Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be the only day where you show your dolls some love! Here are some fun projects for reusable Valentine goodies for your dolls.

Reusable Felt Valentine Envelope with Fun Foam and Sticker Card

You will need:

• Red felt
• White fun foam
• Mini stickers from American Girl ( like the American Girl Crafts – Sticker Pad)
• A ruler
• Craft glue, hot glue or needle and thread/sewing machine

Step 1 Measure your “envelope” out of felt making it 7 inches wide by 12 inches long, then cut out your felt.

Step 2-   Fold your felt so that you leave 1/2 inch. Add a line of glue to the inside edge and press closed or sew the sides shut.

Step 3- Measure a rectangle of 2 1/2 inches long by 1 3/4 inch wide, make sure it will fit inside your envelope

Step4 – Add your stickers and write a message on the fun foam.

Place inside your finished envelope and give to your doll!

*You can decorate the front of your doll’s envelope if you like, or leave it plain.

Valentine Treats for Dolls

Next using Fun Foam shapes and Fun Foam Valentine stickers you can create fun treats for your dolls with very little effort!

You will need:

• Fun Foam Stickers in heart shapes in various colors
• Valentine fun foam stickers in various sizes
• Doll size plates

These fun valentine small heart stickers make perfect sugar cookies with no effort at all, simply arrange them on a doll size plate and enjoy.

To create this very easy Valentines Heart Cake simply layer the same size heart fun foam stickers on top of each other.

Step 1- Start with one heart on the bottom, I started with Red on the bottom

Step 2-Remove the backing from a white heart and place it on top of the red heart, carefully remove the sticker backing from one heart at a time. Your bottom heart should still have the backing on.

Step 3-Repeat with another red heart, then white and finish with red.

Step 4- Using smaller foam stickers create the “cake topper”

Place on a doll size plate and serve to your dolly guests.

I hope you have enjoyed these easy Valentine crafts for your dolls! I look forward to sharing more ideas with you next week!

I am so thrilled to share with you today’s craft and show off my doll shirt collection at the same time.

I began collecting the red store shirts from American Girl in 2010, on my first trip to an American Girl Store. I went to Dallas first, started my collection and with the help of friends and some of my blog readers I was able to collect all the currently open stores shirts.

Here is how I made my T-Shirt Wall Art.

You will need:

• a foam core board
• push pins
• ribbon (as long as your foam board)
• a pencil
• a ruler
• American Girl hangers and outfits
• *optional hot glue gun or eraser pieces to secure the push pins

Step 1- Place your hangers with your outfits on the foam core board to see where you want to arrange your items. Make a light pencil mark where you want to put your push pin.

Step 2- Push your pins through your pencil mark. Depending on the thickness of your foam core you will want to either back your push pins on the opposite side of your board with a piece of eraser (I cut one eraser from a new pencil in three) OR using a hot glue gun coat your push pin metal with hot glue and push through your mark, let it dry and it will be secure.

Step 3- Using your ruler measure 7 inches in and 1 inch down along the widest top edge of your foam core board. Make a mark and push your pencil through. This is where your ribbon will go through so you can hang up your artwork.

Step 4- Measure your ribbon as long as the length of your foam core. Thread the end of the ribbon through the hole and tie a double knot. Repeat this step on the other side.

Step 5- Have a grown up help you put a nail in the wall where you want to display your artwork. Re hang your hangers and doll clothes and place your useable art on the wall!

Now I have great useable art for my office, I needed two boards and the best part is I have space for three more shirts! So when the new American Girl Store opens in St. Louis I will be all set!

I hope you liked today’s craft and that it inspires you to use items you already have to decorate your doll play spaces and rooms! Don’t limit yourself to just the t-shirts! With a little imagination you could use this idea to display your favorite doll dresses, hats, Barbie clothes, and the list goes on…

I can not wait to share more craft ideas with you next week.

I know how much a lot of you like to play school with your dolls! And I have had a few requests for doll sized worksheets and coloring pages, too.  I am happy to share with you my first set of 18″ doll sized worksheets you can print out, color or use in your doll play.

Download the Doll Sized Printable Worksheets as a PDF file.

I measured the page size of the worksheets that come in the folder of the American Girl School Desk set and created this first set of math worksheets, coloring pages, tic-tac-toe and word search for your American Girl, Maplelea, Springfield Dolls, or similar sized dolls.

Print as many copies as you need, but remember, they are for personal use only and can not be sold or included in any other publication without my permission. And let me know what you think or if you have requests for future printable sets.

The line of American Girl Craft kits can be found at most Michael’s, Joann, Barnes and Nobles and lots of other stores these days. We have picked up a few of them and Natalie has had fun making an apron for her dolls, sewing the Owl, she’s working on the pom-pom scarf and she decided to make the doll totes last night.

The Doll Iron-On Tote kit comes with a doll sized tote bag and plenty of doll size and girl size iron ons. The kit only comes with one tote but enough iron ons to make a lot of bags. I hated the idea of wasting all the iron ons so I picked up a few more plain doll sized totes from the craft store and we made a bunch. This would be a fun activity to do at an American Girl birthday party with a group of girls.

The off white bag in the lower left corner is the bag that came with the set. The other three were bought separately but all the iron ons were in the Doll Tote craft package – and we still have more!

Here we have Kanani wearing McKenna’s school outfit with her new tote bag. She is getting ready to put one of her favorite books in the bag. Maplelea doll Saila needs her notebooks to put in her music bag. The scene also includes the Itz Purple Ice Cream Shop with Julie’s Room Accessories table, AG Minis books and the AG School Desk set.

Here is a closer look at the doll sized tote bag with the iron on decals. Too cute.

Saila decided to change from her boots to her Springfield Doll Crocs for school.

The American Girl Crafts Iron-On Doll Tote set is a good value and fun party activity if you pick up a few extra mini totes or even doll tees. It is a relatively quick and mess-free craft that girls of all ages will enjoy. It does require parental interaction because you have to use an iron to do the transfers.

What is better than a nice mug of Hot Chocolate – also called Hot Cocoa – on a cold winter’s day? Not much! For today’s post 2 of my 5 nieces helped me create Cocoa for their dolls and we wanted to share our craft with you.

To make your doll her own mug of Hot Cocoa you will need:

• a creamer container that you would find at a coffee shop or restaurant  (you will need to remove the cream and wash the small container)
• pipe cleaners in brown and white (I also had an iridescent pipe cleaner I used as whip cream)
• a pair of scissors
• a pencil
• a thick marker
• a nail or a push pin
• a ruler

Step 1- Empty and wash out your containers of creamer

Step 2- Using a marker, make two dots with a marker about 1/2 inch a part

Step 3- Use a nail or a push pin with help from a grown up to carefully create the holes for your pipe cleaner handle

Step 4- Cut 3 inches of your white pipe cleaner to create your handle. Bend it into the shape of the letter “C” and push the ends through the holes. Bend them so the handle is secure on the inside of the cup.

Step 5- Use your marker and wrap your brown pipe cleaner around it. Remove your curl from the pen and you have your “Cocoa” to place inside your cup

Step 6- repeat step 5 with your white or iridescent pipe cleaner – I used a pencil this time to make the whip cream smaller

Step 7- Place the “Cocoa” in the cup and the “whip cream” on top and your doll will be ready to enjoy her mug of Cocoa!

I had so much fun creating the doll sized hot Cocoa with my nieces and I hope you will enjoy making your own!

I look forward to sharing more fun crafts with you next week!

Part of the magic of American Girl dolls is the stories and books that go along with the characters. Today’s craft is an easy to make bookmark for your favorite book using an American Girl character so you can really bring the story to life.

Here is what you need to create your own bookmark:

• 1 large pony bead or charm
• images of your favorite American Girl dolls ( I used the American Girl Crafts- Doll Sticker Decorations, but you can use images cut out of the catalogs, or images you have printed from your own computer)
• card stock
• tape
• yarn or ribbon
• scissors
• a ruler
• *craft glue if using catalog or printed images

Step 1-  Select an image for the “marker” part of your bookmark

Step 2-  Using a ruler, measure 12 inches of yarn or ribbon. I braided my bookmark so I used 3 pieces of 12 inch yarn.

Step 3- Tie your three pieces of yarn together in a knot, use a piece of tape to tape the knot to your work surface and braid your yarn. Tie a knot when you get to the bottom.

Step 4-  Feed the knot through your pony bead and tie a double knot to secure your bead. Trim the edges for a tidier look.

Step 5- Tape the other end of your yarn to the edge of a piece of cardstock

Step 6- If you are using the paper craft sticker, peel off the backing and stick it over your knot, to the card stock, (if using a cut out image tape or glue the image to the card stock)

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Step 7 – Once you have stuck down your image (or your glue is dry) you can carefully cut out your image from the card stock  and your bookmark is ready to use!

I hope you enjoyed today’s craft and that you will be able to make a bookmark of your own.

I would also like to announce that I have started an on line American Girl Doll Mystery Book club http://americangirlmysterybookclub.blogspot.com/. In February we will begin reading the Samantha Mystery The Curse of Ravenscourt .

Every few days we will post a chapter review and discuss in comments this wonderful book.

I hope you can join me in this online book club. Don’t forget to check your library, local book stores, Amazon or at American Girl.com for February’s book!

Open a book and start your adventure with American Girl Doll Mystery books!

Our dolls are upstairs practicing for their next gymnastics competition, but while they are getting their workout in, I wanted to share this super easy, FREE (always good) “how-to” with you. I am not sure I would really call this a craft, but since it does involve tape and scissors, you might think so.

To make an award podium for your dolls you will need:

• 2-3 American Girl (or other boxes)
• Tape
• Scissors (to cut out numbers)
• Numbers 1, 2, 3 (I made it easy for you – click here to print out the same numbers I used)

STEP 1 - Find a large box to use as the base. We used the box that McKenna’s gymnastics equipment came in.

STEP 2 - Place a smaller box on top. We used Chrissa’s Craft Table box and turned it sideways.

STEP 3 – Print out the numbers 1, 2, 3 from the file I linked to above. Then cut the numbers out.

STEP 4 - Tape the numbers on to the boxes as shown above.

Place your gymnasts, swimmers, ice skaters, track stars, talent show winners – or pet show winners in their appropriate places on the podium and you are done!! Easy!

In first place we have Gwen, second goes to Sonali and third goes to Alex. All three of them are wearing the retired purple velour leotard from American Girl.

I better go see how practice is going!

It is going to be a fun year with the Girl of the Year being a gymnast and having such an interesting collection. I already know that our readers will be working their creativity to find ways to add to McKenna’s collection using imaginative crafts, repurposed finds, and less expensive doll line substitutes. Hooray for creativity!

Let’s start today by making McKenna a practice balance beam. For those of you who are not gymnasts, a practice beam is often a little wider, lower to the ground and softer than a competition balance beam. She will practice new skills there before competing them.

You will need :

• 5 sponges (I got mine at the dollar store)
• 1 roll of duct tape (color of your choice – Duck brand makes it in wild patterns too)
• A pair of scissors

You can get all the supplies for less than $3 at the Dollar Store.

• Step 1 line up 5 sponges
• Step 2 add a small piece of tape to hold each of the sponges to each other
• Step 3 cover your sponges with the tape in long strips, layering as you go covering the entire length and sides of the sponges.

Once the sponges are covered you are ready for some fun gymnastic themed doll play!

It does take some practice and patience to balance your doll on her balance beam just like in real life!

I look forward to sharing more doll play fun with you next week!

For today’s doll craft we are having special New Years Pizza Party, but you could use this for a doll birthday party too. You will learn how to create doll sized pizza, boa’s, noise makers, and party hats for your dolls.

You will need:

• images of pizza ( I used an advertisement you can also print or draw your own)
• tape or glue
• scissors
• fun foam or construction paper
• fringe garland ( I got mine at Party City)
• paper
• crayons
• a side plate to trace
• a ruler
• balloons *Optional to decorate a handmade sign

I was inspired to make today’s craft from an advertisement from our favorite pizza place. They offer $1 sliced pizza so we go once a week. I also noticed that the, ad had perfect doll sized pizza.

• Step one- cut out a photo or image of pizza
• Step two- tape or glue it to a piece of fun foam or card stock
• Step three- cut out the pizza from your card stock and repeat so you will have as many pieces of pizza as you would like

The pizza fits well in your dolls hand!

Next let’s create the Boas for the dolls

• Step one- Measure 15-20 inches of garland and cut.
• Step two- Wrap it around your dolls neck like a scarf

We need Party Hats, too!!

• Step 1- trace a side plate onto fun foam or cardstock in any color you would like
• Step 2- cut out the circle
• Step 3- fold the circle in half like a taco
• Step 4- cut the circle in half
• Step 5- roll/fold each shape into a cone hat
• Step 6- tape into place
• Step 7- make a New Years sign out of paper, cut it out and attach to the front of the hat with a tape loop
• Step 8- place on your doll’s head

And we can’t forget to make the “Noise Makers”

• Step 1- measure a corner of a blank piece of paper with a ruler and make a line at 4 inches and cut out
• Step 2- measure 3 inches of the fringe garland and cut a piece
• Step 3- use a piece of tape and secure the fringe to the bottom edge of the triangle you created

• Step 4- roll and fold paper into a cone shape. Secure with a piece of tape
• Step 5- place in your dolls hand to enjoy

I hope you have enjoyed today’s post I look forward to sharing more ideas with you in the New Year. Happy New Year everyone!

This one is specifically for Karen!! One of our readers had so much fun with Karen’s craft last Friday – she made dinner for her dolls and I heard the dolls even had Christmas dinner with the family.

Madison’s dolls and their pets really enjoyed their meal inspired by Karen’s crafts. It looks good to me.

Here is another view of her doll’s table – even the pets are enjoying their dog treats. I love Madison’s creativity and it is so much fun to see how Karen’s craft idea has inspired her.

Another view of the picnic table without a tablecloth. The picnic table was made by high school students in a trades class at the school Madison’s Mom teaches at.

And another great Target find! Madison’s Mom found this set of mini tennis balls at Target for 94 cents and they make great toys for Pepper and Chocolate Chip.

We love seeing reader photos!  If you have photos of your dolls at play, something you have made for your dolls, a review of a product or similar, send it in! You can email them to share@dolldiaries.com.