A great deal on Tea Sets from Dollarama!

This weekend I was in Surrey BC and found a Dollarama store, I love this store but do not have one close by and found this fantastic doll play set!

 I often find 2 tea cup sets with Tea Pot and sugar/cream but 6 is a really great deal. They had two styles one with a teddy bear on it and this one, I prefer this set!

 As you can see it is the perfect size for 18 inch dolls! And at $2 it will not break your bank account!

Enough tea cups and saucers to have all your dolly friends and stuffed animals to tea!

(My Maplelea doll Saila, My Springfield Doll Madison and my Niece Laura's Just like You American Girl Doll Tiana, all wearing handmade clothes Madison's clothes made by Me, Saila's clothes made by "sewcrazy" and Tiana's clotehs made by Brighteyes who are members of my monthly Doll clothes makers and Swap-bot. Doll room by American Doll Room . The table and chairs are Samantha's table and chair set now retired from American Girl Doll that I found at a thrift store for $14...a great deal!
So if you live near a Dollarama take a look at what they have for tea sets and add to your doll play collection! This is by far the best deal I have found to date!
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Wishing you sunny warm holiday doll play days!

 

Vancouver is miserable with rain at the moment, the kind of rain that makes you want to climb back in to bed and cover your head with the blanket until spring! If you are living on the East Coast or Central Part of Canada  I hope you are having much better weather then us here on the Wet West Coast.

I need a vacation, I think you do to! 

Even if it is just a beach day doll play day at home, some warm and dry conditions are required this time of year, they do not call us Snow birds for Nothing!

I cam across Shoreline Fun this fun new outfit from Maplelea that includes this lightweight cotton Cover-Up, beach bag, and sunglasses as well as a terry towel and of course our favorite journal pages!

Watercolor Waves is another fun sunny day delight, this set includes

a "Maplelea Girl a cozy terry hooded cover-up to slip on over her bathing suit. This set also includes a mesh beach bag, a striped towel and blue sunglasses, and is topped off with a matching terry hat."

Another great journal page  about Canadian swimming sensation Marilyn Bell is also included

each of these sets sells for $30

Sandals and bathing suit sold separately!

I love these sunglasses and cover ups and think these sets would make wonderful additions to any doll play collection.

While we are at it, last year on my American Girl Blog http://karenmomofthreescraft.blogspot.com/

I shared a wonderful dollar store find that works great for any indoor or out door doll play! A small inflatable pool. Watch your stores for them as they sell out quickly and watch end of season sales as well. 

**Never add water! But a great addition to your doll play collection especially on rainy days like today where we could all use a beach day!

Well I am thinking of making myself some lemonade and getting out the pool and having a dolly beach day with my nieces!
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Maplelea's beds convert to Bunk Beds and wonderful bedding sets

 

One of the most important Doll Play items you can have is a doll sized bed. Even though some of you may sleep with your dolls ( I can not blame you!) it is wonderful to have some where special for her to sleep. 

Maplelea has a wonderful bed, I have one, it is currently in my niece Laura's room for her dolls. I love how sturdy it is and recommend that if you are going to order one, you may actually wish to invest in two! for the same low shipping rate you will be able to have great doll sleepovers on the beds as bunk beds and you can also separate  them into two!

The beds each sell for $59.00

Each doll has her own line of Bedding though if you have fallen in love with the bedding of a doll other then yours I am sure you will be very happy with it regardless of which bedding is supposed to go with which doll!

I love the green and blue together in Taryn's Butterfly Bedding

Leonie's bedding complete with guitar has great attention to detail

 

I am not a huge fan of Jenna's bedding but I do like the blue.

I love the fun and friendly colors of Alexi's bedding!

Okay I admit that I love the new bedding for Saila,

Each of these wonderful bedding sets are $28 and as with all Maplelea products come with the fun journal pages!

If you have a Maplelea Bed and bedding and wish to share a photo with us please ask your parents first and email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Great deals at Sears Canada for 18 inch dolls

 

In September I ordered my niece Trinty this doll scooter for her birthday, I paid $19.99 plus tax and shipping. My sister Bre-Anne found the same scooter for only $13.94 on clearance at Sears.

it is so easy to put together and such a fun doll play accessory!

Look how cute Saila looks on her new scooter! A great addition to my doll play collection for under $20!
I should mention while most dolls can not hold the handles you can use clear elastics to help your Maplelea Doll hold on!
So remember to check the clearance section of your local Sears Canada store and see if you can find any of the Newberry Line on clearance for your dolls.
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.co

Snowflake Boutique another Canadian Etsy shop !

Today I wanted to share with you another wonderful Canadian Etsy shop offering great doll clothes that will fit your Maplelea Dolls.

 Snowflakes Etsy Shop offers some wonderful Valentine outfits such as these fun Pj's for your doll for $14.00

 this adorable set comes with crochet slippers that are sure to stretch around your dolls feet.

I love this outfit made with Liberty Jane Pattens the outfit would be adorable on any Maplelea Doll.

This adorable sweater made with a pattern from the Liberty Jane Website is a steal at $18!
There are more wonderful outfits available from Snowflake Boutique I hope you will take time to check it out! Edith has offered my readers a 10% discount from her shop use the coupon code MAPLE when you check out to get a discount on your purchase!
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Make your doll a wonderful Chair! With a Great pattern from Doll Tag Designs

I have been making these for my dolls, nieces dolls and friends since August. I love this pattern offered by Liberty Jane

This chair designed by Doll Tag Designs, is very easy to make and start to finish in under 2 hours you will have a wonderful piece of furniture for your doll.  The pattern is priced at $3.99 and you can find everything you need to sew your doll her chair for under $20.

I love how light weight and easy to use the doll chair is and it looks great with your doll sitting in it even on your bed. The best part is you will be able to tell your friends that you made it!
Check out the other great patterns on Liberty Jane's pattern website
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Liberty Jane free t-shirt pattern is perfect for our Maplelea Dolls

I love Doll clothes, and making Doll Clothes has become a favorite pastime of mine. I learned how to sew in 2010 using patterns from Liberty Jane Patterns.
Liberty Jane Patterns are patterns you buy on line and print at home. It is their free patterns that got me hooked!

There are several free patterns on their site perfect to try out at home. Their retail pattern price of $3.99 is a fantastic deal, I have purchased several of them and love sewing my way through them for my nieces. The best part is they look great on Maplelea Dolls as well.

This pattern I bought last year but now it is free and it is a wonderful dress pattern for dolls. I have made at least 20 and they are really quick and easy to make

 I made these last summer for my dolls and loved how they turned out.
So if you are looking for some fun and easy patterns to make doll clothes to add to your doll play wardrobe I wanted you to know that I love and use these patterns every week to create new and fun items for my dolls.
Take a look at Liberty Jane  web site and see what I mean!
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Maplelea Spa

 

Did you know you can send your doll to the Maplelea Spa if she meets with an unfortunate incident?

The Maplelea Company offers this $65 service where you send your doll in and you are sent back an entirely new doll (of the same character) dressed as above.

If you would like to send your doll to the spa for a visit you need to fill out this form   

and send it in with your payment and undressed doll.

I sent my American Girl Doll Samantha in to the "doll hospital"  (when I got her she had no hair) and they just replaced her head and returned her to me.

I am not sure what service I would prefer, the Maplelea Spa is actually a really neat idea and when we invest in these quality doll play items it is comforting to know that if something is to happen to our dolls, we have options.

As with all my posts please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Forgive my late post today Do you want to see a Maplelea Store Front? I do!

Well I spent yesterday in the USA at the American Girl Doll Store in Seattle, it is such a wonderful experience.  I love Maplelea but I also love  American Girl Dolls and the experience you receive at the store.

While I was in line at the Starbucks I met a family who asked where we were from and I told them Canada and they asked if there were any American Girl stores in Canada, I told them no and about the line of dolls we have in Canada.
It had me thinking, Why do we not have our own Maplelea Shopping Experience? I would love to have  a similar experience at a truly Canadian Location of our own. While store fronts are very expensive I personally would pay for a Canadian Doll Experience and  I think others would too. We spent several hours at the store, have a wonderful lunch and spent almost $1,000 between the 9 of us. I would love to spend my money here at home,and have an even better experience!
If you agree, perhaps you can join me in a letter writing champagne and let the Wonderful people of Maplelea know we are ready for a destination shop and experience!

If you agree, write a letter to:
Avonlea Traditions Inc.
Post Office Box 93157,
1111 Davis Drive
Newmarket, Ontario
Canada L3Y 8K3 Canada
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com 

Wonderful Knitting Patterns for 18 inch dolls from this Canadian Etsy shop

 

Stylin Doll Knitz is a Canadian Etsy shop with fantastic knitting patterns for 18 inch dolls.

 Shop owner Jo has created fantastic PDF knitting patterns in fun fashionable styles for both American Girl and Maplelea Dolls. 

the Mitten pattern is my favorite and something I aspire to learn to do. I am practicing my knitting and hope to be able to make some by Christmas next year!

This sweater set for both girls and dolls is just beautiful and the color chosen for the cover is my favorite!

A great beginning knitting or quick gift set is this girl and doll sized beret

 

Shop owner Jo is based in Toronto, and was born and raised in  Cape Breton Island.

"If Cape Breton was a country, knitting would be the “National Sport”, the Olympics would be funny though, all the knitter's, crocheter’s and quilter’s at the same venue, the ideas, it would never end, no one would go home. We’d probably come up with some interesting stews too. And then we’d embroider something."

 

I have always loved to knit, have been knitting for 40 years. I also adore dolls, have since I was born, (not telling the years on that one).

Some of you may know that I am a mom of three boys, two of my boys have Autism, and I too am a work at home Mom, Jo also has a son with Autism and is a work at home mom, creating patterns and outfits for us all to enjoy.

She says "In the past few years, since he has gotten a little older I decided to keep myself busy by combining my two favorite things. (OK, I'm avoiding housework!)
And, "Stylin" Doll Knitz... was the end result.
I hope you enjoy making these outfits as much as I enjoyed designing them."
Visit Jo's etsy shops at Stylin Doll Knitz

she has also opened a new shop

  "branch out a little bit...."
http://stylinknitz.etsy.com

I hope you will take time to visit her Etsy shop and perhaps take up knitting! I am motivated to create for my dolls and nieces dolls alike! Jo has offered my readers 10% off your purchases use coupon code MAPLELEA at check out! Thanks Jo!

As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Doll Shoes a great doll play investment!

Trudy from Whoa It's Me Etsy shop shared her photos for today's post of the shoe collection she has started for her doll Saila  One of the most important items that you can have for doll play is doll shoes.

 

These School Scampers are adorable on!

A great start to your doll play wardrobe and a great  investment is a black pair of shoes, they are perfect with almost every outfit and can be dressed up or down. 

The Celebration shoes shown above are the perfect example of the perfect pair. At $10 these shoes will get a ton of doll play and as always each item from Maplelea come with the wonderful journal pages and beautifully packaged boxes. 

So remember the next time you place an order with Maplelea add a pair of shoes to your order and put them a side for your next gift giving occasion or as a just because gift for  the doll lover in your life.

I want to thank Trudy of Whoa It's Me for sharing her photos for this post and I hope you will take time to visit her Canadian Etsy shop for wonderful handmade outfits for your dolls!

As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com