BRENDA STARR PAPER DOLL: DAPHNE DIMPLES

Not much to say at the moment. Had a lovely breakfast this morning with a couple of friends over at Ronnie's (http://www.yelp.com/biz/ronnies-cafe-glendale). I had the Ribeye steak and eggs. I prefer Village Inn (http://www.villageinn.com/)to Ronnie's but one of my friends prefer Ronnie's and likes the food so when we get together with her we have lunch there. I LOVE Village Inn's pies and try to buy one any time I go there with my other friend for breakfast. 
I'm still reading The Recruit. I'm at the part where Kenneth Sutherland has just found out that the woman he'd "swivved" the night before is actually the woman The Bruce wants him to marry.  Needless to say he's not very happy about her omission of who she is. Countess Mary Atholl doesn't want another husband since the one who was executed by Edward I didn't pay much attention to her any way and like Sutherland liked the accolades he receives from "fans" of his prois at the Highland Games. Lady Mary might consider remarriage if the man she marries isn't full of himself and more likely to find other bed partners than come home to her, something her former husband had done. But in the time period that the book takes place ladies of quality didn't have much of a choice as to remaining single or being married. Either they married who the monarch wanted or ended up in a convent. Widows and women in general have it so much better in modern times and truly, I think, women take our freedom to do as we wish for granted. 

Al Moore

The paper doll on offer today matches the date it was published back in 1941: November 9th. Imagine, a month later on December 7, almost exactly a month later, the attack on Pearl Harbor would take place.  The costumes should fit properly. Again, this was from a CD bought by a seller on Ebay and is a photo of the the paper doll. Not a bad one to be sure. I would like to redraw it, re color it so that it comes out much sharper. Or at least do my own version of it. Brenda Starr paper dolls are very hard to come by; the price always going up to astronomical amounts when they are offered on Ebay. I don't have any actual Brenda's from the newspapers in my collection. I do have some paper doll books that have paper dolls that had been published in the Sunday papers and reprinted in black and white in the paper doll book. 

'Til next time.....                                         ALOHA

IN A FEW MORE DAYS....

SW Collectors Edition 1977

My mind can't quite get around the fact that in a few more days it will be October with the new year being right around the corner after that. Where has the year gone?? When I started this blog I thought I'd be so good at posting on it only to find out, ironically enough, that I really don't have much to say. 

My life is pretty boring and I have no earth shattering notions that would interest a flea let alone a human. LOL So in future  I can't say that I will be posting to much. I do want to continue sharing my collection of the original run of the Star Wars comics in the hopes that someone out there is actually reading the ones I post and enjoying them. Especially if they don't have them or are missing that particular issue in their collection.  And I will also post the paper dolls from my collection that I have been sharing as well. 

The pin-up for this posting, also from the Star Wars Collectors edition features the back cover of the issue and one of the easiest ones I've had to put together. Probably because it was the back cover and all I had to do is make sure each scan was straight. Not so easy to do when dealing with a folded page. At least the characters look closer to their rezl counterpsrts than in previous pin-ups which is why this one is my favorite. So with that, here is the rest of issue three. I will try to start the issue four next month coinciding with the same month it came out 1977. Without meaning to. I had noticed that my postings were matching the exact same month the original comic came out in. 

I haven't posted a pin-up for September. I try to do one related to the month...like for school but rarely do I find one with that theme. 

Al Moore September 1950 

She is crossing her fingers...wonder if that is a gent on the other end of the line. Aside from myself...does any one remember actually USING a rotary phone? How times have changed since this pin-up was painted. 

I'm reading a really good and very erotic book entitled Challenging Dante by Lynne Graham. She's one of my favorite authors and I have yet to be disappointed in one of her novels. This is the fourth and final book in her Marshall sisters series. 

How about a change of pace from Jane Arden's and Boots paper dolls? Today we have a Tillie the Toiler from September 27th 1936. 

In Photoshop I tried the blue dress on the doll but it really doesn't fit her. I've a notion to redraw this one and even design some new frocks for her. 

And of course I have to do a black and white version. :)

Well, I am pleased to have made it through another posting. I know I am absolutely horrible in keeping up with it but the one thing I do enjoy is sharing my paper doll collection and posting the Star Wars comics that I had. I have pretty much sold my entire collection with only a few remaining to post on Ebay as well as make complete scans of. the remaining comic books. Tedious I suppose but worth the effort I think. 

Til' next time...


                                   ALOHA!!

WONDERFULLY FUNNY NOVEL

I don't normally start off my blog with a comment on a novel I'm reading but in this case I can't seem to help it as I'm reading a wonderfully funny one entitled: A LOVING SCOUNDREL by Johanna Lindsey. It's the 7th book in the Malory family series and deals with Jeremy Malory, son of James Malory who meets up with Danny who is a thief living in the seeder part of London. Jeremy is trying to help out a friend and needs to hire a thief  in order to do so and Danny ends up being the one enlisted to help him retrieve some valuable jewelry from the person who stole it from his friend. While some readers will go into length on what occurs in a book, I never have the heart to as I don't want to ruin the novel for any one who might be viewing this blog. Suffice it to say what it states on the outer cover is true...it is indeed witty and sinfully sensual. I can't put the book down and while I want to finish it and move on to Captive Of My Desires, at the same time I don't want it to end at all...I still haven't found out who tried to kill Danny when she was just a child and before she took up her "thieving" ways as it were. And I've only got a few more pages to go before I'm finished with it. I'm up to the part where Jeremy's father, with the help of three friends, has just extricated Jeremy from being forcibly leg shackled to a woman he never even gave the time of day to and yet she had decided SHE was going to have him as a husband whether he wanted to marry her or not. Anthony Malory, Jeremy's uncle, is down right put out that he wasn't let in on Jeremy's problem and asked his advice on the matter. So, as usual, this has caused the two brothers to argue. It's such a delightful scene and hard to imagine that these two siblings didn't really exist at one time but sprouted from the fertile imagination of the author. The story moves along quiet nicely without a slow or dull point (at least thus far) in the entire tale. I simply never tire of the Malory's and in my humble opinion, someone in Hollywood should snag these novels and write a screenplay about them in order to turn it into a movie. I would LOVE to see them brought to life on the big screen. I don't know if Lindsey will write any more novels featuring the Malory's and Andersons (Georgina (or George as she's commonly known by) is James's wife and Warren (who we meet in Gentle Rogue and again in The Magic of You) is George's sister) but then I haven't read the last book in this series yet either so I will probably find out if she's left it open for more stories. There is still the rest of the Anderson clan to "marry off". I'm not a big fan of the Regency era but when it comes to this family I dive right in! By the way...I didn't mention but Amy Malory (Edward Malory's daughter, second eldest in the Malory clan) is Warren's wife.

So, now that I've gotten that off my mind let me proceed with more personal issues...which, for a change, there aren't that many. I'm getting my blood sugar problems under control. It's staying under 200 after I've eaten and I wake in the mornings and it's been as low as 85. Which I don't think is to serious as my monitor hasn't given me the message to "see my doctor". So the insulin twice daily is helping. I inject 20 units in the morning and 26 in the evening. This of course, combined with the Metformin, is helping me keep it down to a more normal level. I've also stopped stressing about my home situation. If, and I hope it isn't the case, we have to move because the new home owner decides he no longer wants us to pay rent, well, then, we have to move. I still want us to buy the house back but that may not be feasible (we have to wait at least four years before we can try to get a loan again) and I'm accepting that no matter how much I think it sucks. This is the hardest I've had it in all my life, at the same time I am grateful that we've been able to stay in the house as long as we have, some families haven't been so lucky and they've had to move out soon after they were foreclosed on.

Cow girl fashions from Katy Keene No 4  1951

On the job front...nothing yet. I keep looking and nothing seems to be available out there, for me any way. It is hard not to let my spirits get down, but I do try to keep them up by doing things I love...like reading a good book (goodness knows I have the time now) or drawing and finishing art projects that have been sitting on the back burner for years. I've been doing a lot of scanning lately...mainly my Katy Keene comic book collection. You never realize how much you have of one thing until you attempt to store it all in some way or another. I am, however, enjoying going through them all. Some of the comics, though, are seriously falling apart, literally crumbling into dust. These are the ones I have to scan from cover to cover the soonest. I pretty much have all the comics from the 1950's...though I am missing number one but trying to complete my collection is sometimes virtually impossible due to the price of the earlier ones...mainly 1 through 20.  Still if I can obtain a number one at a decent price I'll buy it. Since I am doing a cow girl theme with the Katy Keene's I thought I'd continue along those lines with today's paper doll.

It's almost February and I still haven't posted this blog. What with one thing and another this is pretty much low on my "things to do" list. So, having said that I promised myself that I WOULD post before the end of the month.

Al  Moore

I did alter this pin-up a bit...just took out the "hole" that graced the calendar it was on.

January 30th 1944

The paper doll for today I found at this site: http://mostlypaperdolls.blogspot.com/ It's a GREAT source for old newspaper paper dolls and she has a variety of Boots ones all in black and white. I think they were originally in color and she's made them into ones that you can color but I'm not sure. I don't have the color version if this particular one but I'm on the hunt for it. I love the paper doll because she's Boots' heavier friend and her clothes are chic and not frumpy. I always disliked it when people assume because you are heavy you can't dress nicely. Now that isn't to say being heavy you should dress in something more suited to a thinner person...it just doesn't look right in my eyes when a heavy person shows a lot of skin. One can dress "sexy" but cover up those rolls and flabby areas, please. :) I'm not familiar with the Boots characters so I'm not sure who this lovely lady is. I do know she is a friend of Boots though.

Copyright NJD 1983/2012

Well, I've come to the end of another blog entry. But I leave you with yet another one of my own paper doll creations...well the doll any way. Her name is Anita and she was created back in the 80's and has outfits reflecting that era and if I remember right her costumes were inspired from outfits worn by Betty and Veronica. I used to own quite a few Archie comic books but after various moves they were lost in the relocation from Hawaii to the mainland. The paper doll was created when I lived in the islands. Living in the islands did inspire me as I created, at the time, over 100 sets. (Anita was number 51) I've yet to find them all. I still just get tantalizing glimpses of the sets I created. I'm SURE I still have them all as they were all in the spare room in our old apartment. and I KNOW I brought them all from Hawaii. I'm hoping I didn't leave them behind at one of our old residences.
.

I did revamp Anita. Gave her a new border design which I obtained from The Graphics Fairy. Her site is such a wonderful source for borders. http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/. Anita's pose was also inspired by Betty walking but can't be absolutely certain as it was quite a while ago since I created her. Regardless I do like her. I have a thing about making dolls with quite a few wig changes as well as various shoes in her wardrobe. She used to have 9 pages of clothes but thanks to Photoshop I was able to reduce it down to 7 pages by reorganizing them. Many of her outfits are mix and match.

Well, that will be all for this entry. Until next time.....


                          ALOHA!!

A Little late

Rhinoceros Hornbill
Nora Dennis 2007

Yesterday I was just a tad late in posting. I try to post BEFORE midnight in order to keep to the time frame of the newspaper paper doll. Welll...I didn't post until after midnight. I didn't notice this until I glanced at the time. I suppose I could have posted a different paper doll for the 22nd, but decided to leave it and because I'm a couple of days behind, do two posting of paper dolls...one for the 22nd and one for the 23rd. I so enjoy sharing the paper dolls with you and I am hoping that you enjoy downloading them.

I have an update on my testing supplies. The Hub was able to get my prescription filled and I now have test strips for the rest of August and into September. I find testing my blood fascinating. I'm supposed to test once before breakfast, then two hours afterward. The same goes for supper. As I ate my dinner late (I was drawing and always loose track of time when I'm involved in an art project) so have to wait until around 12:30 in the morning (it's 12:19 AM at the moment) to test my blood again. I've also taken my insulin so I'll be interested to see the results. When I tested prior to eating it was 236. The Doctor wants to get it down to between 80 and 120. 

You might have noticed the bird at the left side of the page. He was done in 2007 as a part of Richard Chamberlains birthday card. Everyone in his online fan club (Chamberlainfans) submitted a message to him and they asked me to add the artwork, which I gladly did. He turned 72 that year. I don't remember if the bird was used or not but I do remember creating him to represent one of his fans that lived in the part of the world the hornbill came from. (Sumatra, Malaysia) I found a photo of him on the web to work from but couldn't tell you the name of the site. I did look him up but couldn't find the photo of him in this pose. There is one similar but it's from the front. 

Remember I wondered if there were still covered bridges? Well, thanks to Goggle and Wikipedia I  found out that there are still covered bridges and that Pennsylvania has more of them. (200) And apparently most of the bridges are indeed located on the East Coast.

I finished Best Man to Wed? and am now reading the third and last book in the series Too Wise to Wed? The second book was really good. In fact I was so involved in the story that I did shed a tear or two when Poppy was injured and was calling for James. I won't give any of the plot away except to say that it took Poppy awhile to realize she actually loved James. All of the books can be purchased on Amazon though mine I bout from Ebay.

Today's paper doll is a Jane Arden from August 22, 1937. On this one I actually like all the outfits, especially the one that has the picture hat. I like hats but have always felt I look downright dorky in them. On many of these paper dolls I'm trying to gather one doll and collect all the costumes that go with that dolls particular pose. I'm surprised no one has thought of this themselves. I'd also like to see someone come up with a definitive book on the newspaper paper dolls featuring each of the paper dolls that were presented in the newspapers. The research alone would be mind boggling as there were so many of them.

Anyway, at the moment I'm working on the ones I have in the pose you see to your right. I'm also making a color it yourself version which constitutes me tracing the doll and outfits. A lot of work to be sure but in the end well worth it. I do it because many of you might want to do your own color variations of the costumes and also when I recolor the dolls it makes them easier to print out. AND you get a clearer version of the doll once I've blown them up to 300 dpi.

Since I'm a day late in posting this I am also posting a paper doll featured for August 23, 1936. This one is from one that I bought and scanned myself. No adjusting except perhaps for the brightness/contrast. For some reason my Hubs scanner scans everything very light and I can't seem to get it to scan the actual colors. Nonetheless with a little tweaking in Photoshop, I was able to get it close to the original colors. As a treat, I also scanned it in black and white so those who love to color can render it in their own choice of color scheme.

This was one of my Ebay wins. I bought her (aside from the fact it's Jane Arden) because of her unique post and she has a hula outfit. I can't say how happy I was when I was informed I'd won her. I only wish I had more Jane Arden's. I actually grew up with her image in the newspaper. I'm not old enough to remember this one...she was WAAAAYYYYY before I was even conceived never mind born. My favorites of her outfits is the nautical pantsuit and of course the hula costume. I just realized that the Arden I posted for the 22nd also has a nautical outfit.

While looking for something totally unrelated to this blog, I realized that I had not posted a pinup for the month of August!  So remiss of me! I like the old pinups. One they had clothes on and just SUGGESTED nudity and two I always loved the themes they came up with. This one appeals to me for obvious reasons...it's tropical feel and it reminds me of Hawaii.  The artist is Al Moore.

Matched Pairs N. Dennis '84

And finally my own paper doll design entitled: Matched Pairs. The models were from a paper doll set of Barbie, Ken and Skipper that I owned at the time. I'm not sure which set it was though. I hope to eventually run across it again and add it to my collection. The outfits they are wearing go with their Vacation ensembles. Why I put daffodils on the outfits I have NO idea. I think I will change them to hibiscus flowers or plumeria flowers which are more in keeping with a Hawaiian theme. Even Bird of Paradise flowers...but daffodils?? What was I thinking?!? I also noticed the Donna's (aka Skipper) sandals didn't match DeAnn's. So while I'm revamping the pattern on their outfits I'll give Donna another pair of sandals to match DeAnn's. The guys name, if it's of any interest, is Donald. My sister's name is DeAnn and her husbands name is Donald. Donna wasn't anyone I knew just gave the name to the doll to make it match the others. It needs a background though. I've a notion to put a drawing of Diamond Head behind them.

Well, that is all for today. Until tomorrow (hopefully)...


                                   ALOHA!