Give a Doll To Your Doll On Her Birthday!

See "Bambi" doll through a window.

        This year your doll may like to receive a doll on her birthday. Every child knows that a special doll is often wrapped inside of a presentation box. This kind of box usually has a window so that the doll may be viewed while still in the box. 

       If you'd like to make one of these decide how large your doll's new doll is going to be first. Then look for a box you can recycle for this craft. It should be sturdy and clean. I kept the one shown here because of it's unique Velcro tab attachments. These are very east to stick to a new box. Purchase these Velcro dots from a dollar store and peal and stick them onto a box of your own choosing if you like.

       Some recycled clear plastic for the "window" of the presentation box is also needed. All kinds of food packaging comes with clear plastic so it shouldn't take too long for something to get tossed out that will suffice. Simply cut it a little larger than your window opening so that you can tape it to the back of the door.

       Once you have found these supplies, you will need to turn one of the vertical sides of the box into a door with a window. Cut the front side so that it opens like a door but is still attached on it's opposite side to the box. This will eliminate the need for attached hinges. Measure and cut out a window and tape a piece of plastic to the inside of the door. Now your doll may see her doll inside the box. 

       Decoupage both the interior and exterior of the box with decorative papers and Mod Podge. 

       Bend a wire to look like a handle and hot glue it to the top of the box so that your doll can carry her doll inside of the box.

       Poke two holes in the back of the box in order to thread a second wire or ribbon through to wrap about the doll's waist as she is standing inside of the presentation box.

       Wrap the presentation box with tissue or just attach a bow at the handle to finish the gift for your doll.

Finished presentation box from different sides.

A handle attached to the top of the box for easy carrying.

Left, interior of the box is lined with butterfly paper.
Right, see wire that holds deer doll in place in box.

Historic American Girl Dolls Have Their Own Dolls Too:

• The Kaya doll has a baby papoose wrapped in a cradleboard carrier.
• Felicity Merriman's doll is "carved" from wood and she is dressed in a blue silk gown
• Elizabth Cole's fashion doll, like Feleicity's, is carved from wood and wears a pink gown.
• Nellie O'Malley's doll is named Lydia. She is a porcelain doll dressed in blue satin, peach ribbons and white lace.
• Samantha Parkington has had two versions of the same Christmas doll. The first was retired in 1993. This is a porcelain doll dressed in pinks that carries a even tinnier wooden nutcracker. The second verion is a version also dressing pink with nutcracker, retired in 2008.
• Molly McIntire has a Christmas nurse doll she names Katherine and she receives a ballerina doll in her Christmas stocking later...
• Courtney Moore has a Care Bear.

Little House Dolls Also Have Dolls:

• How to make Mary's doll, Nettie, and Laura's doll Susan

More Dolls Receive Dolls As Gifts:

• Make a Miniature Printable Doll Coloring Book - You can make a doll's doll coloring book!
• Picking tiny baby dolls from resale - any of these dolls would make perfect gifts for a doll
• Send a Doll With a Greeting Card - cute doll presentation boxes arrive by mail
• Mini Lalaoopysy Dolls for Your Dolls! - have wonderful beach scene inside of their presentation box . . .
  

Toys for Our 18" Dolls

A cuddly, purple polka-dot Teddy bear is 
just the right size for our 18" dolls to
play with.

 

      Our collection of 18" doll sized toys on this post have been purchased from Dollar General stores, Party City, craft shops and sometimes at Saturday morning garage sales in and about my neighborhood. Although most of our doll's toys are handmade, I still do find these little minis tempting to collect from time to time. I'll post them as I find them here in the future.

See More Examples of Toys for 18" Dolls:

• 12 of the World's Smallest Toys... Which One is Best?
• See our photo crafts for the World's Smallest Polaroid Camera here.
• A small juke box radio for our doll collection here.
• World's Smallest Barbie Dreamhouse from MyFroggyStuff
• Picking tiny baby dolls from resale...
• Shelving for a car themed bedroom

Left is a mini kaleidoscope. Look through the hole at one end to spy
 colorful designs that change while you roll the tube in your hand.
  If you'd like to try your hand at making one of these old-fashioned
 toys click here. Center, two doll sized Rubik's cube 3-D puzzles.
 Right, a deck of cards, an entire mini deck including all the correct cards!

This little game reminds me of "Hungry Hippos" although it uses a bunnies instead of
 hippos to devour all of the tiny beads.

Above are collectible Lego type toy figures of a football player and referee. 

Above and below are photos of a doll sized Lite-Brite that really works and a mini Fisher-Price
school bus with working door and stop sign. It comes with tiny figures too! Both mini toys are
by World's Smallest company.

Classic toy bus, for tots to play with.

We made the tiniest dolls for our American Girl Dolls by removing key chain attachments.
Princess Snow White and Princess Elsa from Frozen now stand on the shelves
of our dollhouse bedroom; these minis are just the right size!

Checker Board Games for 18" Sized Dolls

        These checker game boards were easy to print and mount onto cardboard.
       I then sealed the surfaces with Mod Podge. The checker game pieces are made from Sculpey, rolled out and then flattened with my fingertip. I painted half of them red and the other half, I left unpainted (white.)
       The Chinese checker board was printed out and mounted on top of an oatmeal can lid. I glued tiny Styrofoam balls in different colors to the lid in the starting positions for the game.

Checker or Chess Board Game

Left, checkerboard measures approximately 4 1/4" across.
Right, I used Sculpey to make the game pieces.
Download a checkerboard for printing here.

       Draughts - British English) or checkers (American English) is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Draughts developed from alquerque. The name 'draughts' derives from the verb to draw or to move, whereas 'checkers' derives from the checkered board which the game is played on. Read more...

Left, the Chinese Checkerboard is approximately 5" in diameter.
Center, I used a oatmeal can lid for the checkerboard/container.
Right, colored Styrofoam balls are used to mimic doll-sized marbles.

 Chinese Checkers Board Game

        Sternhalma, commonly known as Chinese checkers (US and Canadian spelling) or Chinese chequers (UK spelling), is a strategy board game of German origin which can be played by two, three, four, or six people, playing individually or with partners. The game is a modern and simplified variation of the game Halma. Read more...

Printable Chinese Checkerboard for your 18" dolls.

Sock Dolls for Your 18" Doll . . .

        You can craft tiny sock dolls for your 18" dolls to play with by using baby socks or by cutting down larger knits to scale. We will be making some of these this spring and I will post photos of them as these tiny doll versions are completed. My first sock doll in miniature is the classic sock monkey. 

I've used tiny red pom-pons to decorate this little monkey in a classic design. He also has beads for eyes and his mouth was made using bright, red embroidery floss.

       When making a tiny sock monkey, I prefer to stuff the limbs and tail with fuzzy chenille stems wrapped with cotton batting. This allows me to pose our monkey for doll photos.

        Sometimes when I can't find just the right color or pattern of sock, I will cut different knits to embroider on top of the sock doll bodies.

       If you have a Kit Kittredge doll she might like to play with a sock monkey. Sock monkeys were made by hand as early as 1932. John Nelson, a Swedish immigrant to the United States, patented the sock-knitting machine in 1868, and began knitting socks on an automatic machine in Rockford, Illinois as early as 1870. On September 15, 1880, the Nelson Knitting Company formed, producing "Celebrated Rockford Seamless Hosiery", and selling them under the name of the "Nelson Sock". Read more about the history behind sock monkeys here... To see some human versions in our family collection click here.

More About Sock Monkeys:

• Recycling Your Old Socks Into Dolls
• Crochet a Sock Monkey Costume for Your American Girl Doll
• Home of the Rockford Sock Monkey
• Knit a Sock Monkey Hat for Your 18" Doll
• Sock Monkey Face Mask for COVID-19
• Cute Little Kewpie Doll dressed in a sock monkey costume!
• Sock Monkey.net

How to Make a Raggedy Doll (free 6" pattern)

The finished Raggedy Ann using the pattern below.

 

       Just the other day, I had been reading Raggedy Ann to our little people. And the children decided they wanted something to do. So we decided to make our own raggedy dolls with muslin scraps.
       We gathered cotton, muslin, buttons, yarn, watercolor paints, needle and thread, and flowered calico. I cut the pattern, body and head in one piece.
       Below is the diagram and dimensions. The pattern allows a seam, with stitching on the dotted lines. Leave the ends open to stuff. Close seam at end of body after stuffing. Sew on the stuffed arms and legs.
       Sew two shoe-buttons on the face for eyes, and draw the nose and mouth with good black pencil or trace carefully with ink. Paint the cheeks and shoes red with water colors, red wax crayons, wet red crepe paper, or red ink. Sew brown, red or black yarn in loose loops all over the head, closely.
       Then cut the loops in two, making her scraggly hair. Make her a dress and apron as you would for your other six-inch dolls. Now you have a sweet little doll who can tell her own stories about doll adventures in the playhouse or nursery!

       Left, print and cut out the pattern provided below. Center, trace around the paper pattern pieces and cut these out leaving a 1/4" boarder. Right, use a straight stitch to sew the two sides of each arm, leg and torso together, leaving open the ends of each for stuffing.

       Left, the pieces are sewn together by hand because the doll is so small. Center, turn the doll limbs and body inside out to stuff. Right, after the body has been stuffed and assembled, wrap a strong thread around the ends of the arms to make simple mitt-like hands.

       Left, the body has been stuffed and assembled by hand using a needle and thread. Center, the features and skin color are applied with acrylic paints. Right, the classic red yarn hair is both stitched and glued firmly to our Raggedy Ann's head.

 

       Left, I decided to applique a dress onto my doll's tiny body instead of making it removable. Sometimes I decide to do this for sample dolls. Center, I also used black puff paints to fill in the doll's pupils here. Right, the hands were also painted.

 

       Left, details of ribbon on the apron of the doll. Center left, Raggedy has red and white stripped socks in the classic illustrated version by Johnny Gruelle, so I included these on our doll too. This rag doll has navy shoes however to match her dress. Center right, her hair bow is hot glued to her yarn head. Right, a tiny silk rosette at her collar adds a finishing touch to this sample Raggedy Ann doll.

The Free Pattern for Raggedy Ann and Andy measures approximately six inches when finished.

Raggedy doll pattern and illustration.

Read Raggedy Ann Stories and Read more about the history behind Raggedy Ann and Andy Dolls

More Patterns for Raggedy Type Dolls:

• Let's Make a Raggedy Ann Doll
• Raggedy Andy's Hair
• Sweet Raggedy Ann Baby Costume McCall's M7307 and M6309

DIY Big Rig Toy Box

Our dolls need a toy chest to help keep the nursery free of clutter! But a toy trunk doesn't need to be just an
 ordinary box shape; you can use your imagination to come up with something different. Our family dolls fill
 this truck chest with all kinds of plastic toys that have been collected over the past twenty years.

       Barbie's little boy loves cars and trucks, so I decided to replace a missing trailer from a small replica of a John Deere big rig with a toy chest. Now our doll can pretend to haul the toys away after an exhausting fun filled day!

Supply List:

• front end of a toy truck (big rig)
• foam sheet (any color)
• recycled plastic container 
• stiff wire
• masking tape
• hot glue gun and hot glue
• white school glue
• scrap fabric for lining interior
• snaps, button, small parts (for wheels)
• toothpick or wooden skewer (wheel axle)
• black tape (optional)
• light weight cardboard (to hold the wheel axle)

Step-by-Step Instructions:

       In order to make this playscale toy box, you will need to first acquire the front end of a semi-trailer truck. If you have small children this will not be difficult. If not, take a trip to your local Goodwill or resale and you will surely find one of these in no time at all.

       Next, you will need to recycle a bit of plastic trash or a small box for the back end of the big rig toy chest. Choose something that looks in the correct proportion to your truck parts.

       Fortunately my semi-trailer truck has a hole between it's wheels where I can easily fit a small wire to attach the toy chest. You can see this hole through the plastic recycled box above.

        After covering my toy chest with masking tape, I simply poked a small, stiff wire through the bottom of the box and bent it into place so that the chest would attach to the back end of the truck. The bent end of the wire is held in place with glue and tape. 

       Then I lined the inside of the toy box with scrap fabric and white school glue. The out side of the truck trailer is wrapped with blue foam attached with hot glue and the bottom with black tape.

       I made a set of back wheels for the trailer by hot gluing two buttons to the ends of a wooden skewer through a small cardboard tube. Then I hot glued a metal snap to the white buttons to mimic tiny hubcaps.

Picking tiny baby dolls from resale...

       I will keep an ongoing record of the miniature dolls that I have discovered in resale, flee markets, Goodwill etc... for those of you who are interested in our doll's doll collections.

MGA Quints 5-sies 3" tall with rocking horses, high chairs, baby bottles, sippy cups, rattles, blocks,
 bowls and teddy bears. Originally the toys, high chairs and dolls were sold separately for $20.00. I
purchased all of the above in one bag plus much more for $3.00. These three inch dolls are the perfect
size for Barbie's family and friends.

Slightly smaller than the Quints dolls and so life-like, these babies are by TOOB.
 Our fashion dolls will love parenting this group! These dolls are still currently sold.

 

These two inch porcelain dolls dressing lacy Victorian styled clothing are the kind
of dolls little girls love to collect.

A recent find at resale, tiny Shopkins by Moose toys.

  Return to the Doll Guide Index Page