SOCIAL MEDIA

How to Make Doll Pants and a Skirt from an Old Shirt Sleeve

4.30.2012
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I had splashed some bleach on one of my black sweaters awhile back but had hung on to the sweater thinking I could possibly do something creative with it some day, not exactly sure of what that might be.  Well, I stumbled upon this blog post for making doll yoga pants and knew right away what I was going to use to try it out!  My black sweater of course!  I pulled it out and cut and stitched up one sleeve for the pants and simply just cut the other sleeve to create the simple black skirt.  The cuff of your sleeve serves as the waist for the doll's skirt or pants.  Using a jersey material would be great for this project as well since it would roll up a bit at the edges.
 
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Zoey didn't have any black bottoms for her dolls yet so now she has not one black bottom but two!  The black pants are great to be used as leggings as well as they are pretty form fitting.  :)

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As you can see, Zoey loves her "new" doll clothes as well.

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American Girl Doll Shopping Bag Tutorial

4.29.2012
If you haven't noticed already by reading the most recent blog posts here on my blog, playing dolls has become pretty important around here. Zoey's dolls go to school (here at home), enjoy tea parties, go outside for some play time and chill out and enjoy reading and movies. I would be lying too if I shared that I wasn't a part of this play once in awhile. :) I have to admit that for the longest time I waited and waited and waited, hoping that Zoey might show an interest in dolls and when she was younger she didn't all that much. I never pressed it, but now, on her own, her love of dolls has shown itself! Hooray! I think it started with her getting an American Girl doll from her Grandma and Grandpa for her birthday last year. In order to share in her excitement along the way I've had some fun creating some things for her dolls or her doll play and today I thought I'd share a great pattern with you that I found online that can be made to the scale of that of an 18 inch doll. The pattern is for a shopping bag! Because we all know that a girl's got to shop! ;)
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After using the pattern that I found here, I embellished it using a little 3 dimensional sticker that I had on hand in my scrapbooking stash. I added some ribbon and just like that I had a little shopping bag for Zoey's doll Kristen. Kristen is kind of like Zoey's Aunt Serena I am told and likes to shop till she drops. :) Below is the pattern for the shopping bag. I saved it to my computer and then enlarged it (it was a
bit blurry) but I made it to the size that I wanted.

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I love finding great ideas on the web for handmade things for Zoey's dolls and thought I'd pass them along!

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Perfect Day for a Tea Party

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Yesterday Zoey had a friend over and they requested a tea party for themselves and for their dolls.  We re-arranged some things in Zoey's bedroom and the tea party was had!

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They even lucked out and had "pink" tea since I had a nice selection of fruit teas in the cupboard.

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And then this is how I knew it was time for me to get out and leave them alone to enjoy their tea...

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I love having a little girl that loves dolls and tea parties and of course...pink!

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My Cocoa Daisy Sneaks and Crop News!

4.25.2012
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Above are some of my sneaks using May's kit, Graffiti Bridge from Cocoa Daisy.  This coming month's kit is PACKED with color and loads of inspiration.  Good thing too because this weekend is the Cocoa Daisy bi-annual crop, giving lots of opportunity for me to use it up in it's entirety!  So if you're so inclined, be sure to head on over and check out all the challenges that our designers came up with for you, the (FREE) classes that are being offered and stop in to see what Wilna Furstenbrug, Kelli Crowe and Ronda Palazzari have in store for you as well!  We have so much fun planned and a few surprises up our sleeve as well and lots of prizes and RAKS to give away as well.  Here is the line-up for the weekend's festivities.  I hope to "see" you on the message board!








































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Some Zoey Art...

4.24.2012
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She brought home this sweet little dish from school recently that she made in art class. I love that she put hearts on it. It's so her! DSC05028 post signature

Music Monday...

4.23.2012


I just discovered this group and am in love!  The song below really puts you the mood to move!

Happy Earth Day!

4.22.2012
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Zoey celebrated today by having a friend over to play and they had a doll Earth Day parade. Afterwards, once her friend when home we had Kristen pose by the white pine that Zoey planted last year on Earth Day. Earth Day was a beautiful (and busy) day here as you can see!

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Playing Dolls...

4.21.2012
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This morning Zoey was busy playing in her bedroom and when she came in the kitchen to ask for some aluminum foil I went in and checked to see what she was busy with. She was making an ice skating rink for her dolls of course! She had both of her dolls bundled up in their skates and coats and ready to go. I started helping at this point and sharing in on the fun. :) At one point though one of her dolls fell and hurt their foot and had to go to the hospital. Good thing we had a wheelchair handy!  The wheelchair and crutches set I found here and is so much fun to play with for what the price was (it's a bonus to have free shipping too)...it's cheaper than some of the AG outfits!





























It's so fun to share in Zoey's play...I love listening to her and see how her "plans" manifest themselves and turn into all sorts of other adventures.  Today ended up being quite the day for doll play.  Her playing with dolls didn't end here, though I will share what else we did in future posts.  There are some do-it-yourself doll crafts to be shared in your future!

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A Family Portrait

4.16.2012
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and some more artwork that we have around here...

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 Wishing you a wonderful start to the week!
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A Poem

4.15.2012
on the beach


Braiding Cornsilk 

my fingers interlace her hair
and i am struck by the colors of the strands,
the light against the darker
and as i wrap the band
securing the braid,
it looks like cornsilk,
contrasting colors,
woven together
into beauty.

can you take someone like me
and weave it with someone like her
and will it come out in
beautiful bands of color?
sometimes i feel so dark
and dull
and i'm afraid i'm squelching
her vibrancy
and i feel that this role of motherhood,
i'm tainting somehow.
and i wonder if i was ever cut out for this job anyway,
this job of braiding cornsilk.


the knots ensnare me
and the pulling causes pain
and what if
she sees me as a harsh detangler?
my heart is to comb gently, you know,
but there is this impatience in me.

i want her to know that i love braiding
her cornsilk hair.
i want her to know that i love weaving life
with her.
i want her to know that our contrasts have the
power to behold beauty.
but i'm prone to tangles, too.


and i'm just praying that she remembers
the smooth hands
and the careful entwining,
and the banding together,
three cords strong.


and i'm just praying she remembers
the interlacing fingers,
the hands that pray,
the hands that hold.


and i'm just praying that despite my tangles
we weave together trust,
that we are banded in love,
three cords strong.
i'm just praying...

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A Beautiful Day

4.14.2012
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It was perfect for enjoying some time outside in the sun. That's just what we did too...even Zoey's doll got in on the fun. I had to snap a photo to share the sweet little sun suit that my mom knit for Zoey's doll while she was dressed in it. Isn't it adorable?

I hope that you had beautiful weather wherever you are today! It felt so good to soak up some sunshine here, we even enjoyed eating our dinner outside this evening...it was that nice out!

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Still Here...

4.11.2012
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It's been a crazy week here...that doesn't mean however that there hasn't been time to play with the dog or Zoey's dolls here and there.  :)  If I make it through this week all will be well.  It's been one of those weeks where I haven't caught up to Monday and here it is already almost Friday again!

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The Easter Eggs are Done!

4.06.2012

Pinks, blues, yellows, greens and one orange!  Swirls, hearts, fairy stickers and little love messages.  The eggs are done!



Have a wonderful Easter!


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Happy Easter Banner

4.03.2012
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I've been having some fun using my Silhouette Cameo here lately...holidays are the perfect excuse to try and make something cute.  After making this little banner I didn't really know where to put it and then had the thought to dress up Zoey's little play area for her dolls with it.  There were no arguments made from her.  :)  In fact, she had to dress her dolls in their spring dresses for a little photo shoot.

American Girl Doll Easter Decorations

American Girl Doll Easter Decorations

I'd be lying if I didn't admit to have just a "little bit" of fun doing these little projects with her. :)

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Easter Baskets for Zoey's Dolls...

4.02.2012
American Girl Doll Easter Baskets

Of course we needed to make her dolls some Easter baskets! When I shared with Zoey that I could make some quite easily using my Silhouette Cameo her only instruction to me was that they needed to be PINK, PINK and more PINK! I found a cute little basket in the SC store that had butterflies on them and cut away. It's fun to see what two sheets of cardstock, some pearl gems and some adhesive can come up with. If you don't have a die-cutting machine you can easily make a basket that's just as sweet using a paper bag like this one. She's happy and I'm happy too! Now I just wonder what the Easter bunny will find for these teeny tiny baskets...

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Cocoa Daisy Sketch for April

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I have to say that I love this layout that I created with this month's Cocoa Daisy kit!  There's always a layout every once in awhile that just kind of creates itself and this was one of them for me...it makes me so happy just looking at it.

This was my month to come up with a sketch for Cocoa Daisy and this is what I came up with:

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For a chance to win a $10 gift voucher to the Cocoa Daisy store please create a layout based on this sketch and post it to your blog and link back to this month's sketch post on the Cocoa Daisy blog or upload it to the Cocoa Daisy gallery and link in the Cocoa Daisy sketch post.  I hope you play along!

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