Have Mini will Travel

There are places that we go that I would rather my girls not take their dolls with them.  They are either just too distracting or just too large to tote along with all their accessories.  Enter: The Minis.  There are several lines of play dolls that fit into this category.  Some of our favorites are Madeline, approximately 8 inches, starring character from the much-loved line of children's books and, of course, the American Girl doll minis which stand at approximately 6.5 inches.  We currently own AG mini Kit Kittredge but are on the hunt for more!  She is made very similarly to the 18 inch version of herself, complete with soft cloth body, jointed vinyl limbs and tie string at the neck.  One negative is that her eyes are painted and I would have preferred sleep eyes on her.  To me, this lends to a facial appearance that is not nearly as sweet as the 18 inch American Girl doll.  Madeline is fully vinyl, has a great head of rooted red hair and comes complete with an adorable little scar at the bottom of her softly rounded tummy as a reminder of her famous appendectomy.  Madeline feels just right in little hands.  Her hair is easy to style and does not seem to become too ratted or disheveled with regular play.  One downside is keeping up with those tiny little shoes!  If you find yourself needing to replace them as I do, the American Girl mini dolls wear size 25mm.  These are readily available on the web.  Dolls of this size are also easy to create fun furniture and accessories for.  My girls and I have had a lot of fun creating pretty things together for the minis.  We then pack it all up in a tidy little tote and take it along wherever we go.
Speaking of accessories, let me tell you about a treasure trove of them.  These are scaled for the 18" dolls such as American Girl and really are fun play items to keep your girls busy with their dolls for hours at a time!  If you see something cute used as a photo prop in my Etsy shop it probably came from here.  I'm in love with lovvbugg and I bet if you spend any time at all looking around their store, you will be too.  Now go play with your dolls!
-Whimsy

Dolly Diy: Farmhouse Bed

Do you have a crafty brother or a handy daddy around your house?  If not there is no need to worry.  Thanks to the lovely ladies at Ana White you can build anything you need to outfit your home.  This includes fashioning furniture for your dolls as well.  This post will feature her lovely Farmhouse Bed project.

 I will have to say that our doll bed was not completed by me alone.  This was a well-written starter project for my Scout to help out with.  The instructions are clear and require only a basic understanding of tools and woodworking.  This really doesn't require any special carpentry skill.  This bed was completed in two full afternoons working after lunch until 5:30 each time.  We sanded and stained ours rather than giving it a coat of paint.  We put the finish on the following morning.  We had most of the scrap wood here in the garage and had to purchase only a few pieces for this gorgeous bed from the local home big box store.  All in all, we spent closer to 10 hours on this in stead of the 6 hours the project estimate suggests.  Ours was made and given as a gift.  It was much-loved and shown off by its recipient.  Since we have multiple dollies here, we will be attempting a bunk or trundle bed to keep next time.  With so many dolls around here, we should stay busy for quite some time.  Now go play with your dolls!
-Whimsy