It has been a while since I have been to Michael’s Crafts so while my daughter and I were there picking up a gift for her friend we decided to check out the American Girl crafts section of the store. All I can say is, whoa! They have really expanded the line and have added some really neat kits for girls to use with their dolls, decorating their rooms, and being creative in general.

Attention Moms – summer is right around the corner and these kits are perfect to have on hand for rainy days, get togethers with friends and some will even work for travel. Click on the Michaels ad on my sidebar for a printable coupon you can use to stock up on the American Girl craft kits and other summer craft supplies. If you are not seeing the ad, you can get the printable coupon directly here.

Back to our project! We picked up the Doll Apron Iron-On Kit which includes a doll sized apron and 3 sheets of iron-on decals – 2 are “girl-sized” and one sheet has doll sized designs. Had I really looked closely at the kit and realized there were girl sized designs in it, too, I would have picked up a plain canvas apron for my daughter, too. There are enough decals in the set to do multiple projects.

My daughter had a hard time deciding what kind of design to do. She went back and forth between a craft themed one versus a cooking theme. We cut all the pieces out and did 4 or 5 dry runs before doing the ironing and then put all the extras in a zipper bag to save for another project. This project requires that the iron be very hot and took quite a few passes with the iron, so you need to have an adult do the actual ironing.

It turned out really cute! As far as craft projects go, this one produced a nice, high quality finished product for not a lot of time or mess. Now I need to go back to Michael’s and pick up a girl sized apron or two, and maybe a doll sized canvas tote bag (like you can get for favor bags) so we can use up the remaining transfer designs next time she has a friend over.

So, what do you think? Sonali likes it!

Disclosure – While Michael’s is running an advertising campaign on DollDiaries and some of my other sites, I purchased the kit on my own and all opinions in this post are my own and are not influenced by the advertising campaign.

When I was a kid, we didn’t go out and buy furniture for our dolls, we crafted it from anything we could find around the house – a cereal box made a great bed, paper cups could be used as chairs, and the list goes on. These days you can find even more creative ways to make doll furniture from re-purposing baskets to building your own from scrap wood to all out works of art. Here are a few doll bed tutorials/plans we found that we think just might inspire you to make your own!

Let’s start with the EASY – this doll bed is made from a basket and a piece of wire garden trim. For the complete tutorial, check out Make this Quick and Easy Doll Bed from Doll Clothes Patterns.

Slightly more complex and requires grown up help, plans and instructions for this Farmhouse Bed can be found at Ana-White.com. Too cute!!

If you really want your American Girl dolls to live like royalty, check out this amazing Castle bed for dolls from Sawdust and Paper Scraps. All I can say is WOW and what a great Mommy this lucky girl has. Sandra really went all out from the detail in the steps to the realistic paint on the bed. For the how to visit Sawdust and Paper Scraps Castle Bed for Dolls post.

Have you crafted furniture for your dolls out of everyday materials? We’d love to hear about your creations or email photos of your finished projects to share@dolldiaries.com and we may feature them!

So how cute is that little duffel bag for dolls? How about if I told you that you can make it for about $2?

I saw the duffel bag craft for dolls at one of my favorite sites – Dollar Store Crafts and the complete instructions for making the duffel bag for your 18″ doll are at Obsessively Stitching.

Go check it out and if you make one – or have a doll craft to share, be sure to email us at share@dolldiaries.com!

American Girl has teamed up with EKSuccess Brands and Michaels crafts to launch a cute new line of craft supplies and project ideas for girls – www.americangirlcrafts.com. The projects range from bracelets and mini purses and the products include doll stickers – like Chrissa, iron-ons and craft kits.

Based on the popularity of their previous craft kits and books, I think this is a natural progression and will give girls even more ways to express their creativity and connect with the American Girl Doll characters and stories.