by Linda | Apr 28, 2010 | DIY printables
Looking for a free printable paper dolls? Check out my template here that is free to download and print. A great DIY crafty activity to do with the kids.
Today I decided to revisit my old paper doll template because I wanted to change up the proportions and create variations. Let me share a new printable paper dolls template with you.
I recently read a post on Violette’s blog about leveraging a drawing, reusing it multiple times or perhaps creating variations by making multiple copies to work with. I don’t know why, but previously I always thought I had to create everything from scratch.
It’s the romantic assumption that original must be better?! I realized that it’s just crazy to limit myself like that. Why I am creating rules to box myself in, right? When you draw something, if you keep working on it, them you can experiment even more.
I suppose the idea of copying – even if it’s yourself – seemed wrong. My thoughts suddenly drifted to discussions and debates about how nothing is original and we all build our work on top of those before us. And that’s a whole other discussion….
Suffice to say, I sort of had an epiphany and have freed myself to do whatever I want. I can reuse my own drawings and I don’t have to work from scratch each and every time at all.
It’s funny how sometimes we get so deep into our work that we lose sight of the big picture. I totally lost perspective regarding the freedom of creation and the fact that there are no rules.
Glad to get that out! So, all this led me to revisit my printable paper dolls template, creating two different body proportions to play with.
Feel free to download the free printable PDF below. Use to your heart’s content and I hope you have fun with it! The first page is meant to be cut out and put together to make a moveable printable paper doll and the second page is just the outline to draw directly onto if you want the full piece.
Download Printable Paper Dolls PDF
I used the printable paper dolls to play around with body positions. You can place the parts in a certain way with temporary glue or tacky glue and trace over to experiment with drawing different positions.
It can serve as a nice guide for drawing the body form… or you can just make yourself some pretty paper dolls. That is definitely fun as well, especially with your kids!
I started to work in my art journal and on one page I drew a granny and a scary girl doll then made a photocopy. Now I can always have the original to experiment with and I can cut out the copy for collage.
Hope you are inspired to go make some paper dolls and copy your own Art! Sounds funny, but sort of daring too, huh?
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by Linda | Apr 7, 2010 | DIY printables
Today would probably be the ideal example day for living in the Tuscan hills of Italy – sunny warm and happy bright weather. It’s the scene I think folks probably picture in their minds when I say that I live in Tuscany. You can almost feel the warm sun on your skin, hearing the birds chirping and listening to the cool breeze rustling through the many hills of grassy green. Well, it is true and is one of the reasons why I fell in love with this place…but it actually isn’t idyllic year-round. Only during this time of year, when the signs of Spring start popping up and it isn’t too hot where the grass starts to turn brown – does it look like the postcards you often see. My mood is always elevated by this lovely weather. I was inspired to whip up a spring flowers stationery set and it’s also part of my attempts this month to write more by hand. It’s National Letter Writing month after all!
Spring Flowers Stationery Set Printable PDF (228 kb)
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I hope my design will cheer you up a bit, wherever you are…wild flowers have been popping up all over our yard so I have flowers on the brain! Even though dandelions are supposed to be weeds, they can be pretty as well or at least that’s what I tell myself because they’ve taken over our yard. Plus our niece has lots of fun blowing them all over.
BTW, if you like printable stationery, don’t forget to download the Airmail Stationery Set from last week as well. Enjoy and happy day to everyone! Ciao Ciao!
by Linda | Mar 31, 2010 | DIY printables
So I’ve always loved the look of dip pen handwriting, reminding me of the time when traditional correspondence was the norm. Unfortunately, my touristy-bought Italian dip pen set has been collecting dust in a box. I have really bad hand control and found it so difficult to write anything at all. Perhaps I was too impatient or perhaps I just didn’t give myself enough time to develop, so I want to give it another try. I realize practice makes perfect…the wonderful wisdom we learn from kindergarten.
Printable Airmail Stationery Set PDF (258 KB)
I quickly designed a cute airmail stationery set to get myself into the mood of handwriting a letter. You can see from the photo that I printed on creamy cardstock which was perfect for the envelope but too big and too thick for the stationery writing paper. I reprinted the writing paper on plain paper and that definitely looks better. These were printed at half size to make mini-letters but of course the PDF is full US Letter sized paper.
I thought I would share this printable with all of you, so feel free to download the PDF above and use for your personal writing adventures. Have fun!
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by Linda | Mar 10, 2010 | DIY printables
I’m going through a period of Spring Cleaning because frankly, I need it! When there’s stuff all over the place and it actually impedes your process of working…you know you really must clean up. So now I’m trying to balance this tremendous task with everything else in life as well as my runaway ideas that usually derail any schedule I might have set down for cleaning. Who wants to clean when a fanciful idea pops up and you want to go experiment instead!
I decided to help myself by organizing my runaway ideas into loose notes. I made myself a lightbulb sketch above (feel free to download and use for your personal organization) – I printed it out 6 on a page to make little notecards. Of course, you can just use scraps to collect little sketches or words bubbling inside of you. I’ve put mine in a goodie jar to draw from at a later date. I feel that these types of ideas can often get lost in a big journal or lists, that’s why the loose leaf method is nice. I can save all of them in one place, but pick at random when I’m ready. I also have really crazy ideas at times, so it’s not like planning a painting in my journal. They are things to experiment or one day think more about. I just don’t want to lose or forget about the idea completely and I don’t want to dismiss it just because others might think I’m joking…maybe… 😛 Happy Spring Cleaning!
by Linda | Mar 9, 2010 | DIY printables
Hi folks! This week, I decided to go through the process of making a card from scratch using digital and real elements. I suppose you would call it hybrid and since I’m really looking forward to Spring weather, I decided to use the Tuscany landscape I live in for inspiration. Although I feel like all cardmaking is hybrid, given that someone printed pattern papers or those embellishments you are using…I guess you can say that it is all mixed media. You do and use whatever needed to achieve the look you want, right? Here’s the finish card and I also incorporated a bit of paper piercing given the current digital tuesday challenge.
I started by sketching out a design for my card with simple pencil and paper. Once I decided roughly what I wanted, I went onto the computer and drew the hills and printed on watercolor paper, then drew the sunflower and clouds and printed them on cardstock. I actually wanted to print everything out in color, but I ran out of yellow ink…so I had to improvise. The hills were actually watercolored in but the clouds already had blue when printed. I also added some sparkle via heat embossing to the clouds. The rest is regular cardstock, stamping and embellishing. Although I also spent a whole lot of time cutting a slice of cork and gluing the string to it! I could have added some faux stitching with a pen, but this time around added the paper piercing for the border to add a different look. I think it’s pretty cool to be able to create a card from scratch and that enables you to really match up the colors and elements. I love digital cardmaking, whether all digital or hybrid, because it gives me to the power to create what I need. A digital stamp image, a background or some embellishments maybe? I can print things out in color to match perfectly as well…the possiblities are endless. I hope you will try hybrid card making as well. If you want to use my images, feel free to download below…although that sunflower is pretty tedious to cut out, I must admit!
