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 love surprises, don’t you?

Yesterday when the mail came there was box…

I was not expecting any packages, so when I read the return label I started doing the happy dance. Remember my visit with Natalie to Aunt Kay’s – the one with the huge Barbie collection? Well out of the blue, Kay had sent us a box!

Kay is a grandmother and her husband passed away a few years ago. Kay was so touched by our visit and seeing the joy that Natalie found in the dolls that she spent the next 10 days rearranging her doll cabinets and displays – 24 of the 28 displays to be exact!! Every doll was removed, looked at and some new ones came out and others found new groupings to be with. She had been re-energized.

In the midst of her rearranging, Kay found some duplicates of her Madame Alexander Wizard of Oz Happy Meal dolls. She knew that Natalie loved the little Kelly size Barbies and thought these little gems would go well with the nine Kelly dolls she gave Natalie when we visited last month. There was a 2007 set and a 2008 set – the one’s Natalie got are from both sets.

Here’s the whole group of the Madame Alexander Oz minis.

The Wicked Witch of the West, the Wicked Witch of the East, Glinda the Good Witch and the Winged Monkey.

The Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, Dorothy (and Toto in the basket), and the Tin Man.

Cowardly Lion, Dorothy (and Toto in the basket), Tin Man, Lullaby Munchkin and Lollipop Munchkin

Also in the box were some full size Barbies and two MyScene dolls.

In the box were five more dolls. From left to right – Corduroy Cool Teresa from 1999, an unknown Barbie with Polly-Pocket like rubber clothes, MyScene Barbie and her boyfriend River, and the Spot Scene Barbie from 2001.

I am not a fan of the My Scene Barbie line at all, but the other dolls are neat. I especially like Teresa and Kay remembered that when we were there last month I just kept coming back to this Teresa doll – we were trying to figure out which one she was and when we left, I still didn’t know. Teresa was packed in the box with her stand and I happened to notice writing on the bottom of the stand. Smart Kay! She had written the name of the doll and the year on the bottom of the stand! So she is from the Corduroy Cool Barbie set from 1999. She’s not a high-end Barbie, by any means, but I go back to what Kay and Sandi Holder from the Doll Attic have said more than once – “collect the dolls YOU like and the ones that make YOU happy.” This Teresa does just that!

Kay says Teresa reminds her of me. Teresa is going to be a cherished part of my collection for years to come!!

Thank you so much Kay and I can not wait to visit you again!

To keep things a little easier this time through, I am creating this page separately to show off all the entries in the Virtual Valentine’s Reader Photo Event. For entry information and the entry form, go to THIS POST and then come back here to see all the entries.

Click on the photos to view them full size and to leave a Valentine comment.

Happy Valentine’s Weeks! That’s right, we aren’t waiting for Valentine’s Day to have a party, we are going to celebrate from now until February 15!

For the February Reader Photo Event the theme is going to be Valentine’s – but with a little twist.  Read carefully…

Instead of just taking a picture of your dolls dressed up in cute little pink outfits like I did in my last post, why not take it one step further and get creative with it? Once you have taken your Valentine themed photos, turn them into a Valentine card for all to enjoy. How, you ask?

• Picnik.com
• Pixlr.com
• Or you might have another graphics program like Photoshop Effects or something else you prefer

Use one of those tools to make your Valentine’s card (I used Picnik’s fancy collage effects in the one I did above) and save it off to your computer – if you tell the software to save it as 540 pixels wide I will be SO happy!! Then use our handy form below to submit your entry.

The rest of the details:

• Everyone is invited to submit ONE virtual Valentine per day using the guidelines above.
• We will draw 3 entries at random and 2 entries will be picked based on their creativity/excellence to receive an exclusive Doll Diaries Love t-shirt OR tote bag for dolls (it will be your choice).
• The parade will run from February 1 through 15, 2012.
• If you are 13 and under you must have your parent’s permission to enter.
• We will only publish photos that are of good quality and appropriate for viewers of all ages.
• By submitting your photo, you are granting DollDiaries.com permission to publish the photo along with your first name and the description you provide. We will never publish or share your email address or personal information. You are also granting us permission to use your photo on the DollDiaries Facebook page and/or YouTube channel.

What are you waiting for? Fill out the entry form below:

When you are done, go to the Virtual Valentine Gallery to see all the entries (it may take up to 24 hours for entries to appear)! And as always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Before I announce this month’s reader photo event, I thought I would share some pictures with you. So many of our readers have asked how many dolls we have and which ones that last night Natalie and I took the time to dress them all in shades of pink, red or purple so I could photograph them all. I already know that I missed our BFC Ink doll Addison, Tender Hearts Emma, our MyTwinn doll Rochelle, and Megan’s first MyAG doll Nicole which  is at my niece’s house, but otherwise this is pretty much it – well, minus all the Barbies, Groovy Girls and Build-a-Bears.

From left to right – Alex (MyAG #21), Olivia (Springfield Dolls), Kailey (LE 2003-2004), Calista (MyAG #39) and Emily (Historical)

From left to right: Nicki (LE 2007), Lily (Terri Lee), and Kit (Historical)

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Ready for a slumber party we have Madison (Springfield Dolls), Sonali (LE 2009) and Marisol (LE 2005).

Madison gets a close up!! Don’t you just LOVE her two ponytails?? I just think she is adorable.

Moving right along we have Chrissa (LE 2009), Erin (Carpatina), Ellowyne (Wilde Imagination) and Gwen (LE 2009).

These photogenic girls asked for a close up. Okay, it was Ellowyne who asked!

Our historical girls – Kirsten, Felicity, Elizabeth, Samantha and Nellie.

Left to right we have Ivy (Historical), Taryn (Maplelea), Emma (Tonner Toys Little Miss Matched), Kanani (LE 2011), Hadley (Tonner Toys Little Miss Matched), Saila (Maplelea) and Julie (Historical).

And finally, we have Daisy (Bitty Baby Twin), Penelope (Bitty Baby) and Fritz (parties all night outside, sleeps all day inside house cat). Our brunette Bitty Twin was still wearing her Halloween costume and didn’t want to be photographed.

So start getting your dolls ready for a Valentine’s Party and take pictures because the February Reader Photo Event will be a Virtual Valentine Party for Dolls!

One of our readers, Allyson, sent in these photos of her doll Kailey as she returned from the doll hospital.

Are your dolls ready for Valentine’s Day yet? Ours spent the day baking and getting treats ready. Here are some fun Valentine’s activities for you and your dolls!

• Send your friends an American Girl e-Valentine Card
• Make Mini Valentine Cards with this Kit from Paper Source
• Make these adorable miniature Valentine’s boxes for your dolls using this printable pattern
• Print some miniature Victorian and Edwardian Valentine’s cards in three different doll house sizes
• Samantha’s Valentine Crafts has plenty of ideas for activities and decorations for a party with your friends or your dolls
• Animal Love printable Mini Valentines from HP

I originally posted this last year, but thought it might be fun to do some of these activities again as Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Oh, and check back tomorrow as we will be kicking off the February Reader Photo event with a Valentine’s Day theme.

Let me start off by saying that I am NOT a fan of the whole Twilight series of books and movies – but that is just me – my daughter Megan likes them and so do so many of my friends. However, we were at Target today and had to make the compulsory trip down the doll aisles (because that’s what we do) and I saw The Twilight Saga Eclipse Jane Barbie. She caught my eye and I had to give her a closer look.

Jane’s character is part of the Volturi clan. She is dressed in a very classic black cloak with hood and looks quite a bit like actress Dakota Fanning. Unlike the Bella Swan Barbies – who just look like Barbies to me – Jane is different. She has a very pretty face and there is something very sophisticated about her too. Plus, you just aren’t sure – is she a “good guy” or a “bad guy?”

Normally I would think the red irises were pretty creepy, but Jane wears them well. Her necklace is very interesting, too.

What do you think?

Each year doll industry experts, doll artists, collectors and retailers get together for the International Doll Exhibition known as IDEX and each year they also have an awards banquet to recognize the Dolls of the Year based on the industry’s input. While you won’t find many (if any) of these dolls at Target or Toys R Us, each one is unique in its own way.

The categories that I tend to look at each year are Children’s Play Doll, Collectible Fashion Doll, and Collectible Vinyl/Plastic Less than $150. The winners in these categories this year are:

Children’s Play Doll

JC TOYS 16982 8.5 in. Lil Cutesies Twins Doll in Stroller
Playtime Baby Little Princess – Adora
Laura – Sonja Hartmann
Mosi – Playmates Toys

Collectible Fashion Doll

Princess Catherine Bride Doll – Ashton-Drake Galleries
Grace Kelly Bride-Silkstone– Mattel
The Corpse Bride – Tonner
Toxica – Superfrock
Dinner with Duke & Duchess – Joan Greene

Collectible Vinyl/Plastic Doll, Less Than $150

Goddess of the Galaxy Barbie – Mattel
Oink! – Adora
Madison – Ashton-Drake Galleries
Grace – Sonja Hartmann

For a complete listing of all the winners in all categories, visit Doll Reader magazine’s website.

Paradise Galleries has a great deal going right now on their Tender Hearts doll line. Purchase any two Tender Heart Girl dolls and get an outfit FREE!  Use code: EMP1TEND (ends 2/14)

We reviewed a Tender Hearts doll – Emma – and we love that not only is she very huggable with that soft body, but she is also very poseable which makes her lots of fun to play with.