Summer Fun - Coloring Sheet 4

My baby left for kindergarten this week. And I was a bit emotional!

My handsome kiddos! 

It's been an adjustment this week.  Not a bad one, by any stretch! I always thought that this would be the year I'd go back to work and have a "real" job.  The truth is, that isn't happening. Instead, my grandmother (who has been widowed for a year & a half, has had a stroke, and is losing her sight) is moving in with us.  She's been managing well but she lives in northern Vermont and my father & I agreed (as did she) that she needed to be a bit closer to the rest of us. She and are are close anyway, and this is a great choice for all of us.

Having said that, now that I have a more or less empty house and time on my hands, I'll get back to actual drawing next week! This week I spent catching up on things that needed to be done.  Next week, it's all about making art again! 

Today is the last of the summer fun coloring sheets.  I have some fun ideas coming up, too! 

Right-click to download and print

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!

Summer Fun - Coloring Sheet 2

At the moment this posts (sometime around 5am, Friday), I'll be loading up my car and heading on a roadtrip to Pennsylvania. My husband is attending his graduation at Penn State and I could not be more proud! He just wrapped up a Master's degree and spent a ton of time working on it (while also working full-time and being a generally great dad).

So congrats! I'm ready to celebrate!

Right-click to download and print

Grab the doll here

For today, I have another coloring sheet for the Summer Fun set.  I'm still working on coloring this one and assembling it into a book.  Speaking of... I decided to make the At The Beach paper doll available on Amazon, etc. As soon as that's all live, I'll let you know.  For now, it's still available on Lulu.com.  It's a really cute book and I'm eager to add the Summer Fun paper doll to this fledgling series...

...hopefully in September, when I have time again!!!

I'll be traveling for a bit and I'm leaving my computer at home.  Til then, enjoy this set!! 

Summer Fun - Coloring Sheet 1

I didn't get a tween paper doll set completed for today.  Every time I start a post lately, it starts with "I haven't had time....".  And that's true.  But it feels lame.  September is coming soon and I *should* have more time then to devote to projects.

I've got whiteboards for organizing them and everything.

So today (and the rest of the month), you're getting coloring sheets!

Right-click to download and print

This is a coloring sheet of the companion doll I'm working on to go with At The Beach.  I love these paper dolls! I'd really like to make a whole series around them. 

Anyway, enjoy coloring this and the other pages in this set.  If you're anything like me, August is going to be crazy busy & we all could use some downtime coloring!