Adventures with Sally

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More Wilde! Today's doll is Sally, from the Sad Sally line, in one of the new outfits in the 2014 spring collection. Can't wait until everything is officially released so that I can work with better quality images!

Another thing I found when cleaning my desk yesterday was the card holding all the doll food props. This was a great surprise because it had been missing for a while and I was worried that I would have to re-make everything. I can't wait to set up all sorts of food-related scenes now.

"Hmmm...where does Isabelle keep those buttons?"

Which other dolls would you like to see featured?

Daisy in Wonderland

Continuing the theme of focusing on lesser-featured dolls, here are a few pictures of Daisy, my version of Wilde Imagination's Patience. Since the 2014 Wilde spring collection comes out on Wednesday (with a few new versions of Patience, Ellowyne, and Sad Sally!), I thought Daisy would be the ideal doll to showcase.

When I pulled Daisy from storage, she was wearing the Wonderland Patience dress and had the matching headpiece nearby, so a photo with Madeline was inevitable. Who better to pop up in an Alice-themed photo shoot than the daughter of the Mad Hatter? 

This picture is a classic example of photo props that are just too small. Trying to cut out and keep track of that miniscule key was brain numbing, but I'm glad for another opportunity to use my new table. And with the use of a drawing pen with a .2 mm tip, the labels actually say "Eat me!" and "Drink me!"

"Then she walked down the little passage, and then- she found herself at last in the beautiful garden, among the bright flower beds and cool fountains." - Alice in Wonderland.

Which dolls would you like to see next?

Aisling's Beau

While I love my trio, it's important to branch out and not get stuck in a rut of featuring one specific doll type. To add some variety, here is the first in a short series of posts about the other dolls that live here.

I usually don't make boy dolls, but when I was cleaning my desk I found this doll sized to fit with my Ever After High girls and decided to make a paper version of Hunter Huntsman (but without that ridiculous name). 

Coming up with his new name was difficult, partially because I'm so used to choosing girl names. His first name is definitely Will, but his middle name is still up for debate. Any ideas for something that will pair well with Aisling Margaret?

I've got some ideas about making them into a steampunk duo a la Tonner's Imperium Park line, but for now they're in their standard Mattel attire.

Are you glad to see the return of the EAHers, or would you rather hear more from the trio? What are your thoughts on making boy dolls?

How to Make a Gymnastics Bar Set

So glad to be back on my Tuesday tutorial schedule. This tutorial for a gymnastics bar was requested by Miranda a while back, so please forgive my lateness and I hope you enjoy it.

First, measure your doll to find the height of the bar.

Draw three rectangles for the bar structure.

Add some details if you want and draw a few tabs to provide stability.

A simple rectangle makes a mat to fit below the bar to ensure a safe landing.

Color it in (as you can see, I had a little too much fun with the metallic markers), cut it out, and have fun setting up gymnastics scenes! 

What other tutorials would you like?

Current Crush: Mini Food Boards

Do you remember, back in October, when I mentioned that I was planning a new series? Well, here it is at last; welcome to Current Crush!

Current Crush is just what it sounds like - whenever I find a site or item that I like, I'll replicate it in paper and post about it so that you can share in the paper fun. Today's Current Crush is mini food boards.

Not my photo, but I can't find the source. If you know whose it is, please let me know so I can give credit.

These are each about two inches long, and depict the process of making a single food item. As soon as I saw them, I knew I wanted to make some in paper, but due to time I couldn't make a super-elaborate board, so for my first paper food board I decided to go simple and make chocolate chip cookies. Apologies in advance for the terrible lighting.

The cookie food board, modeled by Corazòn. Trust me, it is not as simple as it looks to make this, but it is fun and makes for a great photo prop. I wanted the pieces to be versatile, so I didn't color in the contents of the blue bowl. This way, it can work in multiple food boards and scenes without looking too strange.

The table is the little plastic table-like piece that sometimes comes with takeout pizza. All it took was a pair of scissors and it was the perfect height for the dolls. 

For some scale, here's the food board with an eraser. This thing is seriously tiny, which means that a craft knife such as an X-Acto blade is pretty useful when making all the little cuts. If you have tweezers, use them to pick up and put together tiny bits - they will make everything much easier. 

While I like this picture, it's just crying out for an oven and counters. I'll have to tackle that eventually for the dollhouse tutorials, so hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later.

Have you made anything like this? Are there any fun items that you would like to recommend as a Current Crush?

Isabelle's New Clothes

I took a little break from the store preparations yesterday to make a few things for Isabelle. (She used to be Isabella, after Isabella d'Este, but the name Isabelle grew on me and we're sticking with that for now.)

I know the title says "clothes" but I want to start with my favorite new item, her sewing studio. Even with all the pinkness, I think it looks pretty cool, and the Melody Valerie dress looks great hanging in the armoire. The dress form is actually sized to fit my dolls, so it can be used to model their clothes, and the pockets really work. (Those were a pain because I cut them and then glued paper to the back to cover the cuts, so I had to re-cut through the glue. But the fabric and dance program look nice, so it was worth it.)

I set Alia up with the painting set from Saige's collection to create an art studio, and had way too much fun photographing it. 

All that the studio needs is some artwork for the walls.

My favorite detail in this picture is the tape measure on the dress form, but the pincushion and scissors are a close second. The sewing machine goes on the empty shelf (the supplies are stored in the box on the top shelf), but when the machine is out the shelf looks so bare. Any ideas for things to store there?

The sewing studio all packed up. You can just make out the machine behind the folded table.

Just like in American Girl's version, the armoire has mirrored doors and a dance barre, though I liked the mirrors better without the curved tops so I left them rectangular. Isabelle is modeling the next new item, her performance outfit. It too has some changes from American Girl's design, because I love having the freedom to adapt American Girl's items to suit me. Maybe someday I'll make the crown, but I think Isabelle looks nice without it.

Corazòn is modeling the rest of Isabelle's new clothes, minus the leg warmers because that's just too much pink. It was a pain to fit the thumbs through the holes in the sweater, which makes me glad that the hands are glued on because I don't want to have to go through that again. Do real dancers have this much pink in their wardrobe? Individually I like all these pieces, but together that's a bit overwhelming.

Here's Corazòn's previous outfit broken up among the trio. As you can see, the pieces can work as casual clothing as well as dance wear, so virtual cookie to American Girl for clothing versatility. Who do you think looks the best?

I hope you enjoyed these pictures. What have you made from Isabelle's collection?

Paper Doll World Store Almost Ready!

Just wanted to share a quick update on the store: the winter collection is fully drawn and Paypal is finally cooperating with me. All that remains is to color and photograph everything, and then put it in the shop!

(EDIT: Everything is colored and scanned - all that's left is to take photos and upload everything! So excited!)

The best part about the store is that 20% of the proceeds go to the My Stuff Bags Foundation, which provides abused or neglected children with belongings such as toiletries, blankets, and stuffed animals to provide comfort and replace what they had to leave behind or never had. So by purchasing paper dolls, you're helping children in need. My immediate goal is for us to raise enough funds ($25) to sponsor a bag for a child, but ultimately I would love to go far beyond that.

Here's a sneak peek at the winter line. My apologies for the awkward watermark.

Hope you're as excited for this as I am!

Scintillate

scin·til·late

ˈsin(t)lˌāt

verb

1. 1.

   emit flashes of light; sparkle.

   
   

   

   
   

   I wanted to try creating a photo shoot using only the items within arm's reach, and these photos are are result. It was a fun exercise in picking clothes randomly and seeing what went together, though some of the sartorial choices are a bit questionable. Another thing that I learned from taking these photos is that plastic gems and beads make fun props, especially when they are as big as the doll.

   
   

   

   
   

   Wishing you all a sparkling new year!

My 2014 Paper Doll Crew

What better way to start the year than with an introduction of new paper dolls? This is the new crew at Casa Paper Doll: (l-r) Alia, Isabella, and Corazòn.

Since I'm so late on the one year anniversary party, it's now a combination New Year's and anniversary celebration. The animal push pop cakes were inspired by Twinkie Chan, crochet queen and all-around awesome blogger. I thought they would make a fun way to mark the occasion, and I'll hazard a guess that the dolls like them too.

After a slight wardrobe swap, here's everyone in the treehouse. I'm thinking I might need to enlarge the porch as things seem a little crowded in there.

Since this year's girl of the year is all about dance, I set up a little ballet studio scene. You'll notice that Isabella's arm is at a different angle in this photograph, which leads me to an explanation of why this new set of dolls is special...

The arms are attached to the shirts, not the dolls, giving the dolls a much wider variety of poses. They can even bend their elbows, something that even American Girl dolls can't do. It's going to be so much fun making dance scenes with dolls that can actually (attempt to) imitate actual dance poses. Looking forward to more photo shoots!

Have you made any new paper dolls? I'd love to see (and feature, if you're interested) any of your paper doll work.

Isabelle In Stores + Free Doll!

Happy new year! Today I went to an American Girl place to take some photos of Isabelle's things for readers interested in   drawing the items for their paper dolls. It was quite an experience - a news reporter was there, and the store was pretty crowded about an hour after it opened - so if Black Friday-type events are your deal, then I think you will love American Girl's January 1 events.

Isabelle plus accessories, which were a lot smaller than I was expecting. Maybe I'm just bad at scale, but American Girl things always feel so much smaller in life.

A full frontal, and a trash can.

The sewing studio armoire, Isabelle's big piece. While it does have more play value than Saige's big piece, the hot air balloon, in person it felt very plasticky and not worth its huge price tag.

A side view of Isabelle's metallic dress, one of the few complete outfits in her collection. I was not impressed with it in person, but to each their own.

The rosette leotard was pretty popular, and one of the things I considered buying.

Isabelle in pajamas, with the cat Tutu. Sorry about the weird reflections. 

Isabelle in mix and match outfits, which I considered buying before I arrived. Having seen them in person, I'm less interested. 

There were some more things that I wanted to see and photograph, like her barre and the MyAG items, but for lack of time and space (the store was really hectic) I didn't get a chance. Overall, I wasn't particularly interested in purchasing anything, but seeing the items was fun and inspired ideas for a new wardrobe for my paper dolls. 

My favorite thing, though, was the Isabelle paper doll event. I didn't get to stay (lack of time, see above), but I'm happy that paper dolls are becoming more popular. They were giving away Isabelle paper doll booklets, and I wanted to grab a few for a giveaway but couldn't, so I'm just going to scan and post them so anyone who wants can have their own free Isabelle paper doll. Consider it my gift to you awesome readers.

Hope you enjoyed these photos and the Isabelle doll. Come back soon to see my paper Isabelle, and a party photo shoot. Happy new year!