Well, the vote is in. Several people now have suggested that I do DIY paper cutouts for the shop. I myself find that I am drawn inexorably to all things paper of late. It's in the zeitgeist. What could it be? A backlash against the digital age? A nostalgia for the dying age of paper products, just as longstanding and beloved newspapers and magazines (I hate to even mention books, because I love them so dearly) crumple like failing dinosaurs all around us? Heaven knows that as an erstwhile journalist I am very susceptible to this form of nostalgia. I have for some weeks now had paper dolls on the brain. I even purchased a set of vintage DIY ones to use as a design model. Today I finally threw caution to the wind and set pen to paper to begin the design of my very first.

And here she is: The outline of my first paper doll. She will eventually be in color, and she will have an animal "familiar", of course, as do so many of my spirited girls. She will also have a dashing and convention-flaunting wardrobe to go with.

Stay tuned for further developments. I am already just a bit in love with this confident girl.