bodner072

A tiny baby doll plays in his car shaped ball pit. Soon it will become a part of his bedroom in our dollhouse.        Ball pits don't need to be round, standard shaped enclosures. These playful additions may be shaped like almost anything when you use your imagination. Just think about what you would like in your own bedroom and turn it into a ball pit for fun! After all a doll's bedroom can become any kind of a fun space, if you are willing to craft it yourself. This ball pit, photo by Fredriksson, is life size and inside of a pretend ship in- stead of a car! Read more about ball  pits at Wikipedia. Supply List: a front end of a toy car Styrofoam balls papier mache pulp paper egg cartoon black tape black, white and orange acrylic paint red glitter glue masking tape cardboard white school glue two identical buttons for tail lights Step-by-Step Directions:         First you will need to acquire the front end of a toy car at resale f...

Left, Ashley doll is baby sitting. Center, someone small peeks through the sides of our playpen. Right, peek-a-boo is easy to play from inside a playpen.        You don't have to create a doll play pen with an ordinary round shaped bottle. Try something unique by recycling an eight sided hydrogen peroxide bottle. Below are the following supplies you will need for this baby doll furniture. Supply List: recycled hydrogen peroxide bottle sharp cutting tool like an X-ACTO knife masking tape hot glue gun and hot glue a recycled soft mesh liner or bag (potato bag) felt  or fleece and scrap fabric (your choice of color combinations) waxed dental floss white cotton long, large sewing needle cardboard  metal or quilter's thimble made from leather Step-by-Step Directions:        First, cut out the doll playpen from your choice of recycled plastic bottle using an X-ACTO knife. If you are younger than 13 or 14 years of age, you ...

       I will keep an ongoing record of the miniature dolls that I have discovered in resale, flee markets, Goodwill etc... for those of you who are interested in our doll collections here. MGA Quints 5-sies 3" tall with rocking horses, high chairs, baby bottles, sippy cups, rattles, blocks,  bowls and teddy bears. Originally the toys, high chairs and dolls were sold separately for $20.00. I purchased all of the above in one bag plus much more for $3.00. These three inch dolls are the perfect size for Barbie's family and friends. Slightly smaller than the Quints dolls and so life-like, these babies are by TOOB.  Our fashion dolls will love parenting this group! These dolls are still currently sold.   These two inch porcelain dolls dressing lacy Victorian styled clothing are the kind of dolls little girls love to collect.

Left, two finished tennis rackets for our fashion dolls. Center, one of our dolls (a curvy Fashionista)  is dressed and ready to play. I've included a pattern of her tank T-shirt below.  Right, tennis racket covers made from felt will protect the racket from wear and tear.        A tennis match between doll friends may be something you will need to craft on your own. So I have included here the first part of this DIY crafty sport, the rackets. Soon there will be an additional post showing how I made the tennis court and net. Supply List: black tape (color preference) wire masking tape green acrylic paint (or a different color of your own choosing) fine mesh netting (plastic, may be purchased from a hardware store) tacky craft glue white felt (a small amount) Step-by-Step Instructions: Download and print out the tennis racket pattern below. Shape wires into tennis rackets up against the pattern for twisting the wire.  Wrap the racket in masking tape unt...

  Description of Coloring Page: a little girl reads a bedtime story to her teddy bear, stuffed animal, night time, text "Once upon a time...", patchwork quilt, bare feet, flannel night gown, book Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Rachel and her twin sister, Rosie, are lounging on their bedroom bean bag chairs.        These bean bag chairs are sewn using fleece so that the material will not unravel while a young crafter is working with it. I used solid, bright colors that will blend into the colors of the twin's bedroom. However, these chairs can look very different depending upon the material you select for them.         In the past, I have seen people stuff them with perishable products like beans and rice. I would not recommend that you do this because these food stuffings will attract pets, mice or insects to your doll collections. If you do not have the pocket change to purchase plastic pellets, the best alternative is cotton batting. Read about the history behind the bean bag chair Cut pieces for the bean bag chair are marquise shapes. Supply List: matching threads and needle plastic pellets to stuff the bean bag chairs with felt or fleece scraps pattern (below) ...

Learn to craft colorful, fancy cone shaped hats for each of your fashion dolls. Trim them with silks, ribbons, embroidery etc... The conical hats are called hennin;   read more about them at Wikipedia . Above, Hans Memling's painting of a young woman with a black velvet lappets and a conical shaped hat.        The headdress in the shape of a cone or "steeple", or truncated cone were worn in the late Middle Ages by European princesses and women of the nobility. Various writers on costume history use hennin to cover a variety of different styles. Almost all agree that the steeple-cone style was the original hennin. You can make these theatrical looking princess hats for all of your Barbie dolls! Supply List: cardboard masking tape hot glue gun and hot glue needle and matching threads silk scraps, scarfs, transparent fabric scraps ribbons to match cotton balls tacky craft glue  one large paper clip decorative thin silk ribbons (8 inches per hat) ...

This sweet little summer top is finished off with tiny blue embroidered flowers. I cut and attached these  from a repurposed kerchief. This baby sock fits my curvy Barbie perfectly.        This summer top with spaghetti string shoulder straps was made from a recycled baby sock and a bit of embroidery transfer. The cuff of the sock is used here as the waist edging on the doll. The toe of the sock was cut away and the raw edges were finished with a tacky white glue. As soon as the edges were dry, I finished these with blanket stitching all along the top of the garment. Then I attached some yarn at either shoulder to act as my spaghetti string straps.

Each pair of sock slacks have cute little belts made from embroidery floss and beads.        Make cool weather slacks for your fashion dolls from recycled long ribbed socks. Our versions may be made either by hand or on a sewing machine if you prefer. Supply List: ribbed socks: grey or charcoal white embroidery thread regular thread tacky craft glue or no-fray  beads long paper tube Step-by-Step Instructions: Measure the length of your doll's legs and add two additional inches to approximate the length between it's belly button and it's crotch. Cut this measurement from the top of a ribbed sock down. Turn the sock clipping upside down so that the finished edge becomes the bottom edge of the slacks. Insert a long paper tube inside the cut sock so that you can apply tacky or no-fray along the clipped edge without the glue coming in contact with any other surface. Let it dry. Remove the tube. Now measure approximately two inches down from the waist edge a...

This little fashion doll is ready to go to a party. She  wears a green and yellow, rainbow colored hair ex- tension that took only minutes to snip, tie and clip into place.        Rainbow colored wigs are much easier to purchase during October and February because  these are the months that Christians celebrate All Hallows Eve and Mardi Gras in costume.        The wig you see pictured below was purchased for $1.00 in it's original package and has never been worn previously.         You will also need to buy some very tiny hair clips to attach your doll's hair extensions. These may be found in dollar stores and grocery stores in hair care supply. Supply List: colorful rainbow wig thread to match hair colors tacky craft glue sharp scissors mini hair clamps Step-by-Step Instructions: Cut a length of wig approximately 3 to 4 inches. Squeeze craft glue onto the tips of the fibers. Wrap the thread matching the natura...

This striped sock sweater/jersey includes a turtleneck collar and ribbing on both the sleeves and around the waist. This sock sweater requires two socks in order to include the stripes and ribbing on the sleeves.  This jersey (above) is sewn from a pair of socks. Sewing with sock can be tricky but the results are very pleasing. Some tips to remember: Sew with very small stitches and sew over your stitches several times to prevent unraveling. The clothes only look as good as the socks, so, use either new or like-new socks to begin with. Choose interesting patterns and colors that suite the age your doll represents. Try to avoid stretching the socks while you work with them. This will prevent oddly shaped garments. Use very strong thread for sock crafts such as these. Sometimes I will even use dental floss to sew with knit materials for dolls. Use a sticky craft glue or no-fray fabric glue when working with the knit socks to prevent unraveling.  Whether you use one sock or two t...

Barbie Doll dressed in knit top, skirt and faux leather boots. Click here to see how to sew the sweater.        Knit doll clothes cut from recycled sweaters and socks can be finished in such a way as to prevent future unraveling to some extent. However, you must treat the clipped ends of the knitted stitches with a fabric glue or tacky glue!        These clipped ends must also be sewed securely, making sure to pass a fine needle back through each row of the knit and firmly sewing shut any stitched seams with several tight lines of straight stitches. Supply List: sleeve from a knit sweater (recycled clothing) needle and thread to match tacky, white craft glue or no-sew fabric glue Step-by-Step Directions: Cut a clean, laundered sleeve from a knit garment. You can cut two knit skirts from an adult woman's size sweater for one 11 1/2 inch doll. Lay the sleeve out on a clean flat surface to cut. Lay your fashion doll on top of the sleev...

First, apply the stickers to the inside walls of the transparent container.        It's fun to make this simple craft with containers you can recycle from your own kitchen. Cover it with fishy stickers and just a bit of paint and your ready to have a splashing good time with your dolls. Supply List: a recycled food dish (plastic) fish stickers blue paint Mod Podge decorative paper (mine had printed tiles) Step-by-Step Instructions: Clean the discarded, transparent food container with warm soap and water. Let it dry. Adhere stickers on the inside of the container. Apply Mod Podge to the inside of the container over the stickers. Let the glue dry between several applications. Paint the outside of the container with blue paint and let this dry. Decoupage clippings from a decorative sheet of paper on the exterior of the container if you want even more detail on the baby doll pool. Layer Mod Podge on top of the outside walls as well. Both Above and Below, you can see o...

The tiny doll inside our homemade doll pit seen from three angles. One cherry tomato container clean and ready to use.         You can make a sunny little ball pit from a cherry tomato container for your doll's nursery.                 I chose to use this recycled container because of it's transparent walls and dome shape. Doll mamas can keep a close watch on their little ones through it's walls while they play! Supply List: cherry tomato container Styrofoam balls one yellow felt square  hot glue gun and hot glue masking tape  light weight cardboard Step-by-Step Directions: Clean the container with warm soap and water after the tomatoes have been eaten. Remove the top part of the container to work on the bottom first. With a small pair of sharp scissors, cut out the large bulbous dome from the bottom half of the container. This is very easy to remove and has a tacky li...

Fashion dolls ranging from eleven inches to fourteen can sit comfortably in these faux Mid-Century Modern chairs. On the far left are two Brat dolls and on the far right is a 14 inch Mattel Barbie and a Lisa Frank doll seated together in the same set of Mid-Century modern, doll chairs.        These faux fiberglass chairs are made from paper mache of course! I painted them bright orange and covered their lower halves in faux wood grain shelf paper that I purchased from a local dollar store.        This project was indeed made simpler because of the shoe forms. Some shoes are sold with these cardboard inserts included in their box. These paper mache forms keep the shoes looking new and prevent the crushing of shoe tops in transportation and storage.        In this post I will demonstrate how I transformed the orange, faux fiberglass, chair designs. I used the bottom halves of each shoe form for the...