Make Your Own Doll Fascinators For The Royal Wedding

Years back I shared my tutorial on Doll Diaries for doll sized Fascinators. I created these fun accessories for  my dolls and friends ahead of the last royal wedding and this past weekend I was back at it making some for myself for the Royal Wedding on May 19th!

I am a big fan of the floral ones and made 5 different ones just for fun.
If you are excited about the wedding too and want to try your hand at making these you can check out my tutorial on Doll Diaries by clicking here. 

Thank you for joining me here today I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Valentines Day Throwback Craft

I can not believe it was 4 years ago I made this craft for Doll Diaries. Today I wish to reshare it with you all here. You can find my tutorial on Doll Diaries by clicking here. 

From all of us here at Karen Mom of Three's Craft Blog we wish you a happy and fun Valentines Day. Thank you for joining us here we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com

Karen's Adventure Back To Barbie

Karen here and my nieces have been here a few days this week playing with the Barbies and we were talking about making doll clothes. I want so much to be able to crochet and this would be on my list of things to make. I am going to try to figure out this free pattern from redheart yarns and I am sharing this pattern link with you incase you want to try it too. 

http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/crochet-fashion-doll-snuggle-sleeves

Thank you for joining us here today we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com

Karen's adventures back to Barbies

Well as ones favorite aunty I took it upon myself to grant my very young nieces wish of having Barbie and all of her sisters. Now I started this journey at  Walmart and while I love my niece and Barbie, when I priced out the three sisters my bill would have been just over $60 before tax.

I knew I could find these sisters as once loved dolls and spent the better part of three weeks looking in the various thrift stores near my home but without too much luck.

I did however manage to not only locate but bring home all the sisters after a serendipitous trip to a thrift store last Saturday morning post hockey. I remembered one near the hockey rink that I had not yet checked out. It proved to be a very good stop! 

I first spotted the little sister now known as Chelsea who used to be Kelly
I got 4 for $3.99, one in a non removable bathing suit, two with legs that swing wildly and one that is in great shape but has permanent panties and nothing else.

 Next I was thrilled to find Skipper, now with Brown hair and a purple streak just like my niece asked for. she had her clothes on thankfully but no shoes. Still a great deal at $3.99

I was over the moon when for $1.99 I found sister Stacie. She was with ut any clothing but I knew we could fix that at home.

For good measure I picked up a Barbie, who was dressed and had her glued on shoes, for an additional $3.99, she was the one my niece had looked at online Friday and decided she was tops on her wish list.

I set them all up on her Barbie pool and when she came in she was so happy and excited, she said "Auntie this is wonderful!" and she was so thrilled to play.

This has been another wonderful and successful week in my journey back to Barbie. Thanks for coming along. I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com 

Karen's Adventures Back To Barbie

This week the Barbie fun continues at my house, with niece number 6 (number 7's older sister) who spent the day crafting and playing with me all by herself!
Our neighbor gave us an amazing gift of a Barbie playset that opens into a bedroom with a bath tub. It was hard to say who was more excited me or my niece!

We started out day at the dollar and craft stores for our day of crafting and we picked up these fun foam sheets that have a towel like surface. My niece who is 7 had remarked earlier that the dolls needed towels for the pool playset.

These were so easy to work with and very inexpensive!

We folded the foam sheets in half and then cut a straight line and this was one of the easiest crafts we have ever done!

A great time was had on our special Auntie and Niece day, and much fun was had creating for Barbie.
Thank you for joining us here today we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com

Karen's Adventures back to Barbie!

Well I held off in sharing the new barbies with my youngest Niece 4 days. But the reaction I got was well worth it!

#thatfirstbarbiefeeling there is magic in that first doll of your own. Capturing that feeling was worth every penny. She was over the moon with the pool and throughout the afternoon I brought out each of the 5 Barbies I had bought at the dollar store for her. It was better than Christmas.

All in all the pool exceeded my expectations too, it was very easy to put together, had easy to access play options and made this Auntie and little one very happy!

A great journey back to that Barbie Feeling I had growing up. 

Thank you for joining us today, we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com 

Karen's Adventures back to Barbies...

I am writing with excitement this morning, my niece PB who is three and very sure of her likes and dislikes asked me on Friday, "Aunty Please can you give me Barbie, her sisters, her swimming pool and her dream house, for my birthday?" this was music to my ears. Now her birthday is not until November and well this Aunty just might not make her wait as I am so very excited to share that the Barbie pool was on clearance at Walmart on Saturday so I had to pick it up.
I am more excited than anyone as she is the only one of my 8 nieces that seemed even remotely interested in Barbie! So I get to play. My sister when I told her about the request said "Only if it stays at your house!" I was like "Yes!" So I am anxious to set this up when she comes for her weekly playdate with me. But then we would need Barbies so....

 Don't let me loose in the Dollar store with a gift card! Actually I think I got a really good deal as these dolls at Walmart Canada are $5 each so it was like getting one for free.  Now I am on the lookout for a Skipper with dark hair, Stacy and Chelsea who used to be Kelly...
I am so excited and will keep you posted on our Barbie Adventure. Thank you for joining us here today we would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Throwback Thursday To One of My Doll Diaries Science Themed Crafts

Back in 2014 I was working for Doll Diaries and we had a great time creating science themed crafts for our dolls. Today I am looking back at the craft I made and part of science I loved then and love today, Volcanoes!

This was an easy and fun craft I made, I know that the doll lover in your life, or maybe you yourself may wish to make some of the science themed crafts we did all those years ago. Click here for the link to that craft on the Doll Diaries Website. 

Thank you for joining us here today we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com

Wishing You A Very Merry Christmas and A Very Happy Anniversary.

Dear Friends,

This Christmas Day marks 7 years since I began this blog.  Truth be told I did not know what to expect nor could I have imagined what was to come, in those last few minutes before I hit publish just a few minutes before midnight on Christmas Eve.  I am today looking back on what I feel has been an incredible journey both professionally and personally.

Personally, I started this blog on the eve of the first Christmas I was facing without my mother. She died rather suddenly in September of 2010. In my grief I began sewing as a way to keep my hands busy and my mind focused on something other then the absence in my life. 

At the time I had a 5 nieces all enjoying dolls and sewing for them for Christmas, knowing they were going to be getting American Girl Dolls that year was very soothing. As three of those nieces lived in Montreal, I began taking photos of my work to share with my sister in Montreal and I posted them on Facebook. After many likes and inquires into my work it was suggested that I start my own blog. Not really knowing what I was doing I stumbled into blogger and set this one up and named my blog after a title I hold very dear, Karen, Mom of Three.

Writing the blog helped me in so many ways, creatively, through the grief process, and it helped me work on my own reading skills, and I found it greatly helped with my profound dyslexia. I guess there really is something to be said for practice.

My photography improved as well. My doll collection grew, and grew and at one point I had a sign up that said "My doll room runneth over"
I have had in the last 7 years the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of doll lovers and those who love them. I have attended 7 American Girl Doll Stores, two openings and participated in media events that related to doll releases and events.

I have managed to gift dolls and products that were sent to me to review to families of doll lovers who were much less fortunate than myself. Over the years my collection massed more than 30, 18 inch dolls and it is currently sitting at around 12. Each smile of the families who were recipients of dolls I donated stays with me and makes me very proud that as a community of doll lovers who give to me their attention and take time to read my work, helped put dolls into the hands of those who needed it most.

I tell you all of this today to thank you for taking your time to join us here daily after all this time. While some of my original readers have perhaps outgrown their hands on doll play days, I hope that the creativity and the love of dolls stays with them for a lifetime.

I have also had the amazing pleasure of working with and sharing ideas with the team here. Madelon, Brandy, Jessica T, Jenny and Nikki (from years ago) give their time and ideas freely to all of us, their photos and their research and I am thankful for each of them today as well.

Thank you to all those who have advertised here with us this year, who make it easier for us all to enjoy doll play through their vision, patterns, hand craftsmanship and ideas.

I hope you will take the rest of the day and the upcoming days to spend with your families, your dolls and the things that make you the most happy.

I will be taking some time off here, don't worry just a few days to reflect and prepare for 2018.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas from all of us here and look forward to spending more time with you all again very soon!
Best Wishes,
Karen M. Owen and the team here at Karen Mom of Three's Craft Blog.

A Look Back At One Of My Most Favorite Barbies....

One Barbie I loved that I wish I still have was Western Barbie. I remember how excited I was to get her one Christmas I think it was 1981. I also remember the way her plastic hat smelled and felt. It was so amazing to me that this doll winked!

This was pretty state of the art at the time and I remember the feel of that white suit too! This was a doll that had a lot of play in my collection.

I passed most of my Barbie stuff down to my sisters through the years so this one is long gone but I have the wonderful memories of this one.

We hope that you enjoyed this week's series on the dolls and toys we used to love!
We would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com

Sewing My First Outfit for Curvy Barbie

This summer I bought myself one of the new curvy Barbie's and I have been sitting her looking at her for a few months and realized that she has not once had a change of clothes.  I was watching videos by the amazin My Froggy Stuff and she had a tutorial for how to make Joggers and thought I would give it a try using a t-shirt I had on hand.

I was really pleased with how easy this was to do and it was even easy to sew. Some people hate sewing jersey but it is really easy if you go slow and the results were exactly what I hoped for, easy on and off clothes that my nieces or friend Angela could put on and take off the doll. 

I got so excited that I also made a top out of the scraps and as you can see in the top photo I made a long Maxi skirt for her as well. I am so thankful that My Froggy Stuff has so many amazing tutorials to help doll lovers of all ages get more out of doll play. 

You can find My Froggy Stuff Video Tutorial by clicking here. 
That was actually the first time I got the sewing machine out in a really long time. It was fun to make something so quick and have such great results.
Thank you for joining us here today we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com

Throwback Series To The Toys We Have Loved... My Little Pony Stable, Karen Christmas 1983

Karen here and starting this Thursday we have a series we hope you will like in a look back at toys we have loved over the years. Each of us will share some of our most favorite toys from when we grew up. Some we still have some we wish we still had and some we are actively looking to find.

The above photo is of me holding a Strawberry Shortcake doll, and by my hip I my most favorite gift that year which was my My Little Pony Stable. I had one Pony Minty, I still remember how she smelled and walking to the shopping mall toy story with my great grandmother to purchase her 6 months before this photo was taken. I remember putting together this stable and this is a toy I wish I HAD still!

This is a photo of what the Show Stable looked like.

My original Minty is long gone like my stable but I did buy the 25th Anniversary one and have her by my desk. I would love to have this stable back and my original Minty!  While they did a great job with bringing these back for the anniversary, they made Minty a different color! The Original one was not quite the same color. Boy I would love to have the original one!

I remember carrying the stable with me through out the house and playing with my little sister Bre (the curly blonde in the Christmas photo, she had Cotton Candy the pink one and my baby sister Pumpy not shown as she was only a few month old that Christmas, used to chew on the my little ponies we had for the bath!
 Such fun memories and a goal going forward for me trying to find the pony stable and having it to play with when my nieces come over again.

Thank you for taking a trip down memory lane with me this week. I can not wait to see what Jessica T, Madelon, Brandy and Jenny have to share with us during this series.
We love hearing from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com

Barbie Tip Tuesday My Review Of Number 51 Barbie Fashionista

Karen here, as you may know I am a lifelong barbie fan. This is me one Christmas in the Early 1980's. I played with this Barbie camper van non stop until the wheels broke off. This was the coolest Barbie item I ever had. I am sharing this photo today and letting you know that today is going to be the first in a new series celebrating my love of Barbies.

I have been really excited with the release of the new line of dolls of all sizes from the Mattel Barbie line and I purchased one of those Barbies in July. I had not bought a Barbie in years and my niece and I went to Walmart to pick her out after much discussion with a few of my doll loving friends about this new feature I was thinking of for the blog.  So today I am sharing my review of my new Barbie who is Number 51

I purchased my number 51 Barbie Fashionista for $10 Canadian at my local Walmart. I chose her because her body type is like mine. I would have loved to have found one with blue eyes like mine but this was one that called to me.

One of the first things I noticed about this Barbie when I opened the package is the feeling of the Barbies limbs. They feel really quite plastic like and remind me of dollar store barbies, however they are quite strong. The Barbies I grew up with had more of a rubbery feel. Also my new doll doesn't have any limbs that bend. She has "perma panties" which are molded on and she came with this sweet dress and pink plastic necklace. Her hair is lovely and I love her little white runners.  The dress she came with is not well made but I like the colors and all the polka dots.

All in all I am really happy with this Barbie, I love her shape, her hair and her price point. I look forward to feeling inspired again to create and share my love of a different doll with you all on Tuesdays. I hope you will share with the Barbie lover in your life, and share your love of these dolls with me in the comment section below.

Thank you for joining me here today for the first of my Barbie Tip Tuesday series. I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Jessica T's Saturday Sewing Suggestions! Week 9- Make My Sleep Mask For Your Dolls!

I was so honored when Jessica T chose my Dolly Sleep Mask tutorial to share with you today.

It is hard for me to believe that I did this tutorial in 2011! Click here for the tutorial.

This is an easy and fun one you can even do for a sleep over craft or lootbag take home craft!
Thank you Jessica T for today's suggestion and choosing one of my own!
We would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com

Adorable Etsy Finds- Steampunk Inspired

This week as you may know I have been promoting an upcoming book and series that I have been reading called Maddie Hatter and the Gilded Gauge. I have been so inspired and have had so many Steampunk craft ideas going through my head that this week I wanted to invite you all to the up coming book party on Facebook on July 26th and share some Etsy favorites that are also steam punk inspired. But first here is your party invitation....

I am co-hosting this wonderful and fun interactive event and I have some fun craft tutorials and games you are not going to want to miss! I hope to see you there! Click here to learn more. 

I have shared this wonderful Tea Time Fabric Panel before and was reminded of this easy and fast way to add a little steampunk excitement to your doll wardrobe!

Click here to see how you can make this fun outfit for your dolls. 

If you are not into sewing your own outfit take a look at this sweet ready made outfit from Cozy Country Quilt Etsy Shop. Click here for shop and listing.

Perhaps you would like to add a ready to ship Steampunk Inspired doll with outfit to your doll family! Check out Rika's Needle and Thread Etsy Shop. I was so impressed with their work and their details! Click here for this Etsy Shop! 

I love this doll and outfit also offered in Rika's Needle and Thread Shop. This is a steal at $76.34 CND at time of posting! 

If you are looking for an outfit for a boy doll you have to check out  The Nutty Needle Etsy Shop and this Steampunk inspired look! Click here for shop and listing.

Learn more about this exciting adventure series for ages 10+  by visiting Author Jayne Barnard's Website by clicking here. 

Thank you for joining us here today and I would love it if you could join us at the online Facebook Party on the 26th of June, just stop by and join in the fun! 

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