O.M.Geeee. What a week! I drove to Salt Lake City with friends and once there we all went our separate ways. (800 miles in the car, 13 hours, non-stop talking, laughing, eating - the only way to fly!) So that is why I've been a little remiss in my posts lately...and usually I'm always posted ahead but I've been a bit off my game these past few months - lots of stuff going on and I hope to get back to normal soon! Last week was a week of non-stop family celebrations...more about those in a later post. Today I want to show you the Paper Dolls I made for Elsa - she loved them - which made making them worth every second!
This idea was not mine, I saw this at our local Ben Franklin and could not wait to make them for Elsa! I bought a yard of the paper doll fabric and two packages of Fast 2 Fuse, and that's all you really need to make adorable "paper dolls" for your grand-daughter!
Handing Elsa a bunch of paper dolls would be fine, but that would also be the last we would see them - so I had to make a little "book" to hold her paper dolls - and this is what I came up with! Velcroed tabs hold the book shut so none of the dolls or their clothing can fall out.
Inside the book there is a clear plastic/vinyl zippered pouch where Elsa can keep all of the clothes, shoes and toys her paper dolls need. (This is actually in the back of the book - I'm starting from the back, I start all books that way, don't you?)
You can see the plastic zippered pouch on the left above. On the right is a pocket that holds the paper dolls, there is also a pocket in the front of the book.
The middle of the book is a big piece of stiffened felt (It's called Felties and I purchased it at Ben Franklin, just sewed a piece of fabric around the edges to make it look more finished.) This is where Elsa can stick her dollies and play with them. The backing of the iron-on fuse stuff is kind of nubby so it sticks to the felt.
Just look at everything that comes on the paper doll fabric! Elsa had so much fun moving things around, dressing her dollies and playing with the dog and cats. Of course, Elsa loves to be in the kitchen so she really liked the baking things!
This is the front inside page - a pocket to hold the paper dolls (there are 8 of them!) and the back of the felt page so Elsa can "audition" which doll she wants to dress!
Just a little book for a little girl - it measures 9 x 12 inches.
I signed the inside of the book, "For Elsa with lots of love from Gramma, April 2015." I don't want her to forget me!
Isn't she just the cutest thing? I love her to pieces! A few days after these pictures were taken, Elsa took a nasty spill, into a fireplace hearth. She fractured the bone in her upper jaw, broke her front two teeth at the roots and has a bad cut on her chin. She ended up at Primary Children's Hospital (thank you to everyone who helped her!!) where they surgically removed the broken teeth, stitched her gums, and stitched up her chin, inside and out. We were all so very, very sad - seeing her with a mouthful of blood and hearing her scream just tore us all up! But children are resilient and mouth wounds heal fast...three days later, little Elsa was herself again, all smiles, and as she said, "Just wiff no "teef!"
Luckily Elsa could still suck on her binky. In the car on the way to the hospital she asked for it through her sobs - and we thought it might make things worse or hurt her more but the minute she put the "b" in her mouth, she settled down, it was the only thing that gave her comfort before the doctors sedated her. I could only get to part with it for only a few seconds at a time, so I was lucky to get ONE shot of her without it! Even with a scraped up chin and stitches, she is still the most beautiful and the sweetest little girl on the planet!!
