Week! I'm not sure what that entails but I'm ok with it. Bats are terrific. Today's bat outfits were inspired by a couple of things I found on Pinterest. I'm a long time user of Pinterest and I know it's a bit problematic, especially with AI and pushing "sponsored" pins, but I still find it a reasonably good resource.

 Although the way things are going, I'm half tempted to get offline all together... Ugh.

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I really like a full page. When I was drawing this, the orange outfit came together easily but it would have left a lot of empty space. Instead of just rolling with it, I drew a second outfit. 

I loved the idea of a bat pattern AND a bat corset, so I went with both! If you like my bat pattern and you want to try it out for yourself, grab my bat Procreate brush here.

And go check out what Rachel has been up to! Her little poems are an adorable addition to her costumes!  

Frightful Frocks: Moth Queen

 Next up in the Frightful Frocks project is the moth queen! Rachel has been busy posting her fabulous Bianca Boo. She's great at crafting a character for her paper dolls. I am not! I'm not really a character artist kind of person. There are rarely any kind of deep stories to go along with my paper dolls. It's usually more of an artistic challenge: how do I work on color or a certain time period or how to I illustrate this or that or whatever. It's really a visual expression more than a story.

Anyway. 

Today we have a moth queen. I didn't really know what direction to take this in. I liked the colors of the luna moth. 

 Look at this! I would not come up with this palette on my own. Green, purple, a little yellow, a pinkish-white - it's terrific. I started sketching with no clear idea. I wanted the antennae to be a crown and I wanted the wings to be either a sleeves or a cape.

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What I ended up with feels right out of Star Wars! Does anyone else see Queen Amidala in this?! I initially wanted a much more form-fitting dress but it didn't look quite right with the pose. Honestly, I wish I had gone with a different pose right at the beginning but here we are... Is this frightening? Not really. But it is otherworldy! 

Come back tomorrow for more from me & Rachel! 

Frightful Frocks: Vampire Aristocrat

 In today's installment of Frightful Frocks, we have a vampire aristocrat. I wasn't sure where to go with this so I through the term "aristocrat fashion" into Google and apparently, "aristocrat" is a whole subgenre of Lolita. That didn't really help me much. There was, however, a picture that popped up of a German aristocratic lady.

 The sleeves on this are just excellent. And the colors are great! This became the jumping off point for my outfit. I thought a bit about what an immortal vampire lady of fashionable taste would wear - maybe she would keep her favorites around for centuries! 

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Grab the doll here 

 I liked the huge, gathered sleeves but I toned it down a bit. A jaunty hat (and a face with tiny fangs!), two skirts, and our vampire is ready for the 15th century or the 21st! I'm not crazy about how the shoes on the short skirt came out - they're a bit goofy.

Rachel has her take on Vampire Aristocrat and it's terrific! Her outfit definitely taps into that Lolita vibe.  She's including a poem every day which gives her set a nice storybook quality.  

We're posting these all the way up to Halloween, so check back every day for more!