Maplelea Tips on Doll and Product Care, inspires a great party idea

	Product Care
Doll Your Maplelea™ doll's head, arms, and legs can be surface washed with cool water, gentle soap and a soft cloth. Please do not immerse the doll's head or body in water. Be careful that nothing enters the eye cavity, such as water, juice, sand, etc. as that may impair the smooth operation of the eye. Clothing Hand wash separately in cool water with gentle soap. Lay flat to dry. Shoes and non-fabric accessories Surface wash only. Hair To keep your Maplelea Girls’ hair looking its best, follow these few simple hints! Always use a metal wig brush, such as the one available through Maplelea Girls. Plastic brushes and combs will snag the hair. Be very gentle when brushing the hair. You may find it easiest to sit your doll between your legs to hold her steady, or you can ask someone else to hold her while you brush. To work out tangles, hold the scalp and upper hair with one hand, and the brush in your other hand. Start at the bottom edge and brush just the very ends of the hair. Work your way up one centimeter at a time (or less if very tangled.). Be very careful to work the tangles out, rather than breaking them out. Frizziness may be caused by leaving it in a tangled state or by rough treatment when brushing. Don’t wash your doll’s hair unless absolutely necessary. Repeated washings may cause it to frizz. If you must wash it, be very careful that you do not get your doll’s eyes or body wet. Make sure she is always face-up so the water doesn’t run into her eyes. Use a mild shampoo and gently lather the hair, but not the scalp. To dry the hair, use a towel and squeeze out the water. Do not rub or twist the hair. Let it dry naturally. It may take overnight. Never use heat on your doll’s hair. That means no blow dryers, curling irons, hot curlers or any other heat device. Heat will cause the hair to melt or frizz. Just as for real girls who are very active, you may find that putting your doll’s hair in a low ponytail, or a braid will prevent the hair from getting tangled as the two of you move about your busy day.  I think it is so important to follow these instructions to keep your dolls in tip top shape! I also think a night of Dolly Pampering is a fun way to spend some quality time with your daughters and dolls. A great doll party idea would also be a doll and daughter spa party. You could make your dolls the stay up towels shown on my doll Salia shown in the  photo above very easily with this tutorial from my other blog by clicking here I also made doll spa kits which included dollar store gems such as shower caps for dolls, sponges and baby facecloths, hair accessories and more, The kits can be made for the party as a take home gift or as part of the party activities. I hope you are inspired to have a Dolly Spa day with 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

Sunday Quote to ponder food for thought on Doll Play

I am often asked how old is too old to play with dolls....
I like this sign that I found on a friends Facebook page, which inspired today's post. You see I do not think you are ever too old to play with or love dolls.
I do believe that how we play with dolls changes as we get older just like everything else in life.
I can hardly listen to the Sarah McLachlan's song from Toy Story 2 with out tearing up!

When parents ask me what they should do with their daughters dolls once they have "Grown out of them" I always say, "hang on to them, they will want them when they are older."

" Let them choose what to do with their dolls, perhaps they will want to keep them, give them to a child or niece of their own. It is amazing the healing and comfort an old friend and loved one can bring just as the sensory memory and warm feelings you had for your doll when you where younger "

Now I am not trying to make a hoarder out of you or your child but I think you will agree that keeping that one special doll  is not too much to ask.

When I was 8 I got my first Cabbage Patch doll, I loved him, I still have him and the other three I was given until I was deemed too old for dolls... I still love knowing I have them, even though I do not have a daughter of my own, though my nieces love them too.

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 

Printable doll sized tissue boxes! A fun blog I just found

Tissue box Tutorial I just found on "Sewing for American Girl dolls Blog"
I think I will spend the weekend on her blog! It's amazing!
Come check it out http://sosewsuziamericangirldollclothes.blogspot.ca/

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 duffel bag this weekend! Free Pattern Friday

 Over at  Obsessively stitching wonderful things for 18 inch dolls happen such as this fantastic dolly duffel bag. What a great tutorial and bag for our dolls weekend adventures.

To visit Obsessively Stitching and see how to make a bag for your dolls click here


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 Diaries Review of Taryn

I love this review done by Char at Doll Diaries of Taryn, and as these are two of my most favorite dolls I thought I might take today off and send you to Char to see her review.
Click here to go to Doll Diaries and I will be back tomorrow...taking the day off as it is my birthday

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

Canada's Own Cotton Candy Club on Etsy

Through my circles I happened upon Nova Scotia's own Cotton Candy Club Etsy shop offering beautiful crafted clothing for our 18 inch dolls. Shown on American Girl Doll Models these outfits would be wonderful on our Maplelea Dolls too!

  Offering crochet and professionally sewn items ranging from $10-$30 there is something for every doll budget that is sure to delight.

From Historical themed outfits to the more modern this shop meets the needs of yesterday's and today's 18 inch doll

 

Check out Cotton Candy Club's Etsy shop by clicking here

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

Jane Austen type Dress pattern for your dolls

I love Jane Austen novels and movies and thanks to pinterest I found a pattern to make a dress from that time period for my dolls.
Click Here to go to the Pattern

 (image of Jane Austin)

I am going to enlarge that pattern, print it and try it out. I will report back to you on how it turned out.
If you have tried this pattern I would love to hear from you.

 If you have never read or seen any of Jane Austen Books or Movies based on her work I would highly recommend them, I love all the BBC versions and I think you will to.
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

Candian Made Chairs for our dolls

Browsing on Etsy I found this amazing Etsy shop SNL Creations in New Brunswick
These beautifully made chairs are perfect for Doll Collectors offered at $49

"This rustic, eco friendly little stick chair was designed and handmade by me from Canadian speckled alder twigs and remnants of purple and blue variegated yarn, both of which were scrap materials left over from previous projects. I used simple construction techniques to build it, butting each joint and nailing them together. For added color and contrast, the seat was woven with soft, brightly colored varigated yarn."

I love to support Etsy shops and I am thrilled when I find unique items for our dolls right here in my own country.
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 Hair making instrutions from Etsy, great kits and patterns to purchase!

I found that there are some really fun instructions and ideas to purchase on line. The one above is from Etsy shop PunkyNMunky and is offered at $7.

 Another listing from the same Etsy shop is the Sliding Adjustable headband. Offered at $3.00

The PDF file is transferred to you after purchase and shows you how to make the blanks for hairbands and how to weave them for your dolls.

Another of my favorite Etsy Gems is the items from Children's Woodland a great set for party favors offered at $14.98. Click here to see this listing.

I love the way hairbands expand your dolls wardrobe and I like that you can find tutorials and ready made kits for your next party, sleepover or just for fun.
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

Dolly Baseball outfit from Snowflake Boutique

I loved this baseball uniform from Snowflake Boutique! For $16.00!

Today is a baseball day in our house and I am so happy that for other doll lovers and baseball lovers can order fun doll play outfits for their dolls!
Visit Snowflake Boutique and see the fun items for spring listed in this Canadian Etsy shop.

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

Free Pattern Friday! Boutique Pants!

From Fleece Fun.com  today's post offers us a great DIY for Child and Doll Size Boutique pants. I love this and I think you will too! Click here for the tutorial
As with all my posts I would love to hear form you so please leave a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

A great Dollar Store Gem, Tennis and Baseball anyone?

I found this great set yesterday at my Dollar Giant. It has two perfectly made Doll sizes Tennis/Badminton Rackets and a Baseball bat perfect for our dolls.

I used a small elastic so my doll could hold it!

This set is a great deal for $1.25!
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

Fun Crochet outfit for your doll Free Pattern and Spot light on Donna's Etsy shop dly57

Thank you Pinterest, here is a wonderful and fun outfit for your Maplelea Doll from Bella On line.com
I so badly want to be able to Crochet, I can chain on but I get stuck after that. For those of you who are not all thumbs take a look at this adorable and thankfully free pattern by clicking here

Now I can not crochet yet but when I want to purchase some well made items, I buy mine from  Donna of dly57 Etsy shop

I love the colors and the flower modeled on Springfield Doll Olivia.

 

Included in this listing with the hat are these adorable shoes!

Click here to see her listing offered at $4.99!

I have purchased 6 items from Donna's shop and am thrilled with them

Her hats look fabulous  on Maplelea Dolls Too

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

Do you re name your dolls?

                                                      (* My 11 dolls are Salia, Jillian, Samantha, Madison, Olivia, Abby, Olivia, Chrisa, Bella and Emily)

I received a very interesting email question I thought I would share with you...
"Dear Karenmomofthree,
Do you give your dolls  names or keep the ones they come with?"

I loved this question, I have always kept the names that my dolls have come with and then for the dolls who did not come with a name I gave them one.

I wonder how many of my readers re name there dolls? If you care to comment I would love to know.
I think naming anything is a matter of choice and I loved this question so I ask all of you,
Do you keep the names of the dolls when they arrive or do you rename them?

* The photo above is of my 11 dolls, in bathing suits made by a dear friend in my swap group called Skippy's mom, she made sure each of my dolls was bathing suit ready, I feel like the luckiest doll lover on the planet! 
For those readers wondering,  Salia is a Maplelea Doll, Jillian and Samantha are American Girl, Madison and Olivia are Springfield Dolls, Abby is American Girl, Olivia is My London Girl Doll, Chrissa is American Girl, Bella is My London Girl Doll, and Emily is an Australian Girl doll.

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

Cats.....Maplelea vs American Girl

So I finally saw the musical CATS last night so today's post is inspired by the show.
The cats show above are Maplelea's Ginger Cats 
"Eating, sleeping and wandering over to Aunt Margriet's Bed & Breakfast are the favourite activities of Jenna's two cute and cuddly tabby cats. MacKenzie and Fox arrive as a pair, each wearing a blue collar on which their name is imprinted. How else do you tell them apart? Fox is the one with the white tip on his tail!" ~Maplelea Website
These adorable cats are offered at $20.
Over at American Girl you can also find pet cats

Praline is offered at $20 as well...

Ginger (My favorite) also offered at $20

Then there are Rebecca's kittens offered at $22 . To visit American Girl Pets like these shown click here
Though Rebecca's Kittens are soft and hug-able like Maplelea's cats Praline and Ginger are not completely plush pets.
Doll and Cat lovers alike have a real choice and for that I am truly excited!
As with all my posts I would love to her from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com 

Have you checked out Doll Diaries?

 

Have you checked out Doll Diaries lately? 

Doll Diaries was my very first information website of dolls and doll play years ago and I am so very thrilled to write a weekly post for this website.

Char at Doll Diaries has her finger on the pulse of the doll world. She has a keen talent and sense of knowing what is new, important and fun in the doll world. Balancing a busy website with several posts weekly and often more then one post per day, Char is constantly impressing me! Now I write a lot but I am always in awe of everything Doll Diaries has going on, Contests, info about new dolls and doll play related items, Facebook updates, Doll Diaries has great sponsors who offer high quality doll play items and she caters to doll collectors and doll lovers alike with her wide range of doll info, tips and more. 

I hope you will visit Doll Diaries often and see what is going on in the Dolly World!

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 

Let's Make a great sleeping bag! Link to a great Tutorial

My friend Carol sent me this link and I wanted to share it will all of you. I loved the way this turned out and I think you will too. 

http://www.100directions.com/make-a-doll-sleeping-bag-with-laura-kelly-fabric/

 

I used only items I had on hand to create my sleeping bag. 

I belong to a swap group (as some of you know) on a website called Swap-bot and we are doing a sleeping bag swap. This tutorial is one I had to  try! I am keeping my first attempt! My niece Laura would not part with it!

I hope my partner will like how the one I make for her turns out.
I promise to post photos of the swap and would love to see yours too! Email me your project or doll photos any time at karenmowen@gmail.com

Free Pattern Friday! Shorts

Free Pattern for Doll Shorts
Thank you to the wonderful people on Pinterest who have been posting fun and free doll clothes patterns, I love shorts and this is a great pattern to make shorts for our dolls.
I hope you will all find them as fun and easy to make as I have!
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