My Dress-a-Doll from this year's party.

This was my entry this year. I was not prepared like I was last year and so it's not nearly as good. Our theme was "Musical Moments in Paper Dolls". All I could think of was "The Wizard of OZ," so that's what I chose. I didn't have any images to base it on, so I was forced to draw it from memory. I completely forgot about her blue socks. I also forgot to bring a pencil sharpener which is why the bodice and sleeves are drawn much better than the skirt. I got frustrated, lost some of my focus and started settling. Also I've never been really good with plaids, so I almost never attempt them.

I'm not thrilled with this, because I gave up once I realized I couldn't sharpen my pencils. However I owe you a post and I fixed my printer/scanner/copier.

I'm finally catching up with the housework which means I'll feel less guilt when I draw instead of clean. So hopefully that means I'll be more active here. Also my son is turning 5 this summer so he'll be off to Kindergarten in the fall. This means way more uninterrupted art time for me.

Edit: Forgot to mention that the doll featured belongs to Magazine Cover Girls Paper Doll Book, Merrill, 1944 and her name is Patricia. I've included an image of the set's cover in case you were interested in seeing it.

Finished another outfit last night

So the subject continues here: for the PD party next month. Can't show you the whole thing yet but here's a picture of the mask it was inspired by.. Oops, it turns out they no longer have it on the website I got it from. Well it's red, checkered and has (?) flame-y edges. I will however post a picture of the boots.

I spent the most time on the mask, which has long brown hair attached to it (doll has short blond hair). I tried something new though. I usually avoid hats or wigs because they never want to stay put, the tabs never work really great. I noticed a PD artist for Paper Doll Studio (The Folk Costume issue) made these little half moon shapes to glue to the back of the hat forming a pocket the doll head slides into. It works fantastically. I'm half tempted to go and make them for every PD I own. I think I will modify the owl mask this way too now.

I was up and down the whole time. The mask was perfect, the hair looked great, then I put it on her. I hadn't traced her head as well as I though and there were gaps of empty space! Really unhappy. This was fixed the the back of the pocket, I colored it brown and added longer unglued pieces to cover up the gaps. That worked out pretty good. Then I started the dress. I drew the outline and was really pleased with the shape, I picked my coloring and got to it. It was aweful, all I could think was "Ugh, I have completely messed this up. It's ruined & I'll have to start over now." I am stubborn though and tried to change it a little in hopes I could at least make it less hate-able. It worked, I'm satisfied with it now, I don't know that I like more than the owl. That will be hard to beat, but the more I look at the red dress, the more I like it. I can't wait to post it for you.