Evelyn and The Paper Dolls :
Hi! I’m Evelyn, and I love to make paper Dolls with my cat, Edgar.
First, I make the body; then I make all the details. My favorite part is making their clothes and accessories. I love how every detail can be so precise, and even if I use the same paper doll body, I can change the whole paper doll just by the outfit.
Some days, I spend the whole day just focusing on the fine details of their personalities.
I love making paper dolls. I can color them all the ways I wish I could be. I can give them all the things I want that I can’t yet have or give them back all the things I have lost and can’t get back.
Meet Delaney. Delaney is attached to her Grandmother Catherine forever, which is impossible in real life because you can’t be stuck to people, but with paper, all it takes is a little glue.
This one is Paige. She moved from Ohio to Hawaii after her best friend Edwin stopped talking to her to hang out with dumb boys, and now investigates climate crimes in paradise.
This is Shanda, Homeschooled world traveler!
I love to wish and pretend to be someone else with my dolls, but most of the time, I am stuck just being me.
Sometimes I hate being me.
Like when someone says I am being too much. Too much what you ask? Too much anything.
Too sad, too moody, too tired, too grumpy, too funny, too messy, too loud, too happy, too curious, too nervous.
This list is endless, really.
I can’t help feeling too much, and I hate making people mad at me, so I come and make paper dolls who don’t mind being to anything.
Like Jessaymin. She thinks being too much of anything is just fine, and those who matter won’t mind. I think she reads a lot of Dr. Suess to her little brother, and though that sounds ideal, my Mom kind of matters, but I do like her thinking.
Elaine thinks being good is for the dog, and she can’t help it if mom is in too much of a mood herself and is annoyed by life.
Marti thinks manners are essential, and you can’t just be rude like Elaine.
Sabrina Thinks it is a balance.
I guess I dont know what I think. I think all the things my dolls believe and all the things I think, too.
Sometimes I love being me.
Like when I run so fast, I feel like I can catch the wind and fly, or when my curl bounces in front of my face and tickles my nose.
Sometimes, I love being me because I do something just right, like spell a word correctly or remember to put away the dishwasher without being told.
I can feel Elaine staring at me now. So I won’t mention that I love being me when I get a treat at school for doing something good because I think she might bark at me soon, but it is true. I love being me when it happens, for better or worse.
Is being good just for house pets? Edgar is not good. Edgar knocks all the cups off of high places. Full or not, he sees it as his duty to move it from its position. No one in our house sees this as good, but Edgar could care less. Maybe that’s why Elaine thinks it’s just for dogs; maybe cats are excluded?
Some things have no answers; that’s what Pema, my wise paper doll, says.
Sometimes I use my paper dolls to have the stuff I cant have.
Meet Helen of Gymnastics. She owns every perfect gymnastic accessory ever created and has won every medal.
This is Margot of Karate, LoLo with pink hair, Amanda with a nose ring, and Faith with a Golden Doodle named Herman!
I still think Pink hair will be cool, but Mom says I must wait to be 13 like it is a magic number.
But I guess she is not so wrong because I do not want a hammerhead shark and a Thomas the Train like Ellie, who is one of my first paper dolls.
Giving my paper dolls everything I can’t have makes me think a person can never have enough.
Even when I have it all, I bet I will still feel bored, dumb, wrong, and tired.
Maybe being, feeling, wanting -it all ebbs and flows, so I shouldn’t want to settle on anything. Maybe I am Just supposed to try lots of stuff on. Opinions, thoughts, feelings, and ideas, try them on and see how they feel, and I shouldn’t let any of those be set in stone, only On paper for my big art journal or for the wall!
