Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to you! Today is Halloween and I hope you all have a wonderful and fun Halloween celebration. Our hearts and prayers go out to those affected by the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, you are in out thoughts.

This year I was so thrilled to receive three Halloween Costumes for my dolls from my friends Amy of Lemonhead103 who sent the wonderful Star Trek outfit,

 and my friend Carol of Skippysmom's Etsy shop who sent the Cat costume and the mermaid costume!

My younger two are going as Mario and Luigi! My oldest a ghost....
So what are you and your dolls doing for Halloween?

Over at my friend Teresa's blog  Pippaloo for Dolls, We  can see her dolls are enjoying their Candy treats today.  A huge thank you to Teresa for the wonderful Dolly Sugar Cookie giveaway!

Don't forget to check out her blog and Etsy Shop!

These wonderful photos and creations for Halloween created by Pippaloo.

Have  a safe and wonderful Halloween Night!
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

Meet Stacy My New Maplelea Friend Doll.

Today I am so excited to share with you photos of my newest doll who I have named Stacy. (I named her Stacy after Candice's best friend character from the Phineas and Ferb  series.) Stacy is a New Maplelea Friend Doll.

I was so excited when Maplelea introduced the new Friends to their collection. As a Canadian, living in Canada and loving dolls as I do I am so thrilled that we have our own brand of Heirloom Quality Dolls, with so much play potential. These new Maplelea friend dolls are best friend dolls that truly represent Canadian girls.

 

Canada is a multicultural nation, we are a diverse people and our communities are rich with the culture and cuisines of may different lands. I love that in these 12 dolls girls can truly identify themselves in the features of these dolls.

 (Jenna, Saila, Leonie)

Maplelea Dolls with the addition of the new Maplelea Friends , this gives consumers eighteen , 18 inch dolls for  to choose from. The  12 new Dolls  and the 6 original Maplelea Dolls give Canadian Families an opportunity to find the dolls that best represent themselves and their friends.

I was so excited when my new Maplelea Friend Stacy arrived. I could not wait to get her out of the box! Her clothes and shoes are so well made and here silky long hair is easy to manage and to style. I love that you can give your doll her own name.
Maplelea Dolls all come with Journals  encouraging girls to write their own stories about their dolls.   Each journal comes with blank pages, as well as pages with prompts and questions to help get the creative juices flowing. 

Maplelea has recently won Dr. Toy's Best Picks 2012 Children's Products Award for high standards in safety, design, durability, diversity, price, social responsibility, uniqueness and value.

"This award is for products that offer children something “extra”,
those optimal benefits that enable children to
learn and have fun playing."

I have been the proud owner of Maplelea Products since 2010, when I first discovered that Canada had their own 18 inch dolls. I am so thrilled that today I have added a Maplelea Friend  to my doll collection and this holiday season if you are looking to add to your doll family I highly recommend Maplelea and their wonderful line of 18 inch dolls, clothing and accessories.  To visit Maplelea on line please click on any of the highlighted words in this post or click here to be redirected to their website. You can also find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Maplelea-Girls/350099755049654

or follow them on Twitter   https://twitter.com/#!/mapleleagirls

You can contact Maplelea   24 hours per day, 7 days per week by phone at  1-800-668-4339.

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 

 

What is your doll carrying her treats in this Halloween?

Madelon sent in these beautiful photos of her doll using a metal Jack O Lantern to carry her treats in this Halloween, She made another adorable hand stamped shirt for her dolls, the one below has two silver bats and the word "Boo", Madelon made these shirts for her dolls and shared how in a post with us last week to see that post please click here.

I love that you can find all kinds of treat bags that your dolls can "carry" this for Halloween

This one is Metal but my local dollar store had some great plastic ones too.

In my Doll Diaries post from Friday October 26th you can see on the table in the back ground the ones I got at my dollar store, the ones my dolls are holding were sent to me from my Friend Amy of Lemonhead 103 's Etsy shop, when I purchased Halloween Socks from her! Love these!

Last year on Doll Diaries I showed you can use or re use a plastic Halloween treat bag as a Treat bag for your doll as well. Click here for that Post.

Remember to use what you have and keep your eyes open for items you can use in doll play everyday!
As with all our posts we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Order Early to avoid disappointment! Furniture from Madi Grace Designs

I did a recent pole on my facebook fan page asking what people thought was the best gift to get as a Doll lover, while Clothing was the most popular. Furniture was a close second. I think it is important to point out that if you are planing on ordering furniture for the doll lover in your life this up coming holiday season, you will want to order early!

 As we grow in our doll play, our doll play collections need to evolve as well. Giving doll lovers furniture and accessories to scale for their dolls really does enhance their doll play.

MadiGraceDesigns Etsy shop owner Tracey tells me that business is very steady and orders for this holiday season should be placed as soon as possible. At this time they are completing all orders received until the end of this month and they will reassess their order requests in Mid November. To avoid appointment order early! 

To visit Madi Grace Designs and place an order for this holiday season please click here.
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

A Festive Place to sit! A Madelon's Fun Find!

Madelon found this adorable Candle Holder that looks like a Halloween Chair. It is perfect for 18 inch doll play.

 

This chair is such a great find and I know that with this Halloween Season Ending you will be able to find great deals on Halloween Decor that will be marked down to great prices you can tuck away for doll play for next year or add to your child's collection for year round play.

This photo shows Samantha seated in the chair, I love her fun fall dress!

Be sure to keep your eyes out for this and other fun finds you can add to your doll play collection.

As with all our posts we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment below or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com 

Madelon's fun find-Make a Halloween Dress for your doll

Today Madelon's fun find is this wonderful dress she made for her doll from Halloween tea towels.
"I made a no-sew outfit from a tea towel which I bought as set of two for 4 dollars. I like the starched material and the fact that it has a hem."

"I added an extra Velcro on the skirt where it was thick. Many dollar plus type stores sell tea towels for a dollar twenty five."

To make the top, Madelon used the stripped part of the tea towel. And used the bottom part with the witch as her skirt. She used sticky back Velcro dots to keep the skit to stay on and tied the striped fabric at the back to create the top.

I love these tea towels and will look for them for myself and my kitchen but I love what Madelon Created for today's fun find! Thank you Madelon!
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

Make your dolls their own Jack-O-Lanterns and treat

Today Madelon has shared with us another great Halloween find. Using a Clay Sulpting kit, along with two real mini pupkins she made adorable Jack-O-Lanterns for her dolls.

Using tape Madelon attached the faces and hats to her mini pumpkins.

I love the pumpkin on the right don't you?

Using the clay the kit included Madelon made doll sized treats to share with her dolls!

The Apple on a Stick treats can be made with bamboo kitchen skewers or thicker tooth picks. Such a great idea!

Now her dolls are ready for Halloween! This craft kit was another wonderful example of re purposing every day items in to doll play. Madelon's great fun find cost $1 plus mini pumpkins! Such  a great and inexpensive rainy day activity!
As with all our posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Make a great Halloween Shirt for your doll!

Madelon is more creative then ever! She came up with this fun and easy craft that could be done for any party or occasion. Using preemie undershirts she got at Marshells she created a great Holiday Shirt for her dolls!

 5 preemie sized undershirts for $4!

 

Using a holiday rubber stamp and markers Madelon created a perfect Holiday shirt!

"I cut the udnershirt at the bottom, put cardboard in it, inked the pad and stamped the outline of the candy corn in orange. Next I colored in the orange and yellow on the candy. I used Messagestor brush pens.I am going to get more rubber stamps and make some more shirts. I love onesies (undershirts) and tees in size preemie!" Says Madelon

Madelon  did a great job on this shirt! Keep your eyes out for preemie shirts and use your own stamps to create holiday tops for your dolls. This would make a great party craft don't you think?
Thank you Madelon for today's fun find! We love it when you share your ideas with us!
As with all our posts we would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com
 

Add Madelon's "Jam Jars" to your Farmers Market Play set!

Madelon has truly inspired me so much with her recent doll play ideas and jam jar idea for dolls is brilliant.

Madelon found these 4 jar candles for only 50 cents each! They are the perfect dolly size and they come in wonderful fall colors and scents.

Using some fall themed fabric and some  twin (you could also use raffia) to cover the lids these little jars really look like homemade jam and would look wonderful on your dolls shelf and would go perfectly with the Dolly Farmers Market play set Madelon shared with us yesterday.

 "I got some twine and found some Fall colored fabric. The trick is to cut a fairly large square and then trim it once you have placed it on the candle lid and tied it." says Madelon

 Cover the jar with a generous piece of fabric!

Tie the twine around the lid tightly! Make a knot.

Trim the excess.

I love the finished product, don't you?

Thank you Madelon for this wonderful idea! You are a great asset to our Craft blog team!
As with all our posts we would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com