Masquerade Gown with Black Velvet Bodice, White Lace, Purple Skirt and Glittering Strands

A masquerade gown with a black velvet bodice with a damask pattern. The neckline is off the shoulders and slightly V-shaped, and is trimmed with a line of light purple ribbon. There is a decoration of rhinestones at the bust. The sleeves are three-quarter, and their edges are trimmed with more purple ribbon. There are long ruffles attached to the edges of the sleeves, and they are purple and decorated with strands of glowing rhinestones. The bodice extends over the top of the skirt and is gathered at one hip, decorated with a light purple bow. From the bow, four rows of ruffles fall towards the base of the skirt like a waterfall. Each one is made of white lace. The skirt is purple, and falls to the floor. It is decorated with looped strands of delicate rhinestones.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

Another masquerade gown! I must confess I’m getting a little bored of recoloring but I’m learning a great deal. I think, though, that I’ll start doing new things next week. I’ll try for a Monday, Wednesday and Friday schedule. The lace and the sparklies are from Obsidian Dawn and the damask pattern is from sofi01.

The contest I had going has already been won… Sarah, tell me how you’d like me to color this one, please!


Black and Blue Assassin Princess Gown

 A dramatic ball gown with a black sequined bodice and long sleeves, puffed blue sleeves at the shoulder and a full, shiny blue skirt with a black sequined hem. There's a wide purple satin sash around the waist and purple satin at the wrists.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

A few weeks ago, there was a thread on Metafilter written by a woman who works as a party princess, talking about what her job is like. That is, she gets dressed up as Cinderella, Rapunzel or so on, then arrives at the birthday girl’s house to direct games, tell stories and otherwise let the good times roll. Her tales of how much the little girls love princesses are hilarious, and they’re accompanied by some adorable, funny illustrations. (They’ve also made me wonder why I haven’t found a good way to make millions off my paperdolls. The dresses seem to be a major selling point with this whole princess adoration thing.) They’re posted on the Something Awful forums, so you can’t easily read through them all at once, but here are links to the ones currently available. one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Since I’ve been enjoying these stories so much I thought I’d make a paperdoll for them, based off the name she uses on Twitter, Assassin Princess. What kind of outfit might an assassin princess wear? I imagine she is going to the ball not to win Prince Charming’s heart but to stab it. In such a lovely dark gown, snatching the prince’s attention away from a simpering beauty in pink is hardly a challenge. A few dances later, they are standing on a secluded balcony, making small talk about the moon and stars, and he leans in for a kiss… Unfortunately the poofy skirt hides several pockets, one of which holds a dagger. As he’s laying on the ground, the last thing he sees is the *sparklesparkle* of the sequins on the swishy hem of her skirt.


Blue, Black and Gold Angel Gown for Low’s “Long Way Around The Sea”

A flowing, loose gown made of three layers. The innermost layer is a light blue tunic with wide sleeves that fall to the wrist and a full hemline that reaches to the feet. The hem, edge of the sleeves and neck are edged with gold trim. Over that are two sleeveless tunics. The one on the outside is dark blue and open in the front, while the one underneath that is dark blue and crosses in a V at the front near the waistline so that the light blue of the first tunic is visible. The entire dress is belted at the waist with a gold rope belt, which is tied in a bow at the side and has long ends that fall to the knee. The edges of the two top tunics are draped in soft folds which show the gold reverse side of the fabric, and the edges are staggered so that you can see part of the black tunic under the blue one and part of the light blue tunic under the black one. The edges of all three skirts fan out in a trumpet shape near the hem.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it! To those of you who don’t, happy end of December, and apologies for the incessant Christmas cacophony.

Lyrika asked me and a bunch of other bloggers to write about one of our favorite Christmas carols this year for one of her Random Magic tours. You can – and should – see the other bloggers’ picks by checking the schedule: Songs of the Season.

I love most Christmas carols and know a whole lot of them, thanks to playing the piano as a kid, so it was tough to decide on just one; I decided to go with one that I wouldn’t expect most readers to have heard before, Low’s “Long Way Around The Sea.” Low is a group that my husband is really into, but I know very little about them other than that I love their Christmas album. “Long Way Around The Sea” is a melancholy song with a classic feeling about the three wise men being warned by an angel against going back to see Herod after visiting the baby Jesus.

I have a real weakness for such dark-sounding songs, and somehow this one puts me in mind of dark colors like black and blue. Even the angel is dressed in a relatively subdued way because she doesn’t want to call attention to herself. No, no, don’t look at me, I picture her saying, just hurry and head back that-a-way instead, OK?


Bat Costume in Purple and Dark Grey

A bat costume consisting of a dark grey dress with long sleeves, a square neckline and a full skirt that reaches to mid-thigh. Up and down the sleeves, and on the hem, are small floral patterns, there's purple lace at the wrists and shiny purple ribbons running from the waist to the hem. Over this is a purple satin bodice with a split purple satin skirt that reaches partially down the grey underskirt and small purple ruffles at each shoulder. The bodice is open in front, and laces over a reddish-purple and pink patterned panel. The costume has little black bat wings with purple accents, as well as black and purple bat ears on a black headband. The stockings reach above the knee and are vertically striped in pink and reddish purple, with purple lace at the top and shiny black shoes.Click for larger version (PNG); click for PDF version. Click here for the list of dolls.

So way back in May, Nikki won a contest for guessing that my great-grandfather was born in Alaska. She wrote:

I’d like the bat costume (https://lianaspaperdolls.com/2010/10/09/halloween-10-day-7-black-and-white-cute-bat-costume/) colored in dark grey (almost black) and shades of purple. Where the colors go and if there is a pattern is totally up to you. I just really want to see that outfit colored and purple is one of my favorite colors.

… And then I completely forgot about it. Completely. I am so sorry, Nikki, it was truly thoughtless of me and I apologize for making you wait so long. If it’s any consolation I went all out in the coloring. I think it turned out to look really cool, and I really hope you think so too. Briana, thank you for reminding me, I had forgotten all about it.

I’ll do another contest at some point in time, and this time I won’t make anyone wait half a year!