We are the local Little Debbie Snack Cake distributors , so we see her face on all our product. So, I suppose it shouldn’t come as any surprise if she subconsciously shows up in my artwork, lol. Totally not intended but pretty cute, nonetheless.
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New release from Sherry West Art…..
POLLY PAPER DOLLY!
Includes….
*Polly Paper Doll
*Autumn Outfit
*Sunshine Sunflower Dress
*Angelic Attire
*Snow Much Fun
*Lots of Extra Elements!
Have fun playing with Polly with your children or grandchildren, print her out as a coloring page or use her as a digital stamp to create fun greeting cards and projects!
Available for $4.95 as a set.
300 dpi, high-resolution digital printable resizable jpg file.
Send me a message via Facebook Messenger…
https://www.facebook.com/sharongwen.west.1/
Come join the Sherry West Art Crafting and Coloring group and post your Polly!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SherryWestColoring
Visit Sharon’s blog to see her make!
Ok, while Ím triggering the Facebook sensors, I might as well go for it. I’ve been on a roll the last two posts, might as well keep going.
Apparently, therés just Something about me and my posts that trips the Facebook ´bots and makes them nuts.
When I began designing adult coloring pages in 2016, I got into a heck of a lot of trouble and put into the Facebook pokey. “Pokey” – my grandmother´s old-fashioned term for “jail.”
(Btw, for all yáll stampers and colorists sitting there at your keyboards howling with laughter, you go right ahead and laugh. I KNOW YOÚVE been in FB jail, TOO.)
In order to get onés artwork recognized and purchased, adult coloring book artists have to distribute their work into the coloring groups on Facebook. That’s very important. The more the better.
An artist creates the post on their page, then shares it into multiple groups. We just don’t have the time to hold down jobs, take care of our families, create art, then individually post into each and every group by creating a new post just for that group, so we share into multiple groups all at once. It´s a wonderful feature of Facebook sharing.
Unfortunately, spammers like it, too. And abuse it.
Then the rest of us get into trouble.
And, for those of you smart alecs who want to point out that I could be considered a spammer, too, Íd like to point out one very distinct difference….free coloring pages are a staple in the adult coloring community. We give away free pages, and the colorists color them and share them. It´s a legit and expected part of the landscape. It´s pretty much considered an “essential service.” Cańt say the same for the spammers.
I cańt tell you how many times Íve been put in the pokey for sharing my coloring pages (free, btw) into the adult coloring groups. Too fast, too many, wrong way, this way, that way, the other way.
I guess I tripped the spam sensors and the bots snagged my butt and threw me where I couldn’t cause any more trouble for awhile. I got to sit there and cool my jets til the next time they nabbed me for going too fast.
Apparently, an awful lot of other artists and colorists have been nabbed, too. And, not being stupid people, they’ve come up with some rather ingenious ways around the ´bots. But I couldn’t tell you what those are, though, so dońt ask (Ím clueless). Dońt bother to ask them cuz I don’t think they´re gonna spill.
I gave up. And I moved onto being a stamp designer with a design team. THEY can post into multiple groups and get nabbed by the bots while I safely sit back waaaayyyy over here, eat popcorn, offer my sincerest sympathies (and very helpfully giggle).
(For the above image, go to StampAddicts.com. Available as a grey rubber stamp. Title: “Robot Love.”)
https://www.stampaddicts.com/7431-robot-love-stampaddicts
Polly Paper Dolly has a rather peculiar PROBLEM.
Facebook, that measured modern moderator of all things most beneficial to civilized society, doesn’t think she is appropriate for your delicate sensibilities, so she has been BANNED from their Very Respectable Forum. (Consequently, I can´t sell her to you in my Facebook shop.)
Apparently, she ´s too fast and loose for their tender tastes. Ooh, la, la!
I think it’s her dashing, suggestive slip that did the trick and set off their pearl-clutching, gasping and breast-heaving!
Quick! Somebody grab the smelling salts and fainting couch!
Do you suppose shés got French lace-trimmed pantaloons under there?
Heaven ´s-to-Betsy!
Whatever shall we do??
“Oh, my stars and garters!” as my great Aunt Gwen used to say.
Coming up with an extremely appealing facial design is probably the number one aspect of designing a doll, paperdoll, coloring page, digital or rubber stamp or character. You want something that is universally appealing to all ages, genders, nationalities, so that’s a daunting task. Plus, it’s not easy to create beautiful designs that haven’t been used before and don’t look like something else that’s already out on the market. So, when you create one that works, you keep it and use it!As an eBay doll seller/redesigner, I’ve learned that doll companies use the same basic face style on each of their doll models. So, following that well-established tradition, I’m doing the same with the current crop of images I’ve been drawing. You can use the same basic face (as long as it’s an appealing design), tweak the features a bit and have an entirely new creation! Plus, it makes it much easier, faster and cheaper for the designers and companies. All of the well-established doll companies do this: Madame Alexander, Mattel, Kish, Tonner, etc.
As the old saying goes…it‘s all in the eyes. The eyes are the number one part of the figure that have to be right. If they are off in any way, nothing else works. It is through the eyes that the viewer is drawn to the image, so they need to be beautiful and engaging. Creating the hair style, body, clothing, accessories, color palette and details fall into place fairly quickly and easily once the eyes and face are set.
I‘m still learning how to design a good coloring image (and stamps) and am learning it might look easy but it isnt! So many things go into designing an image – composition, balance, line style, direction, line width, subject matter, and more!
Someday I would love to design paper dolls, figurines and dolls. I love modern dolls produced by Madame Alexander, Kish, Tonner, Maggie Iacono and others. I collect and am knowledgeable about hard plastic, composition and vinyl dolls from the late 1930s to the early 1960s. My love for dolls strongly influences my designs on paper.
Are you looking for FREE digital stamps to use in your DIY St. Patrick’s Day art and craft projects?
I’ve found some amazing websites with hundreds of digis!
http://www.cardmakingandpapercraft.com/articles-how/cardmakers-guide-digi-stamps
http://topdigitalstamping.gotop100.com
http://www.simplycardsmag.com/product-category/downloads/digi-stamps/
https://www.papercraftermagazine.co.uk/blog/400-free-digi-stamps
http://paperflourish.blogspot.com/p/free-digi-stamps_9400.html
If you are looking for images to add an antique or vintage flair to your cards, page layouts, journals, gift tags and more, please see the folowing comprehensive lists in two of my previous blog posts. These posts contain links to millions of public domain (copyright free) images! You’ll find the most wonderful and intriguing photos, posters, postcards, stamps, old book illustrations and more!
I believe it’s only fair to warn you, though….you’re going to feel like Alice in Womderland once you start your search, and you may never want to come back out of that amazing rabbit hole!
FREE Printable Digital Downloads for Your DIY St. Patrick’s Day Projects
Free Printable Digital Downloads for DIY St. Patrick’s Day Projects
FREE St. Patrick’s Day Images for DIY Arts and Crafts Projects
Free St. Patrick’s Day Images for DIY Arts and Crafts
*The above image, Alice, is available in my Etsy shop as a digital stamp or adult coloring page. https://www.etsy.com/shop/SherryWestArt
The following sites are great resources for digitally downloadable and printable resources for FREE scrapbook layouts, images, vector, embellishments, papers, fonts and more! They aren’t just for digital scrapbooking, but are wonderful to find images and parts and pieces to print out for all of your creative projects and physical scrapbooks!
https://www.digiscrapbook.com/free-digital-scrapbooking
https://www.mymemories.com/store/free_digital_scrapbooking_kits
https://bestfreedigitalscrapbook.com
Where to Find Free Digital Scrapbook Paper! {Digital Scrapbooking Series}
https://scrapbooking.lovetoknow.com/Digital_Scrapbook_Freebies
https://www.grannyenchanted.com
https://www.simplescrapper.com/free-downloads-old/
*Please check each site’s policy on how the images may be used, especially if you intend to use them on a blog, website, or on products for resale.
For MORE free public domain (copyright free) images to use in your St. Patrick’s Day projects – scrapbooking, papercrafting, greeting cards, mini albums, journaling, bible journaling, bullet journals, stickers, gift tags, wrapping paper and more – please see the previous blog post.
St. Paddy’s Day is almost here! Time to get your Irish on with some thrifty fun.
Crafting is pricey. And I’m guessing that if you are reading this, you probably have a veritable dragon’s lair, and horde, of arting and crafting supplies of all types, shapes and sizes…definitely enough to make a dragon jealous.
So, for those of us who are insatiable crafters and seem to always be putting out large sums of money on new supplies, it’s always nice to be able to get our crafty hands on freebies to help give our favorite projects just the right touch. With that in mind, I’ve compiled a handy-dandy all-in-one list of sites where you can find FREE public domain images for use in your St. Paddy’s projects.
This list includes vintage images, photographs, line art, book illustrations and more. Any and every subject and holiday you can possible imagine is there just waiting for you to dive in and explore! On your mark, get set, GO!
Graphics & Printables
Vintage St. Patrick’s Day
Home
Where to Download Free Vintage Images
https://pixabay.com/images/search/decoupage/
https://www.kerrymaymakes.com/blog/art-journal-and-planner-ephemera-10-free-digital-sites
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources
https://www.loc.gov/free-to-use/
http://budgetstockphoto.com/publicdomain.html
Be sure to read the policy of the site you get your images from. Some sites have a limitation on how many images which can be reused from their site and how. This is important.
Don’t forget about old books, magazines, postcards and other paper ephemera that can be purchased on sites like eBay! These can be scanned in, saved, digitally manipulated, cleaned up and printed off for favorite projects, too! If you plan on reselling something with one of these images on it, make sure to read up on copyright laws. Anything pre-1923 in the U.S. is generally safe to use, but copyright law is tricky, so please read and research carefully to be sure.
HAPPY ART FOR A HAPPY HEART! 