{DIY 18" Doll Sleeping Bag}

So now that we have TWO American Girl dolls, they will be having sleepovers. :) We have one beautiful handmade doll bed that you can see a little bit of here.  My father-in-law creates beautiful wooden furniture, so we are fortunate to have a bed, table and chairs, and school desk for FREE. (That's the only way we would have those things, believe me. Yikes on the prices!) So, it's actually wide enough that both dolls can sleep side-by-side, but when they are camping out they really need a sleeping bag. ;)

Again, price the "real" thing and.....it ain't happenin'. My OWN sleeping bag cost only a little more than that. So I grabbed some purple fleece from the clearance remnant rack at Joann's and got started.

I measured it just by laying the doll down and guessing. I think it turned out pretty well. I sewed together 2 pieces of purple for both the front and back side, sliding a thin piece of cotton batting between each of the two pieces. This makes it feel more like a sleeping bag, and it's SO SOFT I want to sleep in it! This doll is camping in luxury!

I sewed scrap ribbon inside of the top piece to use as the roll-up tie. I also sewed velcro along the side, but not the full length of the sleeping bag.

I made a little pillow that you can tuck inside before you roll it up. I kind-of wish I had just made the back piece longer, but it's fine this way, too. Live and learn!

I used scrap felt to make the butterfly on the front, and stitched a swirl design freehand to look like the butterfly 'flutter'. It's hard to see that part in this picture.

It rolls up nicely and tucks away so it doesn't take up space (and it's easy for her to carry of course).

This cost me about $6 total. The purple remnant I bought was MUCH more than I needed, but it was cheap and I figured I would use it for another project later on. The 'real thing' is in the $30's, without S&H, so I'm counting it as a score.

And look....she must like it because she's sleeping so peacefully!

I have so much fun making things for my kiddo to play with, and even more so when it's soooo much cheaper than buying the same thing! I'm rewarded with gratefulness from a sweet girl, and that's really the best part.

Email me if you have any questions about it!

Thanks for stopping by,

{DIY American Girl Tutu}

Have you priced ballet sets for American Girl? Yikes! We have tons of clothes for our American Girl dolls, and only a few are 'original' AG purchases. The rest are homemade, or purchased from other handmade sellers who are more proficient than I. :) I do like to get free patterns from Liberty Jane, and we've made 4-5 pieces using them. I am not so great at sewing clothes, however, so I look for other sources pretty frequently. We have a favorite Ebay store that I highly recommend for American Girl doll clothes. Email me if you would like the info and I'm happy to share!

Sp in lieu of a purchased ballet set, and since her lessons are, in fact, FREE...we improvised and made our own ballet tutu.

Today's project is what I like to call "on-the-fly"...meaning I had a random thought to make it, then sat down and fifteen minutes later it was done. Not a lot of thought, which can sometimes be the projects that are the most fun.

SUPER easy to make for the 18" doll in your life.

Here's what you need:

scrap tulle

ponytail band,in pink or a neutral color

scissors

I started by measuring the doll from the waist down to where I wanted the tutu to fall on her legs. My tulle strips were cut (and not precisely) to about 5" long. I had lots leftover from my Fancy Bird Nest, so I just started cutting on that. It takes lots of strips, so just keep cutting. :) 

After you cut your strips, you are basically just going to start tying knots on the ponytail band, all the way around. I thought it was easiest to tie the knots on while the ponytail band was actually around the doll's waist. Slide a strip through...

...and tie it in a tight knot.

Slide each knot very close to each other, and the tutu will be fuller. 

Just keep doing this all the way around, knotting, tightening, and sliding the knots close together. It's that simple!

I left lots of extra at the top of the tutu to start with, so that I could cut it to size and not worry about mistakes. Once I got 4-5 strips knotted, I went back and trimmed the top pieces sticking up to about where I wanted them to stick up above the waist.

See how much extra I gave myself? Once you have it all trimmed, it looks like this:

So easy, and you now have a tutu for cheap! :)

We could have purchased the whole ballet outfit for $40-$50, and I know it would have been lovely and quality. (I've been happy with ALL of our American Girl purchases.) BUT...my kiddo doesn't play ballet with her dolls every day, and for that price, I would want her to. It doesn't seem right to MAKE her play ballet everyday (wink), so we went with a modified ballet outfit for only a dollar or two and I don't care what she does with it. (Last time I saw this it was stuffed in a dresser drawer.)  :) That's the beauty of kid-projects on-the-cheap, no?

Make one of these for the doll in your life...or show your daughters how and enjoy a project together. Afterward you can meet up at the 'studio' for a lesson and some ice cream afterward. :)

Have a great day,

{'All About Me' Booklets for Dolls}

Santa added a second American Girl doll to our home this year and the fun hasn't stopped. Dare I say that Mom likes all this doll stuff as much as the kiddo does? I hate to admit it, but I get a little pulled in to the tiny realism! My kiddo was wishing out loud for little booklets for each doll to write down their favorite things. Alas, she was writing on PLAIN scrap paper that had no flair at all. What???! So I went to my own scraps (the scraps with flair) and came up with these.

I made these exactly like my Scrappy Quote Chipboard Book , I just changed the size. Again, I used cereal boxes as my chipboard, and adhered scrapbook paper to both sides of that to make the front and back covers.

I created the pages in Word, and printed them on white cardstock.

One likes horses and one is from Hawaii. :)

 I punched the holes with my Crop-a-Dile and bound the books with hemp cord.

These are 5x7 for the overall measurements and my kiddo {loves} them! She wants me to make one for her, but since she's a living, breathing-not-plastic-and-stuffing person, I think she should have the store bought version. :)

If you'd like to make some of these for the 18" dolls in your life, you can download the pages I made here:

Kanani's All About Me Pages

General Doll All About Me Pages

I also added one blank page at the end just for drawing or miscellaneous.

Have fun playing!

I'm linking up to these parties:

 

{Kid Stuff Re-Org - For the Little Things }

After a recent trip to Build-a-Bear on a much anticipated shopping trip, I realized that the American Girl and BAB accessories were in need of an organizational re-vamp. 

We solved it really quickly and easily and here's how!

My daughter has a large dresser with deep drawers that are really handy for storing things like this.

The top drawer is for clothing, and the bottom is for storage or miscellaneous. I bought 3 baskets at the Dollar Tree and started sorting. Now we have one large basket for some of her own larger dress-up items, 1 basket for Build-a-Bear accessories, and 1 basket for American Girl clothing/shoes. We tried doll hangers for quite a while for the AG doll clothes, but seriously...I can't keep the clothes on the hangers, let alone a 6 year old!

 

Dres-up items...American Girl clothes/shoes...and BAB stuff!

Now she can find what she's looking for. I love it when everything has a home!

Then I bought this plastic organizer at Hobby Lobby for $1.99, just for all the little American Girl things we have...like food, plates, etc. They were originally in a basket, too, but the stuff is little and hard to dig through. This works perfectly!

Simple things really make a big difference!

Have a good one,

{Doll Bed Rag Quilt}

Hello, hello! It seems like it's been too long. We've been having fun on our Spring Break so posts have gone by the wayside this past week. Back at it though, and I wanted to share a project I completed a while ago.

I made this for my daughter's American Girl bed, but you could adapt it to any doll, stuffed animal, or even a real baby. :)  

Isn't it adorable?!!

Very easy to make, especially if you have a die-cut machine. I've not yet been blessed with a Silhouette, so I use my trusty Cuttlebug and Sizzix dies for soooooo many things.

 I purchased the poodle and solid pink fabric, but the pink pattern fabric on the front and back are actually $1 store receiving blankets that I cut up. My daughter loves dogs, poodles, and pink, so I splurged on the poodle fabric...although very little is required.

The reason this is so easy is because all of the squares are cut for me with the Stampin' Up Sizzix Scallop Square die. I don't have a Big Shot, but the Cuttlebug is universal so it's no problem using whatever die you want with it. 

I actually bought this SU Scallop Square die last year with the full intention of using it for sewing projects. I have used it like crazy since then! I think it was around $20...maybe a little less.

So I basically just cut all the squares, arranged them the way I wanted, and sewed them together...easy-peasy! I used fabric scraps to make the pillows to match. Again, my daughter is blessed to have a grandpa who is talented at woodworking, so she has custom-made AG doll furniture that without him she would never have. I then get the privilege and fun of making the 'fabric' stuff to go with all of it!

I'm happy to post a tutorial if there's interest. Once you start making these, you can't stop. ;)

I have several other projects that I've made with my handy-dandy scallop square die, and I'm anxious to share them all with you!

Feel free to email me with any questions and I'd love to know what you think of this project!

Take care,

I'm linking up to these fun parties:
















http://www.skiptomylou.org/2011/03/21/made-by-you-monday-44/

{American Girl Doll Robe}

I did it! Okay, so there may be parts of the interior that could LOOK better...and if you look REALLY closely you'll see my mistakes...but all in all, it's finished! :)

I decided to wing it on putting in the sleeves and they actually turned out okay. My sweet daughter loves it, and that's really all that matters to me!

I went with fleece because a)I thought it would make a cute robe; b)it was on sale (is that a good reason?); and c)I thought it would be easiest for a first-time-making-any-clothing-or-using-a-pattern momma like me!  :)

When I was cutting them out, I thought it would be easy, but working with small pieces like the loops and collar was kind-of a pain.

I have a set of patterns, but I'm not sure when I'll make another one. I like sewing to be relaxing...not stressful! (ha!)

But for now...I'm patting myself on the back. First pattern, first clothing of any kind, and it's not freakishly crooked or unidentifiable. Kudos to me!

Thanks for stopping by,

I'm linking up to these great parties:

{American Girl Backpack}

My 6 1/2 yr old is really getting into her American Girl doll these days, and I have to admit that I love creating homemade things for her! My kiddo of course wants EVERYTHING in the AG catalog, but if you haven't seen the prices, let me tell you...it's not pretty. We are so fortunate that one of her grandpas is really good at woodworking, and as a result, she's been hooked up with a cool doll table and chairs, a balance beam, a 4-poster bed, and most recently, a school desk. (Isn't it cool?!)

So she's been playing school for 3 days straight with the doll and the need for a doll backpack came to my attention...as well as a couple of other things but we'll get to those later. :) After writing up little worksheets for her on scrap cardstock, I got to work on a backpack.  After one failed attempt due to measuring waaaaaaay too small, this is what I came up with. I'm SOOO pleased with it!!

Isn't it darling??!  You need very little fabric for this. I modeled the pattern after the Valentine Mail Pouches 

(tutorial here ), just altered the measurements and actually attached the straps to the bag instead of using snaps or buttons. Just last week I had to cut off a pair of my old jeans that had finally torn beyond repair, so I used denim scraps for the body of the bag, and hot pink leopard scraps for the lining and straps. The flower on the front is another post! :)

I would think these measurements should fit any 18" doll. 

Here's what I did:

For the bag: 7"  x 6.5" - (2) outer, (2) lining, (2) fusible fleece

For the flap: 4" x 6.5" - (1) outer, (1) lining - round the corners freehand

For the straps: 9" x 2.5"  (2) 

I boxed the corners at 3/4".

Some lessons I learned...make sure to attach the straps BEFORE sewing the outer pieces together - AND - mine just has a flap closure which is great, but you could also add a snap if you wanted.

It's so stinkin' cute and the best part is that it cost me nothing and my kiddo loves it! It even fits on the back of her little school desk. :)

Feel free to email me if you have any questions. I thoroughly enjoyed making this! :)

Take care,

I'm linking up to these parties:

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