The Big Game

 Surprise! I had a few minutes today to create a paper doll set for The Big Game...you know, the one with the copyrighted name?! 

I'm not a big football fan but we'll be watching the game. My husband LOVES football so it'll be fun. Maybe I'll take a minute to cut these out, too. If you'd like different dolls, pick any of the fashion model series and it'll fit. Have fun!

Medical Wardrobe for the Fashion Paper Dolls

I'm pretty sure there are 10,000 days in 2020. My kids had their last day of school March 13th.  It feels like a century ago! The kids have been awesome - it's just been a big upheaval. That's why I completely missed posting in the month of March!

For anyone who's followed along for a while, you might remember the fashion model paper dolls. I haven't worked on them in ages. I do, however, have them listed on my Etsy and I update that occasionally.  Through Etsy, I was contacted about creating a wardrobe sheet of medical personal protective equipment (PPE).  I couldn't in good conscience charge for the custom order - the request came from a medical professional. If this sheet provides a little joy then that makes me happy.  With her permission, I'm adding it here as a free download.

This set will fit any of the fashion model dolls. I made the tabs on the masks extra long to fit a variety of paper dolls and the yellow straps on the mask are meant to be tabs. This set would work well with Yvonne but other dolls would work, too. I had a website crash earlier this year, so PDF links no longer work but printing from the preview image works just fine.

Hopefully all of you out in paper doll land are holding up well! Stay home, stay safe!!

Thanksgiving Fashion Paper Doll - Mercy

It's November.  In my town, Christmas lights have been available at the stores since September.  Seriously.  They were out before Labor Day and out at the same time as back-to-school stuff.  That's a bit too early, in my opinion.

So to honor the much-overlooked American holiday of Thanksgiving, I'm creating a Thanksgiving family.  Three of the dolls will go up on Fridays and the last one will go up on Thanksgiving Day.

Download Fashion Friday - Mercy pdf here

I love that little turkey illustration! It's one of my favorite illustrations.  (It's also my best-selling fabric design on Spoonflower. I guess other people like it, too!!)  If you're looking to mix & match Mercy with other sets, Sage is perfect. I'm not sure if it's time to revive the Paper Jane dolls at the Etsy shop or not....we'll see, I guess.

In December, I'll have the angel paper doll ready to go.  I still have 8 or 10 slots left, so if you have a request, I'd love to hear it!

Next week we'll have another Thanksgiving set!

Fashion Friday - Sachi

Spring has been bizarre here in New England.  We had a snowstorm bad enough to cancel school on Monday morning and almost all of that snow had melted by afternoon.  Really weird, if you ask me.

Anyway, while I was watching the weather this week, there was mention of the cherry blossoms in Washington, DC.  And I thought, why not a cherry blossom inspired paper doll?!

Download Fashion Friday - Sachi pdf here

The longer skirt & puffy sleeved blouse were inspired by an Alexander McQueen outfit I've seen floating around Pinterest.  I just love everything about that set!  The longer skirt here can be worn over or under the puffy sleeved blouse, but probably just underneath the other one.  I haven't tested it yet.  Also, I was too lazy to create a new hairstyle so I gave her some rad pink highlights instead. I created the sakura blossom pattern in Illustrator.  Took a couple of tries to get it right!

For those of you celebrating, have a happy Easter this weekend.  And if you're looking for an Easter project, go check out last year's Easter paper doll family.

Fashion Friday - Tabitha

Someone suggested I make a zookeeper.  So I did.

I can't remember who or when (I know it was recent).  Maybe I'll claim mommy-nesia on that! Although with my boys quickly becoming independent and awesome little people, I can't claim mothering-induced amnesia for much longer....

Download Fashion Friday - Tabitha pdf here

I  went with a simple khaki set here for more flexibility. She can be an awesome zoopkeeper or a desert explorer or whatever.  Honestly, I wanted to add a baby monkey SO much but nothing I drew looked right.  Some other time maybe.... And I called her Tabitha because apparently that means "gazelle".

Probably won't have anything up for Monday.  My oldest had school vacation this week and we've got a bunch of awesomeness planned.  Next Friday, though, I'll have another doll ready to go!

Fashion Friday - Gayle

This weekend, there's a big football game.  Technically, I can't call it what it is due to copyright, etc, etc, so I won't.  I don't particularly care for football.  First of all, I don't understand it at all.  Secondly, it bores me to no end and there are SO many more ways I'd rather spend my time.

However, the gentlemen I share my home with LOVE football.  My oldest son has taken a particular interest and loves the Denver Broncos (even though we live deep in Patriots country). I have never seen such pure joy as the moment he realized his team was going on to the biggest game of the year.

I decided to make a football themed paper doll for this week.  I went back & forth a bit about whether to do man, woman, or toddler set.  I settled on a woman.  There are a lot of female fans of the game and I wanted to represent that.  Maybe I'll expand this and make a whole set.

Download Fashion Friday - Gayle pdf here

It's the 50th anniversary game this weekend, so I included a jersey to commemorate that.  I went with Broncos colors in honor of my little boy's love of the team.  I went with a general football pattern instead of specific logos.

Anyway, I'll be cheering for the Broncos while Noah sleeps -- we'll record the big game so he doesn't miss out!

Fashion Friday - Georgia

This doll is late.  That in itself is a miracle because I was going to skip today altogether.  I've had The Death Cold of the Apocalypse.  Or pneumonia.  I'm not sure.  My day started at 8am today -- a highly unusual occurrence.  And I immediately jumped into panic mode because I bring my oldest son to school at 8:20.  Lucky for me, my husband is home today (which I forgot while in panic mode) and he had everything well under control.

So long story short, I'm feeling slightly better and was able to put this doll together.

Download Fashion Friday - Georgia pdf here

Today I have an artist paper doll, mainly because most of the parts were already created.  I have an artist paper doll on the back of my business card and I was able to borrow part of that for this set.  Just one of the wonderful things about working in vector -- infinite lossless scale! I also used the pattern from the simple flower tutorial and that saved some time, too.


My artist paper doll is named for Georgia O'Keefe but in no way at all resembles her.  That would be a fun project: women artist paper dolls.  I'll put it on my ever expanding list of projects. One day, I'll take the time to create a backlog of posts.  Maybe.


Anyway, enjoy the artist paper doll!  

Fashion Friday - Yvonne

We're still recovering in my house.  The way things generally go, my oldest son (who is in school) gets sick first, then my youngest, then me.  My husband usually avoids most of it.  So this week, I'm the one who's miserable!

I'm sick.  The kids have been sick.  Naturally, I needed to make a doctor paper doll!

Download Fashion Friday - Yvonne pdf here

Funny thing, I had a dream about that university sweatshirt. I have vivid dreams anyway but it's even worse when I'm sick (or pregnant... The zombie dreams during my pregnancies have become the stuff of family legend!)

My doctor has a white coat, khakis, and a skirt for work with a sweatshirt, tank, shorts, and sneakers for running.  There's a nurse from 2013 is you want to add to your medical paper dolls! I named my doctor Yvonne after the first female doctor in Haiti.  It was nice to find a female doctor who had a name I haven't used yet.

I'm hoping to recover by Monday.  And there's a snowstorm coming this weekend.  Sounds like a good reason to stay in and write a paper doll tutorial!

Fashion Friday - Quinn

Nothing kills a drawing streak quite like a sick kiddo.  We've had a bout of pneumonia that was unexpected & no fun at all.  My oldest has been home from school all week.  He's getting better every day, though, and is eager to get back to school on Tuesday.

Today's paper doll was a bit of a quickie.  I used a stock Illustrator pattern and tweaked some pre-exisisting wardrobe pieces.  The jacket was totally new and I like how that came out.

Download Fashion Friday - Quinn paper doll pdf here

It's a little goth, now that I really look at it! If I were giving this a title, I think I'd call it Goth & Bubble Gum.  Clearly, I'm a bit out of my mind this week!

I'm shooting for another Illustrator tutorial on Monday, but a lot of that depends on the illness in my house.... We'll see.

Fashion Friday - Jenna

The first fashion doll for this year is Jenna.  I used a floral motif that I developed for the Santa paper dolls in this set.  This year, I'm trying to move towards more original outfits and fewer template based outfits.  One of my goals with the Santa dolls was to create all of the assets instead of finding them out in the world.  It was really satisfying & I want to keep that up.

Download Fashion Friday - Jenna paper doll pdf here

I'm not entirely sure the glasses work.  Also, this kinda looks like a hip Velma to me.  Maybe it's just because my kids have been watching Scooby Doo lately.  They're a little retro like that....

There will be an Illustrator tutorial on Monday and I'm working on some sketches for a tween paper doll.  Let me know what you think!

Fashion Friday - Independence Day

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while.  Sometimes I get busy, sometimes I get bored, and sometimes it's both.  The last couple of weeks have been busy.  I manage a couple of websites and two of them crashed.  I don't do a lot of web design -- I'm so out of practice!  I also had a logo commission which was such a great project.  I'd much rather create illustrations, logos, etc, than build websites! And THEN, my husband came up with a brilliant idea and we've been working diligently to bring it to life.  And finally, I'm still working with my almost-Kindergartener to get ready for school.  We're both a little nervous, honestly.  He's been with me for 5 1/2 years and I will totally bawl and blubber on his first day of school.

So that was the busy part.

I've also been a little bored.

I've been working more in Photoshop lately and loving it, so when I jump back into Illustrator to create the paper doll downloads for this blog it feels like work.  That's not good for me or you, honestly.  I have a paper doll that will be in the next Paperdoll Studio magazine that I created in Photoshop and I can't wait to share it here!  I want that kind of enthusiasm when I work on a project.  This is, after all, mainly a hobby and hobbies should be fun. (Not to say I wouldn't love to totally go pro, just throwing that out into the ether!!!)

So I'm thinking about developing a Photoshop-colored paper doll series for the blog.  I have some ideas, but nothing concrete.  Suggestions are always welcome! I'm not sure how much time I'll have as my oldest starts school and my joint project with my husband takes off, but I want to keep creating paper dolls.  We'll see what I come up with....

And finally, a paper doll!

Download the Independence Day paper doll pdf here

I wanted to make another family set, like I did at Easter.  In fact, I think these holiday family dolls might inspire a new paper doll book when I eventually have the time! 

Betsy here us actually from 2013 and was the inspiration for the whole set.  I left her unchanged in this set.  I loved the vintage colors & patterns in this doll!

George has a wardrobe that matches Betsy's.  I added shoes so that he can wear the shorts.  They aren't great.  I struggle with shoes.  I'm pretty confident that the shoes won't show with the shoes on the pants, but I didn't test it. And yes, he's named for George Washington.

John and Abigail (as in John and Abigail Adams) have coordinating wardrobes, too.  If you have not seen the John Adams miniseries, do it.  Do it now! American or not, this is an amazing story of a fascinating couple at a crucial moment in history.

So here you go.  A fun little paper doll set to get through a long holiday weekend!

Fashion Friday - Camille

My computer is back up & running.  I was lucky that it was a simple fix this time. I love drawing on my Surface way too much to switch to something else, despite it's obvious flaws.....

In keeping with my Japanese theme for this month, I have something a little different today.  The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has a lovely collection of Asian art as well as Impressionist art.  One painting that spans both is La Japonaise by Claude Monet.  This is a painting of his wife, Camille, in a blonde wig and Japanese kimono.  It's returning to the MFA after conservation & a tour abroad.

Download Fashion Friday - Camille pdf here

This painting seemed like a fitting subject for a paper doll! Now, I'm not sure what Camille Monet wore under HER kimono, so I kept the doll base the same as all of the others.  I'm not totally sure about the accuracy of the kimono either.  The painting shows figure in profile, so I had to guess at the front of this.  Check out the MFA's page on the painting here.

Maybe I'll do a whole series of art paper dolls.  How fun would that be?!  Anyway, enjoy!

Fashion Friday - Hana

For Mother's Day, my husband & sons got me a membership to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  We had a chance to go this past weekend and it was great! I've been going to the MFA for at least 15 years, and I try to go a minimum of once a year.  It's a great collection and is especially strong in Japanese art.

Check out this little gem that I found.

I found a 19th century Japanese paper doll! How funny is that?! This was in the Japanese galleries, a place I always visit when I go to the MFA.  I've probably walked by this a dozen times and never noticed it! Here's a photo of the description that was next to it.

This is especially coincidental since I had planned on making a Japanese inspired paper doll for today.

I am not an expert on Japanese fashion.  Not even a little bit.  I am more than happy to derive inspiration for people who know more than I do.  For this project, I visited Liana's Pinterest board on furisode. If you, like me, have no idea what a furisode is, Wikipedia has a nice little article.  My paper dolls are meant to be teens/young women so a furisode seemed appropriate.

Download Fashion Friday - Hana pdf here

I also had the good fortune to find a bunch of vector Japanese patterns.  Now, I don't know much about the cultural meanings of certain colors or patterns. I did know enough to steer clear of white.  I think this is cute & youthful and hopefully a good representation of a furisode.

A Family at Easter Paper Doll Set

First off, just a tiny little rant: I replaced my Surface Pro 3 AGAIN this week.  The folks at the Microsoft store were super helpful (and so awesome to my kids!) but seriously, I'm tired of replacing my computer ever 90 days.  This time, the touch screen malfunctioned.  Kind of a problem since that's the whole reason I bought this computer!  Anyway, they replaced my machine & that's great, but Microsoft -- please get your act together with the Surface. It has the potential to be amazing. Thanks :)

Now that I got that out of the way, I have an Easter family paper doll set this week!

Download A Family at Easter paper doll pdf here

This set has a mom, dad, and toddler.  Well, that's how I think of it anyway!  If you'd like a family with a different configuration, all of this outfits fit all of the previous paper dolls.  Maybe not the hats, though.  That might take a little experimenting!

Each set is named after something spring-ish.  The mom is Dahlia. She's got a sweater and skirt as well as the dress from the cover.

Robin, the dad, has an outfit inspired by the mom & daughter.  I made his daisy pattern & plaid blue tones instead of pink tones.  And I love the grey!

And finally, little miss Ivy.  I skipped the mix & match wardrobe this time and went with just dresses.  Her hat is the same as Dahlia's.  I don't draw a lot of hats so if these are a little off, then, well, I guess I need more practice!

Also, I've started venturing into stock art.  I love creating vectors, so I thought I'd try selling them.  Some of the elements in this set are from this experimenting. You can find them here and here.

And one more note.  If you love the font on the paper doll cover as much as I do, you can get it here.  I grabbed it for free during a promo, but all of the Ornaments of Grace sets are gorgeous.  (And I don't know the artist or have any financial interest, etc.  Just sharing something I love! Good karma & such.... )

So to all of you celebrating Easter, enjoy it!  I'll be cooking for my in-laws and having a generally busy weekend!!

Fashion Friday - Katrin

One of my on-going tasks is to create a series of digital stock art and sell it online. It's a fairly common practice among digital artists and designers.  I often create random icons and patterns for my paper dolls. (Not always, and I try to note when a pattern isn't mine...) And after several years, I'vce developed quite a little collection of these digital bits & pieces!

This doll is an example of this. I've been very interested in Eastern European folk costumes and folk art, specifically floral motifs.  I've been developing some vector images based on these floral motifs and created this paper doll around those images. And her wardrobe is inspired by folk costumes but in no way a faithful reproduction of anything specific. Also, if you're looking for a few more mix-and-match options, this set would work well with Anastasia.

I'm also working on a set of holiday dolls that I'll post towards the end of November.  Hopefully I can schedule some posts for December and do some housecleaning on this blog.  It's time.  When I search for something on my own site and can't find it, that's a bit of a problem!

So here's Katrin, sporting a wardrobe I am super jealous of and would totally wear!

Download Fashion Friday - Katrin pdf here

Fashion Friday - Renee

Back to normal! I had a lot of fun working on the Halloween paper dolls and I hope all of you enjoyed them, too. I have to admit, I needed a bit of a break from the Friday fashion doll templates. I like these dolls but I'm also eager for new challenges!
 
Today's doll is partly inspired by Rachel's fantastic Boho set and partly inspired by a recent trip to the mall with my sister.  Southwestern inspired fashion seems to be everywhere.  Maybe it isn't - I tend to be a bit behind on trends! I heard that '90s fashion was making a comeback, which is great since I never really did give up my flannels & jeans!

Anyway, I wanted something sort of autumn-ish and southwestern-ish.  I found a terrific sweater pattern and adapted to my uses. I'm also experimenting with more hand-drawn elements in Illustrator.  That's what my new Surface really excels and I'm working to embrace it.  The hair on this doll was all hand-drawn with a stylus directly in Illustrator.

I'm working on several Fashion Friday dolls AND a short series for December.  Stay tuned!

Download Fashion Friday - Renee pdf here

Fashion Friday - Jeanne-Louise

While watching cartoons with my kids this morning, I discovered it was Talk Like A Pirate Day.  Seems like a good theme to me!  So today I cranked out a pirate themed doll.  I named her after Jeanne de Clisson, the Lioness of Brittany.  She was a 14th century pirate in the English Channel.

This outfit is in no way a 14th century outfit!  I just wanted a fun pirate costume, not a historically accurate one. And if you're looking for another pirate paper doll, I have this kawaii kids doll to color, too.

I'm hoping to have something up Monday.  I've got a busy weekend ahead of me -- two of my current design clients will be at Grotonfest in Groton, MA on Saturday, so I'll be wondering around there.  If you're in the area, it's a neat, small town New England event with artisans, farmers, local food & local products.  Definitely a good time! I'm also trying to put together a Halloween paper doll set.... I'll keep you all posted!

Avast, ye mateys, and enjoy ye olde pirate doll! Arr!

Download Fashion Friday - Jeanne pdf here

Fashion Friday - Kari

I've mentioned before that I've absolutely fallen in love with Pinterest (feel free to follow me!).  This paper doll is a direct product of Pinterest.  I've started collecting inspiration for a variety of paper dolls, and one board - Fashion - is more or less a spot to collect inspiration for these Friday dolls.  That's what this outfit is.  I had the pattern & recolored it.

I've also decided that on Mondays where I don't have a lesson ready to go, I'll post a Kawaii Kids doll.  Expect that for the next Monday.  Sometimes I feel like I've said all there is to say about how I create paper dolls....and then I think of something.  Til I think of something, I'll make more dolls!

Hope you all enjoy this one!

Download Fashion Friday - Kari pdf here

Fashion Friday - Maeve

The last week of August is one of the best times of the year - back to school!  I loved school as a kid.  My mother joked that I'd be in school til I was 30 (I was).  I went to public schools but always envied the private school uniforms.  This week, I have a back to school, private school inspired paper doll!

Now I know that shorts are not part of a school uniform.  Too bad!  I loved them so I included them! If you want to add some more school inspired outfits with a similar color scheme, you can download Kate too.  I would love to print and mix & match all of these dolls.  This is doll #84, so that's a lot of mix & match possibilities!  Maybe a dress-up app would be a better way to go....

Anyway, for those of you going back to school, good luck & enjoy!

Download Fashion Friday - Maeve pdf here

Historical Fashion Friday - Polly

If you've seen my Pinterest boards, you'll notice that I've been on a bit of a Victorian kick lately.  I have some ideas in mind for a Victorian paper doll.  Nothing concrete yet, but it's something I've been thinking about.  So why not a Victorian inspired doll for today?!

I named her Polly after Pollyanna, a movie my mother and I both love.  This isn't totally accurate.  I wanted the feel of a Victorian costume more than anything.

I have some fun new stuff for next week...!

Til then, here's the doll!

Download Historical Fashion Friday - Polly pdf here