Doll Background Tutorial

Several months ago I did a tutorial on my other blog on how to make a doll background or play set. I thought that I would post it here on this blog in case anyone missed it. I sometimes like to use these backgrounds when I take photos of my doll clothes that I sell on my Etsy shop but they are also great to use as doll rooms to play with. The great thing about these backgrounds is that you can fold them away under a bed and they don't take up a lot of space.

First you will need a big cardboard box or one of those cardboard display boards for school projects works nice too.

One big cardboard box will make two rooms. I just cut the tabs off and cut the box in half lengthwise.

Then once I have my cardboard box cut, (it would probably be easier if you just used a cardboard display then you wouldn't have to cut it) I can choose some pretty pieces of scrapbook paper to use as wallpaper. You could also cover it with some Contact paper if you like.

After I chose my paper, I can piece it together on my cardboard and glue it on with a glue stick. Make sure that the edges are glued down real good.

Next, I put a coordinating piece of scrapbook paper on the bottom half and glued it down. Then I made a little window at the top. I cut a scene out of a magazine and used a piece of construction paper as the window pane. I found that the magazine Southern Living has a lot of good pictures for scenery.

Here's an example of the background that I made.

And here is one of the sets that I made being used as a doll room.

I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial. And maybe you might want to try one for yourself. They are really much more inexpensive than making a whole doll house.

5 Great 18 Inch Doll Fall Looks and One Free Pattern

Well, tomorrow I go back to work from my summer vacation. I work as a librarian at an elementary school and so I've been off work for about 2 months.  It has been a good one but I hate to see it go. We didn't really do a lot this year. I went to my mom's house in Tennessee two times this year. It's been hard on her since my dad died but she's doing better. And then my daughter went to camp and on a mission trip. So all in all I think it has been a good summer. But usually I'm pretty much ready to get back in a routine and see all of my co-workers again. And of course the kids are great too!

I thought that I would share with you some of my outfits that would be great for your 18 inch doll to start to school in. All of these outfits are available in my Etsy Shop.

Cute school girl jumper and pink blouse.

The first one is one of my latest outfits. It is a black and white polyester jumper and pink cotton blouse. It is made from a pattern by 18 On Main. The second one is an olive green corduroy jumper and floral matching blouse. It is also made from a pattern by 18 On Main. You can find this pattern on Pixie Faire.

Cute green corduroy jumper and floral blouse.

Teacher's Pet school dress

Next is a cute green daisy print dress. Your doll will be at the top of her class in this one! This was made from a pattern by Kotton Candy Doll Fashions. You can find it on Etsy. I made a brown dotted dress from the same pattern. The final dress that I have to show you is a dress made by the Teacher's Pet School dress pattern by Kotton Candy Doll Fashions in an argyle print. Any of these 5 looks would be great for your 18 inch doll to wear on that very special first day of school.

Now I have an added bonus for you. Every doll just has to have a great backpack to start to school. And if you love to sew, you will love this free backpack pattern by Stephanie from Many Small Friends. This is such a cute backpack pattern. I just love that it has two buckles that buckle. I kind of reminds me of the book satchels that I used to carry to school way back when! You should really check her blog out!  I hope that everyone has a terrific school year!

*Disclaimer- I am not affiliated in any way with the American Girl Doll company or any other 18 inch doll company.

Pixie Faire's Weekly Giveaway

My favorite website for buying patterns for 18 inch dolls such as American Girl dolls, is Pixie Faire. I make a lot of my doll clothes from their patterns. And they have the most amazing designers! Right now, they are having a giveaway contest where you decide which doll modeled the outfit best. All you have to do is go on their website and click the link below the picture of the dolls. Then you will choose which doll that you think modeled it best. They also give you other opportunities to have more entries to the contest. So go to their site, and choose who you think modeled it best. Good luck!

 

Sale at the AG store

The American Girl store is having a great sale! A few of their select items are 40% while supplies last. I got the winter snow scene. I'm going to do some photo shoots with it . Plus the scenes are great for girls to have fun and play with. I like the fact that you can download music from your phone to use as background music. It's really fun.

Welcome to My Blog!

My latest outfit made with the Skip To My Lou pattern by 18 On Main.

This is my first post on my new blog. I decided to just scrap the old blog and go with a new one. I'm going to try to keep things simple and just focus on better content with my blog and not worry so much about getting all fancy with it. I have an Etsy online shop called Everything Nice 4 Dolls. On it I sell clothes for 18 inch dolls that I make myself in my smoke free sewing shop. I have been doing this for about 2 years now and in that time I have learned a lot of sewing techniques that I didn't know before. In this blog, I would like to share tutorials about sewing and American Girl doll crafts, information about upcoming sales and where you can find me selling locally. I'll also try to post lots and lots of pictures of my latest outfits that I'm working on because I think that's what people want to see.

One of my newest outfits made by the Lil' Bit O Country pattern by Matilda's Closet.
This sold really quick right after I made it. It's now back in stock.