Paper Doll Hearts

 Welcome!

All kaleidoscopes by inkspired and KaleidaCam

Can you believe it? Valentine’s Day is right around the corner! What happened to January? What happened to 2025 for that matter! No matter if I am ready or not, time marches on. I better get with it, and share some Valentines with y’all.

These are the outside and inside of a card I made recently. The Cupid has been made with an Iris Folding technique. Just type that into the search engine and you should find many examples and directions on that technique in past blogs.

The bow/arrow was cut with my Cricut (pronounce it just like the little critter). The inside was cut using metal dies with my Spellbinders Platinum.

Today however I want to share some heart-felt paper dolls with you. I have chosen ones that can be printed on one page and sent/given to the Valentine of your choice. Many of them are vintage.

Children’s PLAY MATE magazine; 1929-1935

Unknown, most likely magazine

 There was a time when sending paper doll valentines was very popular. Electronic games and hand held devises had not been invented yet. Cutting out paper dolls, making props from things around the house and writing little scripts for puppet plays was a common pastime for both girls and boys.

Vintage Valentines

These paper doll valentines are very collectible now, especially if they are uncut. A brief look on eBay found uncut paper dolls Valentines for sale anywhere from $17 for one 1940’s pre-owned, to 2 uncut ones for $45.50. A 1978 Joan Walsh Anglund one page Valentine was listed for $20.

1993

Joan Walsh Anglund, 1987

I do admit, however, the ones from the 1940’s or so are my favorites!

Here are a couple more modern Valentine-themed paper doll pages:

While animal paper dolls remain a steady favorite, there doesn’t seem to be as many Valentine animal paper dolls as there are little girls. I did find this cute little bear however:

If you are wanting to draw your own paper dolls for a fun Valentine’s Day card, why not try a simple cat, dog or bear shape? The clothes would be much more forgiving to draw and color. Here’s a Dolly Dingle style dog, Fido, for inspiration-

Artist Grace Drayton

And a cute piggy-

Both of these sets have simple shapes with no hands you have to draw, or funny feet. Don’t forget to always add tabs to hold the costume in place.

The next 2 pages are by Lydia Fraser, a well-known Canadian illustrator and artist from the 1930’s. I believe these paper dolls were from Canadian Home Journal.

By Lydia Fraser

This next page is from the artist Hilda Miloche. This popular paper doll artist had the Cherub Valentine published in 1948 in 

The Story Parade Magazine for Boys and Girls.

The next paper doll is by popular artist and illustrator Mary Engelbreit.

Here is a Valentine you can print out and color yourself, or let your recipient color it. It is drawn by Melissa Pepe.

Missmissypaperdolls.com

Can’t have a paper doll blog without including the iconic Betsy McCall-

1957

Here are 2 more vintage paper doll cards-

The next black and white paperdoll is by Laura R. Brock. She drew for a Los Angeles newspaper and this one is from a series from 1933-1934.

Laura R. Brock, 1933-1934

About ready to go find your paper scissors, fire up the printer, and grab some white cardstock?

No cardstock? Then just print on regular copy paper. Glue the sheet onto the back of a box, like a cereal box. Now is the time to color, if it needs it. Draw in the clothing tabs and a paper doll stand if needed. Now cut out, and let your imagination fly!

Let’s close with another vintage paper doll Valentine, from around the 1940’s perhaps-

‘Til next time,

inkspired

A few sites I checked out while writing this blog:

Papergoodies.com

eBay 

Pinterest

worthpoint.com

 

Altered Art Paper Dolls

 Welcome!

Lindaedkinswyatt.blogspot.com

Paper dolls…

Altered Art…

Collage embellishments…

Oh my!

Found on Pinterest, needle & threadLLC

All 3 things are right up my alley.

I remember my first paper dolls when I was 3-4 years old. I continued to play with them until I had to give them up when I was 12, as none of my friends played with anything so ‘babyish’.

Found on Pinterest, no credit

It was a sad day.

Skip ahead a decade or so.

I had moved numerous times. I was in college, and discovered theater. Then I took a costume class. We had to make costume mock-ups for play characters. At the time, you really did not want to see what my human figures looked like hand drawn. What to do?

I’m so sorry, the only info on this is webarchive.org.I know it is from a blog.

 If you know who, please let me know so proper credit is given.

Paper dolls! Of course!
They were wonderful outlines and shapes and continued to ‘help’ me out in future classes. Yay!

No info, found on Pinterest

Ariel - PMQ for 2; Pinterest

To understand Altered Art Paper Dolls we need to understand Altered Art.

What is it?

“Altered Art is a transformation or alteration of ordinary, everyday objects into decorative pieces using a wide variety of different techniques and materials.”

- Google

“Altered Art is a broad term…describes a way of recycling and giving new life to all sorts of commonplace and functional (or perhaps even useless) items for ornamental purposes.”

- www.altered-art.net

“Altered Art is the way to change everyday objects into something really special.”

- www.card-making-magic.com

Jeannordquist.com

Altered Art paper dolls?

You take a paper doll and you have creative play. There are no rules. Want to cut it apart and rearrange parts? Mix it up between a couple different dolls?

Okay!

“There are no limits to what you can do!”

- aisling.net

You can find more of my work on Pinterest: K.Kloberdans

Sometimes I create, and then think how I can use it.

Sometimes I have a need - perhaps a holiday that needs decorating, but I am sadly short of decorative items. Or there’s an empty space on the wall that needs something special.

Scrapbook.com

These reasons will dictate my color choices, how ‘quirky’ I want to get with my altered art, and size limits.

Good grief girlie

Did you have a favorite paper doll that is now all bent up and scotch taped? Here is a clever idea to keep the nostalgia by framing the clothes:

Paper doll Manila

But don’t be afraid to cut up those torn paper dolls and clothes to make something new.

Here we have the base doll, but the artist adds this lovely handkerchief dress.

Marietta.ru

Next we have the bases with altered dresses. They have been added to clothespin wood doll forms.

little pink studio

Artfulplay blogger uses lots of parts and pieces to create her dolls:

Artfulplay.blogspot.com

The next few altered paper dolls I used the base forms and then cut up some recycled catalogs, magazines and junk paper to create the finished dolls:

K.Kloberdans on Pinterest

I also like to make the different parts movable using a very small paper hole punch and brads.

K.Kloberdans, Pinterest

Here are some antique paper doll pieces you can play around with first, if cutting up the original doll is too scary.

You can find these sorts of vintage parts/pieces all over the internet.

Etsy also sells a nice variety of downloadable images from sellers.

The graphic Fairy

And here are some finished dolls:

Tera Medrano

Karen Mallory

‘Isadora’, JuliaPeculiar 

Are you starting to get those creative juices flowing yet?

Thinking about what materials to gather?

Here are some ideas for you:

Small silk flowers

Bits of lace

Buttons

Hardware like nails, screws

Wood baby blocks

Clothespins

Recycled catalogs & magazines

Stash of ephemera (paper)

Candy wrappers

Paper clips

Embroidery floss

Brass charms & beads

Playing cards

Broken toy parts

The list is only limited by your imagination!

Unknown. Pinterest 

Lisa Taft

Lastly, let me mention your photo copier is your friend. Photocopy your paper dolls first if you need to. Then play around with assemblage items and cut up copied doll pieces. When you find a pleasing arrangement, you can then choose between the cut out pieces or the actual doll.

By using photocopied dolls you can use them again and again. Store the originals in a safe place for further fun!

ekduncan.com, Pinterest 

craft-addiction.blogspot.com

I have had so much fun writing and researching about Altered Paper Dolls, I may just have to go create some more!

I hope you have been inspired also! 

‘Til next time,

inkspired

K.Kloberdans, Pinterest

Inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com

Judge Judy’s Pals

Altered paper doll series by inkspired