Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Make your own doll sized Christmas Crackers

One of my favorite holiday memories growing up was having Christmas Crackers, the prize inside, the silly joke and of course the hat.
I thought it would be fun to make a doll size one (less the popper I can not find them) they are easy to make and fun to put a small item you have made, like the bracelet I used. Here is how I made mine.
you need a toilet paper tube. Cut it open and make it smaller by half to make it doll size, then tape it in place.

here is what I put in mine.
Next I rolled it all up and put it in the tube.
After that I cut a piece of scrap book paper though you could use wrapping paper and cut it to 6 inches X 4 inches. Then rolled it around the tube and taped it in place.
 I love how this turned out. I hope you did too!

Tomorrow's post will show you how to make the hats.
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Dress up your dolls Holiday Christmas Dinner with easy to make doll sized napkins and napkin holders

I love to make these easy and impressive doll sized napkins for our tea parties. The best part about them is they are reusable and inexpensive to make.
Simply attach with a few stitches to secure the button.
I love how this turned out.I hope you do too.
 To create the napkin, I open the small dessert sized napkin and cut it in two. Then I fold it back into the square and roll like I would any dinner napkin that you would place in a napkin ring.
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Monday, November 28, 2011

Great Stocking ideas # 12 Doll sized Stockings a great Gem!


Stockings are a favorite part of my holiday season which is why I have given you 12 great stocking stuffer ideas over the last few weeks.
I found these at Walmart and love how they add to the Whimsy of the holidays.
These small stocking you can get under $1 at Wal-Mart or at your local dollar store. I had originally purchased them to hold cutlery at Christmas Dinner but they double as a great doll play item. There are so many wonderful things you can make (from items in this blog) for your doll that would fit inside this stocking. You can also pick up some great dollar store gems to fill the stockings, like cell phones, doll sized note books, hair clips and more.
These would make great Christmas Themed Doll party favors. A "make and take" loot bag, where the girls make items to fit inside and take home to enjoy.
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Sunday, November 27, 2011

CYBER MONDAY DEALS AT LEMONHEAD 103's Etsy shop and ABeeline's Etsy shop!

Happy Cybermonday! Some great deals to be had on line today.


Amy of Lemonhead103's Etsy shop is offering my readers 25% off today only! Use the coupon code CYBERMONDAY when you are checking out for 25% off your order.

There are some great jewelry sets for Doll's and Doll clothes come take a look http://www.etsy.com/shop/Lemonhead103

With over 190 items starting at just $2 there is something for everyone in this shop!
Don't forget to use your coupon code CYBERMONDAY for 25% off your purchase!

from A Bee Line shop who brought us our September 11th Memorial T-shirt give away Shop owner Bee is offering a 15% discount off items in her shop! 

Take a look at this adorable Doll Sized Stocking!

I love the back pack offered by Bee as well
come see what A Bee Line has to offer and take advantage of her 15% off code FRIEND15 at A Bee Line's Etsy shop

As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Stocking stuffer ideas #11 Doll Sized Slippers

Today's post I am sharing is a favorite of mine. I found this great Etsy shop that makes the most adorable doll slippers!


Sherri  Duin  of  Hole in my bucket  creates the most adorable slippers for dolls! Take a look at the reindeer ones above and you will know why I love these!


Bunnies, Puppies and Cats oh my!
This Etsy shop offers these slippers for $5-$7 so adorable.
These slippers would make a wonderful addition to any stocking and any doll play collection or wardrobe.
In addition to these adorable socks this shop offers some great deals on dolly underware
This full service shop also offers beautifully made outfits as well
With special attention to detail
take a look at this hair band

Sherri of Hole in my bucket's Etsy shop shared a bit of her back ground with me. I was thrilled to find out like me she is an Aunt who started by making outfits for her niece. She shared with me a bit of her creative history and now I happily share it with you.


"I graduated college and started a career in Human Resources back in 1995. After 7 years of that I really wanted to do something creative, so I took a course and got my Floral Design Certificate and worked in a flower shop for about a year and a half prior to having my son that is 7 now."

"When he was born I became a stay at home mom and always thought I would go back to work once he was in school. I then found out that I was busier than ever with helping in the classroom and keeping up with life in general. I’ve always enjoyed making things of any kind and working with different products".


"My niece is really the reason that as a mother of a 7 year old boy, I started making doll clothes. I started knitting about 13 years ago and then had a niece, Ella, who fell in love with the American Girl Dolls. I began to knit her outfits, knit outfits for the school fundraisers and then realized one day that in many cases, sewing a simple skirt took far less time than knitting it. I designed and made her a few sewn outfits that she loved. A friend had told me about Etsy, and I thought why not try selling them."

"My first “model” was the Our Generation doll from Target. You might say I fell into the “starving artist” category and couldn’t justify purchasing an American Girl Doll. Late this summer I found an American Girl Doll on Craig’s List that had been one of the choose a doll that looks like you type."

"My slippers seem to be a hit which is very gratifying since they are my design and creations. I try to come up with a unique offering for the holidays that you can’t find in other shops. Last Easter I created the bunny slippers and it wasn’t much of a stretch to make the puppies or kitties. About two weeks ago while sewing, the reindeer slipper idea hit me. I did some sketching on paper, made a prototype and they became the newest of the doll slippers."

"The Etsy shop is really taking off and has become a sense of pride to know that I’m still able to be active at my son’s school, but help to make a little extra money at the same time for our family."
A thank you Sherri for sharing with us about her and her shop today I hope you have enjoyed it! Be sure to visit Sherri's shop A Hole in my bucket and check out all the fun creations she offers.
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Great Stocking Idea #10 Make Joyful Doll Music with this dollar store gem!

I love the AG doll instruments in on the AG website but I found this great dollar store gem that can be turned into the most fantastic doll play item at a fraction of the cost. I simply removed the gold string that was meant to hold this french horn on a Christmas tree and put it in the hand of my doll.
 This instrument fits easily on my dolls hand and would make a great Christmas gift or addition to a wrapped doll play gift. Doubling as a decoration on a present and a usable doll play item!
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Friday, November 25, 2011

Doll Holiday Cookies, Fun Foam Stickers

I found the most fantastic foam stickers at Michaels the craft store that double as great Holiday cookies for 18 inch dolls.

The best part is that for under $7 I have so many of these "cookies" that my dolls and children will have fun creating with the extra stickers that were included in the kit.

I love how these look on the doll plate and how the dolls can hold them!
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Getting ready for the holiday gift wrapping season Doll style!

With the holiday gift giving and wrapping season upon us I thought I would share some great dollar store gems. These favor boxes or treat boxes are available from you local craft or dollar store you can get them in plain white and use your Holiday Rubber Stamps on them to create your own boxes or use ready made ones like these.
These boxes are great to use as reusable doll play items as well as being perfect to wrap that hand made doll item for your doll, friend, daughter,niece or granddaughter.
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Thursday, November 24, 2011

A double post today! Featuring a young designer and You Tube Artist Mon Chat Dans La Lune


I love to feature young designers and entrepreneurs here and I have found a wonderful shop and young lady who creates her doll outfits from patterns she has created her self and pairs them with patterns from Liberty Jane. She also creates shirts for Ali of Girl of the year studios.

 Mon Chat Dans LaLune creator Charlotte is also a You tube artist www.youtube.com/user/MonChatDansLaLune




 Offers items she has created such as skirts and tops for under $10.
I asked Charlotte to share with us a bit about herself and her shop.
"I started sewing when I was almost 9 years old, right after I got my first doll Taryn." (Taryn is a Canadian Doll from a Company Called Maplelea)
Q:How many dolls do you have?
The seven dolls I have are: Taryn (Maplelea Girl), Kit, Chrissa, Astrid (Sonali, GOTY 2009 BFF), Aisha (#39), Bridget (Lanie, GOTY 2010), Maizee-Liss (Felicity. retired Historical)
Q:What do you want to do when you are older?
When I grow up I want to be: a Hairstylist, a Musician, a professional blogger, and a film director. I really want to direct big films, but I might also want to start my own little private company to make films like Michel Gondry.
Q: What is new for your shop this season?
Next in my shop I have a couple of Christmas items (dresses, PJ's, shirts etc!) and I have a cute pair of destroyed jeans coming up in January :)

As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Happy American Thanksgiving

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Make your Doll a Kitchen of her own for Thanksgiving or a s a Great Christmas Gift!


Today's post has been sent in by blog follower turned contributing writer Stephenie Weber of
Westfield, Indiana.Stephenie has shared with me some of her AMAZING hand made doll play items and today I will share them with you. take a look at this fun kitchen made with boxes and imagination!
I love to cook so of course, I wanted to create a kitchen for my daughter. I have seen so many posts all over the internet for new and old kitchens that you can use and just don't want to part with that kind of money when I thought I could make something myself. I was inspired by these two etsy shops:

Stove:
First I made the stove. I used a kleenex box as the middle and two Girl Scout Thin Mints boxes on both sides. Why? First, because I couldn't find the right sized box! Then, I had chopsticks around and used them to support the inside racks, that you can pull out. With the chopsticks sticking out either side of the kleenex box, I could camoflage them by putting the cookie boxes on top! But, they were too short so, now I had space at the botttom. Nothing that some mod podged paper can't cover (can you tell this was an item that grew organically?)

I used the back sheet of cardboard from a pad of paper as the backing of my oven. I cut all the stove top things out of cardboard and painted or paper. The dials can turn, they are held on by brads.

The stove door has been my enemy. I cut out the window from some Our Generation packaging. Then I used some flexible plastic strapping that held something in an Our Generation box to allow the door to open and close, sandwiching it between the door and cardboard I covered it up with. But I mod podged some cardboard over it, a bad idea. Now it's too stiff and doesn't want to stay closed. I've used a magnet but, it's not strong enough. Any ideas? I also had a silver painted chop stick glued to the door as a door handle, spaced with some beads so that you could put a towel hanging over it but, it fell off. I need to get my Gorilla glue out to put it back together.



Sink:
After the challenge of making the stove with 3 boxes, I was able to find a good sized box to use as the kitchen sink. Searching for a good sized sink was difficult but, found some small aluminum loaf pans at Walmart which I think is a good fit. I used a separate piece of cardboard as the counter top, gluing and cutting thru both, made the surface to hold the sinks much sturdier. 

Inside, you'll see I added a shelf. This is easy, because it's just a bent piece of cardboard, hot glued in. This helps because Lexie has a lot of kitchen stuff, one of my favorite things to buy and make!
The refrigerator is inspired by the box set of drawers by Karen from her post on how to make a dresser from Ritz Cracker boxes http://karenmomofthreescraft.blogspot.com/2011/02/18-inch-doll-dresser-from-ritz-cracker.html  

I really wanted to create racks that my daughter could put things in and out.
*Don't use hot glue for the large piece of putting one box inside of each other and also the shelves. Such a big area, I tried to get it in quick, before it dried. It made me a bit sloppier. Also, on the shelves it made them less level, as I tried to get them in quickly.
I'd still use the soda boxes however you may want to use a stiffer cardboard for the shelves and the freezer door. I might also cut the freezer door out of the main door next time but, then you have 2 things to latch.
I really like using the foam on the front, it looks nice and finished, easier than mod podge!
Did you notice my latch?  I wanted something low tech that a crafty girl might be able to do. I glued two thin pieces of notebook backing cardboard together and painted them. Then, I put a hole about 1/3 the way thru the latch carefully, using scissor points, and thru the side of the frig, using a needle tool. Then, I attached them with a brad so that maybe 1/4 was sticking out past the edge of the fridge. Then, I used that as a guide to put a hole thru the overlapping foam. The hole is tight, so that it holds the door together. It looks like the handle and holds it together, much better than the magnet on my stove

 Best part is the cost: $0 I had all supplies in my craft stuff. If I didn't, 3 bottles of craft paint, 1 large piece of foam, 1 brad, cardboard, hot glue, scrapbook paper for the ice maker and door shelves. That's less than $7 around here.
Tools: Hot glue gun and glue sticks, paint brushes, ruler, foam paint brush, paper trimmer for cutting foam, paper and using as a guide to emboss the paper door shelves.


I want to thank Stephenie and Lexie today for sharing this Kitchen Craft idea with us! Stephenie will be sharing more of her ideas with us through out December and in to the New year I look forward to having her share her very creative ideas with all of you.
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com