Saila paired her dress with some nice black tights and big boots with little buckles on them. Her hair is down and casual.

Now for Emma to model. Emma has no tights paired with her dress. She has sparkly flats with small purple bows on the tips. Her hair is in two braids and has Kanani’s flowers on the side.

Here are the two girls next to each other. Yes, we do have two of the dresses.:)

So, what do you think? Who do you think wore it best? Want more of these?

This is Natalie signing out. Click!

Have you checked out the American Girl Read-a-palooza event going on all summer? Visit www.americangirl.com/reading for Saige activities, Historical character trivia and printables, listings for the various in-store events, and more reading resources.

From May 1 through August 26, American Girl donates $1 from every book purchased through American Girl to the charity Children’s US Literacy Program. 

For your own unique towel, put these classic stripes in your favorite color combination!  Don’t forget to add a simple shape to the middle to give it a little fun!

Let’s take a look at what we’ll need.

Supplies:

• 2 pieces of felt for the base (Mine are white and hard to see in this photo!)
• 2 or more pieces of felt for the towel design (I used 2 shades of pink, orange, and zebra print)
• scissors
• glue (I used hot glue but feel free to use tacky glue or felt glue)

To get started you need to decided how long to make the beach towel.  Lay out 2 pieces of felt overlapping them to get the right length.  Extend the felt about 1 inch past the doll head and feet.

If you are making a towel for an 18″ doll here are the measurements I used.   Overlap the 2 pieces of felt 1/2″.  The finished length was 20″x 9″.

Using colorful felt, cut strips to cover the towel.  Glue each strip down and then trim off any felt that hangs over the base.

Cut out a shape for the center of the towel.  Mine is a heart but any simple shape would be fun.  You could customize it with a star, flower, or your doll’s first initial!

Now let’s have some fun with it!

Julie is enjoying a day at the beach.  She packed all of her favorite things.  Sitting down on her new beach towel she sets the sand pail beside her.  She’s excited to show her friends a couple of cool shells she found.

Now to relax in the sun and read a little!

It’s so comfortable and warm after a while she nods off.

Ahh, what a perfect day at the beach!

Just in case you are interested, here are a few more details from today’s post!

• Doll: Julie is an American Girl Historical Character.
• Outfit:  Sundress is designed and sewn for dolls by Anna.  Gold Sandals are from Springfield Collection. Headband tutorial.
• Scene: Books come with the mini American girl doll’s.  ”Sand” is felt.  Sand Pail tutorial.  Beach Bag tutorial.  The rest of the scene was thrifted and crafted by Anna

Enjoy a day at the “beach” with your dolls!

Retired American Girl of the Year Kailey is reading Happy New Year Julie with mini Julie.  Kailey is wearing a Build a Bear shirt and the pants are from AG.

Thanks to everyone who left a comment today with suggestions for a theme for this month’s reader photo contest! As always, you all have great ideas and it was hard to pick just one. Don’t worry if your idea wasn’t picked this month – just think of all the great themes I have to pick from for the upcoming months.

The theme I chose to go with is “Curl Up With A Good Book.”  What does that mean? We are looking for photos of your doll(s) reading books, making their summer reading list, visiting a library, acting out a scene from their favorite book, writing a book of their own, or your own interpretation of the theme. You are very creative – I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

How do you enter:

• Visit our new Reader Photo Contest Entry Guidelines page for instructions, prizes and rules.
• The contest will run from May 20-29, 2013.

Please allow 24 hours for your photo to be posted – I usually post them in batches – and take the time to leave friendly comments on the other entries, too.

First – I don’t think there is a lot of confusion among the Doll Diaries regulars, but I am seeing some confusion on Facebook and Instagram about Camp Doll Diaries. Just in case you were not clear… It is an ONLINE camp, you can do as much or as little as you want with it, use our ideas and activities for inspiration for your own doll play, you do not have to send in anything and it is free. Any more questions – just ask

Yesterday was National Baking Day – how did I miss that one? Thanks to Kaylee and Lexa (H4HG Tipi) for letting us know. That muffin looks a little big for Lexa though.

Sherie’s Matilda is deep in thought up in the tree wearing her new gown from Carpatina.  She must be thinking about the Doll of the Day series which has been put on hold until Fall. I hope you enjoyed the series. We managed to feature almost all of our dolls.

Madelon reminded me that today is National Strawberry Day! McKenna is enjoying her waffles with strawberries and whipped cream and her strawberry smoothie for breakfast!

What about the May Reader Photo Contest? We are still having it! I plan to start it this afternoon - I just need the topic – if you have a suggestion, leave it in the comments and maybe I will use your idea.

Have a GREAT week!

***

Giovanna is sitting outside enjoying the spring day.

“I wish my friend would come by,” said Giovanna to herself.

Chloe comes along and Gia asks her to have a seat.

The two girls sit and talk for awhile.

“Hey Gia, want to play a clapping game?” says Chloe.

The girls play a clapping game.

The girls hug goodbye, Gia says “thanks for playing with me!”

***

Thanks Sherie for sending in these sweet photos.

Ok girls, I know you have been waiting and waiting for this! Your Camp Doll Diaries welcome letters and registration forms are here!!

First, download the Camp Doll Diaries Welcome Letter as a PDF file. It will give you and your parents all the information you will need about our summer adventure! Feel free to share it with your friends – it is going to be so much fun!

Next download the Counselor Registration form for yourself. You will want to come up with a name for your Cabin. Feel free to invite your friends or if you need to, make multiple cabins.

Chrissa and April can’t wait to find out what you named your cabins!

Now you can download the doll sized welcome letters and camper registration forms for all of your dolls. Again, feel free to print as many as you need.

Saige is excited! She is in Natalie’s group and their cabin is called the Butterfly Twist.

Madison is reading over all the questions and can not wait to see who else is in the Butterfly Twist cabin.

But then Madison got a little upset. She has never been to camp before and is a little worried. Luckily her friends Chrissa, April and Saige will be there to help her out.

So, what are you waiting for? Print out your registration packets and let’s get ready for a great summer! Camp Doll Diaries officially starts on June 3, 2013 but keep checking back for more fun pre-camp activities! And feel free to share you cabin names, too.

Our Kit in her meet outfit.

Kit stops to chat with Ruthie who is getting the table linens ready for the party later today.

From Tarynn - Kit on her birthday with Watercolor, our cat who recently passed away.  In loving memory of Watercolor, I am sending this picture in.  She’s a cutie!

From Katie – McKenna is giving Kit a big birthday hug! Sisters forever.

Suzanne posted this Happy Birthday Kit photo on our Facebook page.

From Felicia – Kit as Annie for her birthday!

From Katrina - Kit in the True Me meet outfit from 2010 looking out the window thinking about her birthday and wondering if any one remembered. Happy Birthday Kit!!!!

From Miriam – Kit taking a birthday scooter ride.

From Stephanie – Kit is enjoying her birthday in her new button print dress from Doll Clothes by Evie!

From Linda – Kit was disappointed that it was raining this morning, on her birthday. But she had a great rain outfit to wear (Springfield, discontinued).

From Linda – After lunch, the sun came out. She was so excited that her favorite flower, lilacs, had opened. They smell so great. Mom said she could pick in a bouquet to enjoy in the house.

From Linda – Kirsten came over to wish Kit a “Happy Birthday!” She brought Kit a sun umbrella. They decided to take their dolls for a walk and try out the umbrella. A happy ending to a happy day!

If you have any birthday wishes for Kit, leave them in the comments below or email me a photo at share@dolldiaries.com.

We have lots of great photos this week! Enjoy!

From Cordelia - Katherine and Rose decided to take advantage of the warm day and do some birdwatching. Katherine is wearing the hat and coat and carrying some bird identification cards ( the little basket is my own) from the retired Samantha Collection. The binoculars also came with the outfit and are really cute.. Rose is wearing a Maplelea outfit and her camera is a repurposed keychain. She is carrying their snacks and water in a basket that I have repurposed into their picnic basket.

Also from Cordelia - In this picture, Rose has spotted some birds in the lilac bush and is pointing out her discovery to  Katherine who is getting her binoculars ready for a closer look. Can any of the members of the Doll Diaries community help Katherine and Rose identify these two birds?

From Stephanie J - Here’s a picture of my two blonde-haired, blue-eyed AGs – Kirsten and Kit. I got Kirsten in 1995 and Kit in 2011. You wouldn’t think they would look so different considering their similarities, but they do!

From Elly - This is Saige with her new colored pencils in their case. (They really work and come with a pencil sharpener and eraser) She got the at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

From Grace -  I made this dress using a pattern for Kirsten’s school dress. it’s meant to be the brown dress Laura wears in the little house on the prairie books (I can’t remember which book exactly but she wears it the Christmas she receives the fir muff). My sister did Kirsten’s loop braids on her and I think Saige makes and excellent Laura/pioneer girl (she has a load of freckles from neglecting her sun bonnet.

Teamwork!! From Alyssa.

I’m Yelp, also known as AG-obsessed. I would like to show you 2 of my dolls, Mia and Kyle. Mia is (as you know) GOTY 2008, but Kyle is a little more than that. I took my 2009 GOTY Chrissa and since I didn’t play with her as a girl anymore, I rewigged her into a boy doll named Kyle. Kyle and Mia are now twins, and they really like your blog.

Suzanne got Essential Ellowyne 5 for her birthday (in March) from her husband and daughter.

And Suzanne’s birthday present to herself – Miss Molly!

From Madison - My American Girl pets – Left to right: Coconut, Licorice, Sugar, Pepper, And Ginger

From Bethany M – Magical Glimmers trailer for her upcoming video – cute.

From PaperDollWorld - Juliet is deciding what to pack for Camp Doll Diaries. A shirt like April’s is definitely a must!

Here is my Cat Valentine doll. She is gorgeous and her hair is so fun to brush and style. Here she is using a Broadway poster as her background . From Gracekelly.

From Ashleigh –  Cleo hopes there’s no more rain… Ever! She’s not used to it, coming from the desert and all…

From Maya - Harmony Jade (FKA Saige) is wearing McKenna’s Meet Outfit!  I think it suits her better than McKenna!

From Violet – When I went to Chicago my doll Violet wore her Doll Diaries tee one day. If you would like to see more pictures of Violet, you can visit her blog at www.theamazingworldofviolet.blogspot.com.

From RaeRae. Oh no,Maddie has brought me an American Girl catalogue,and told me she needed new clothes,but I think she needs a job!

 Agoverseasfan made a stop motion of her doll’s talking about the mini Saige that is speculated to be coming out in July.

From Joanne - Big Lake, Alaska; Kaya wants to know why there is snow on May 18th!!!! She is ready to go fishing for salmon and hunting for blueberries and cant do that if the snow never leaves.

From Sophia - Saige decided to help her friend Caroline who wasn’t feeling well by taking Garnet her calf for a walk. Garnet enjoys sniffing the plants in our garden and getting fresh air the most when he goes for walks.

From Bailey - This came a week ago but I forgot to send in a photo! It came just in time for my birthday! (May 14th) I love it so much! Thank you Doll Diaries!

From Noelle – a cool photo of her friend’s Saige.

Also from Noelle – her friend’s Saige enjoying the garden.

From Julia - Bambi is daydreaming about allergy season coming to an end. Both me and her have really bad allergies!

Thanks so much for sending in so many beautiful photos this week!

We love seeing what you make for your dolls, adventures they have, and great finds. If you would like to submit your photo for next week’s Sunday Showcase, here are the basics:

• RESIZE your photos to 540 pixels wide (this is easy to do using one of the free tools www.picmonkey.com, ipiccy.com or fotoflexer.com)
• Email your photo to share@dolldiaries.com (it must be your own photo – do not take photos from someone else’s site and submit them as your own)
• Put “SUNDAY SHOWCASE” in the subject line (I get a ton of email & this will help ensure yours makes it in)
• Make sure you include a description or caption for your photos

Where to find cute rain gear for your dolls:

1. Diamonddollyboutique on Etsy has the cutest Bumble Bee Raincoat and Hat for dolls – $40.00

2. McKenna’s Rainy Day umbrella and boots from American Girl are now retired but you may be able to find them on eBay

3. Maplelea’s Singing in the Rain set includes the rain jacket and boots – $25.00

4. JenAshleyDollDesigns on Etsy has this cute pink trench coat style rain coat with polka dot trim and heart buttons – $35.00

5. If you can sew, you might like the KottonCandyPatterns version of the trench coat and hat – $4.99

6. MyPinkPlanet has this adorable white raincoat with flowers embroidered along the bottom – $27.99

7. Check your local Target stores for the Our Generation Spot of Rain set – $16.79

8. My Doll’s Life has the classic yellow raincoat with plaid lining – $18.95

I’ll be walking in style today in my red and white polka dot raincoat, but what should the dolls wear? Which set do you like best?