How to Craft a Doll Lap Desk

       This lab desk sure comes in handy when your doll is too sleepy to sit at a desk and do her school homework. However, she may just doze-off faster if she studies in bed! 
       The comfortable cushion  is made with a kitchen sponge and it's cheerful, sturdy desktop may be covered in your favorite scrapbook paper designs.

Left the top of our 18" doll's lap desk. I used a multi-striped paper for our version.
Right, the bottom of the lap desk, a sponge covered in orange felt.

 Supply List:

• scrap cardboard
• decorative scrapbook paper
• white school glue
• hot glue gun and hot glue
• new kitchen sponge
• one square of felt
• dental floss

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1.  Purchase a new, clean kitchen sponge from a Dollar store before drafting a pattern for this craft. Trace around the sponge on paper so that you know exactly how large to make the lap desk top.
2. The desk top should extend approximately 1/4 inch over the sponge after this has been covered with felt. Give this desk top rounded corners and a handle. 
3. Cut out your pattern and trace it onto a stiff piece of cardboard. 
4. Cut out the cardboard and decoupage over both sides using white school glue and decorative paper.
5. Cover the sponge entirely with the felt, tacking it down on the backside with hot glue. This is the side of the sponge that will never be seen because the desk will be glued to it, so it's o.k. if it is not perfectly neat.
6. Hot glue the desk top to the glued side of the sponge to cover the glue work.

Left, this lap desk is made with one new sponge and a cardboard desk top with a cut handle.
Center and right, fronts and backs of different versions of our doll's lap desks. They use these
to study with in bed. Your doll can also work with a laptop computer on top of these comfy desks.

Dressing-Table or "Vanity" Table Ideas for A Dollhouse

Left, for a little girl's (doll) room: wreath and ribbon design.
 Right, designed for a small room. The roses are stenciled.

       Every "doll in dollville" is fond of dainty and artistic equipments, not only for her personal and home adornment, but in the little every-day appointments of her dressing-table, as well; and that this should be is but the evidence of a refined and cultivated nature, which seeks to surround itself, even in the privacy of dollhouse-life, with all that is dainty and choice, as far as the means will allow. Should the pocket-book be to a degree unlimited, the beautiful objects illustrated above give a limited idea of the many elegant, rich and artistic articles to be found in the stores devoted to such productions. What could be prettier in a daintily-decorated chamber than the richly-draped toilet-table, with its glitter and sparkle of silver and crystal appointments - its air of refinement and luxury so dear to the heart of every true feminine dolly?

Left, for a Colonial room: with chintz draperies.
Right, white scrim draperies with stenciled borders.

A good use for an antique doll mirror
and old dollhouse table.

 

       Now, while this sketch illustrates so pleasingly the luxurious and expensive side of this interesting question, there is still another view which may interest many whose desire for the beautiful, while it is restrained in a great measure by a limited purse, is just as strong and eager to seek the means to satisfy it. That daintiness and refinement may be expressed in the simple every-day appointments of a modest home is unquestionably true. A little time and judgment spent in selecting the necessary fittings of the toilet-table of the plainer sort will reward the buyer to the fullest extent, as in these grades there is great variety and wide range of price.
       To be sure, the glass is not cut crystal, neither is the finish of solid silver, but pressed glass comes in great variety of pretty and useful forms, and aluminum has the brilliancy of silver, and needs but little care to be kept bright and attractive. As a basis for the toilet-table, on which to display these dainty appointments.

• DIY Dollhouse Vanity Accessories by Little Gretchen's Workshop 
• Dollhouse Tutorial for a Vanity by Akamerukawaii - made with popsicle sticks and wood glue
• Froggy makes a PUR x Barbie Vanity and An "Antique Version" using Dollar Tree supplies here.
• See my craft version of a small stuffed chair for a vanity table here.
  

       White muslin, plain or dotted, a few scraps of the cheaper quality of lace, and the introduction of a few loops and ribbons of the favorite color, with a fair proportion of the requisite taste, which is seldom missing in a refined nature, will do the rest at very small expense. We will not attempt here a detailed description as to what to do, or how it should be done, as conditions and circumstances differ widely with the individual, but will simply offer a few suggestions as a basis on which to work.
       Glue securely to the back of the table a small craft stick; at the center of this glue a second craft stick vertically so that the muslin in pleats may be attached at the top, perfectly flat and spreading out wider at the bottom, to each extreme end of the table-back, extending down in fan shape. This will give a background to add over-drapery and flounces at discretion. In the centre of this, at a convenient height, hang a small mirror, the frame of which may be covered with plush of a dainty color. Of course, the body of the table should be covered with flounced lace to the floor, and the table-top itself covered with a plush mat of the same dainty color as the frame.
       This should exactly cover the top, and be edged with a neat colored cord-binding, with tassels to match at the corners, or a full lace flounce finished at the corners with bright ribbons. Ribbons of the same color should hold in place the over-drapery of the upper part, as the taste of the fair owner shall dictate. These simple suggestions, and a fair amount of good taste, and skill in arranging, should offer opportunity for very pleasing results, and, when all is completed, the dainty appointments of the toilet artistically and neatly arranged in their places, "my lady doll" has something that has cost her but a comparatively small amount of money, and her reward for the time' and ingenuity expended will be derived from the satisfaction of possession.

Left, for a guest-room in cretonne and stenciling.
Right, quaint and pretty for a country-dollhouse room.

• Mini Dressing table with matchbox from Craftube for Barbie and another version here too for a smaller doll!
• Miniature Dressing Table from NKCreationNoorjahan
• Matchbox dressing table design from Mukta Art & Craft
• Fold a vanity table with Craft with Sahar

A tile print design for floors or walls in a doll's house

       These tile printables may be pieced together to cover as much wall or floor space as you like. There are four colors: hot pink, golden rod, teal blue and black - all designed with white backgrounds. For personal use only folks.

printable tiles in hot pink and white

printable tiles in golden rod and white

printable tiles in teal blue and white

printable tiles in black and white

Bessie's Doll

Bessie's Doll by By Maud Montgomery

        Tommy Puffer, sauntering up the street, stopped to look at Miss Octavia's geraniums. Tommy never could help stopping to look at Miss Octavia's flowers, much as he hated Miss Octavia. Today they were certainly worth looking at. Miss Octavia had set them all out on her verandah - rows upon rows of them, overflowing down the steps in waves of blossom and color. Miss Octavia's geraniums were famous in Arundel, and she was very proud of them. But it was her garden which was really the delight of her heart. Miss Octavia always had the prettiest garden in Arundel, especially as far as annuals were concerned. Just now it was like faith - the substance of things hoped for. The poppies and nasturtiums and balsams and morning glories and sweet peas had been sown in the brown beds on the lawn, but they had not yet begun to come up.
       Tommy was still feasting his eyes on the geraniums when Miss Octavia herself came around the corner of the house. Her face darkened the minute she saw Tommy. Most people's did. Tommy had the reputation of being a very bad, mischievous boy; he was certainly very poor and ragged, and Miss Octavia disapproved of poverty and rags on principle. Nobody, she argued, not even a boy of twelve, need be poor and ragged if he is willing to work.
       "Here, you, get away out of this," she said sharply. "I'm not going to have you hanging over my palings."
       "I ain't hurting your old palings," retorted Tommy sullenly. "I was jist a-looking at the flowers."
       "Yes, and picking out the next one to throw a stone at," said Miss Octavia sarcastically. "It was you who threw that stone and broke my big scarlet geranium clear off the other day."
       "It wasn't - I never chucked a stone at your flowers," said Tommy.
       "Don't tell me any falsehoods, Tommy Puffer. It was you. Didn't I catch you firing stones at my cat a dozen times?"
       "I might have fired 'em at an old cat, but I wouldn't tech a flower," avowed Tommy boldly - brazenly, Miss Octavia thought.
       "You clear out of this or I'll make you," she said warningly.
       Tommy had had his ears boxed by Miss Octavia more than once. He had no desire to have the performance repeated, so he stuck his tongue out at Miss Octavia and then marched up the street with his hands in his pockets, whistling jauntily.
       "He's the most impudent brat I ever saw in my life," muttered Miss Octavia wrathfully. There was a standing feud between her and all the Arundel small boys, but Tommy was her special object of dislike.
Tommy's heart was full of wrath and bitterness as he marched away. He hated Miss Octavia; he wished something would happen to every one of her flowers; he knew it was Ned Williams who had thrown that stone, and he hoped Ned would throw some more and smash all the flowers. So Tommy raged along the street until he came to Mr. Blacklock's store, and in the window of it he saw something that put Miss Octavia and her disagreeable remarks quite out of his tow-colored head.
       This was nothing more or less than a doll. Now, Tommy was not a judge of dolls and did not take much interest in them, but he felt quite sure that this was a very fine one. It was so big; it was beautifully dressed in blue silk, with a ruffled blue silk hat; it had lovely long golden hair and big brown eyes and pink cheeks; and it stood right up in the showcase and held out its hands winningly.
       "Gee, ain't it a beauty!" said Tommy admiringly. "It looks 'sif it was alive, and it's as big as a baby. I must go an' bring Bessie to see it."
       Tommy at once hurried away to the shabby little street where what he called "home" was. Tommy's home was a very homeless-looking sort of place. It was the smallest, dingiest, most slatternly house on a street noted for its dingy and slatternly houses. It was occupied by a slatternly mother and a drunken father, as well as by Tommy; and neither the father nor the mother took much notice of Tommy except to scold or nag him. So it is hardly to be wondered at if Tommy was the sort of boy who was frowned upon by respectable citizens.
       But one little white blossom of pure affection bloomed in the arid desert of Tommy's existence for all that. In the preceding fall a new family had come to Arundel and moved into the tiny house next to the Puffers'. It was a small, dingy house, just like the others, but before long a great change took place in it. The new family were thrifty, industrious folks, although they were very poor. The little house was white-washed, the paling neatly mended, the bit of a yard cleaned of all its rubbish. Muslin curtains appeared in the windows, and rows of cans, with blossoming plants, adorned the sills.
       There were just three people in the Knox family - a thin little mother, who went out scrubbing and took in washing, a boy of ten, who sold newspapers and ran errands - and Bessie.
       Bessie was eight years old and walked with a crutch, but she was a smart little lassie and kept the house wonderfully neat and tidy while her mother was away. The very first time she had seen Tommy she had smiled at him sweetly and said, "Good morning." From that moment Tommy was her devoted slave. Nobody had ever spoken like that to him before; nobody had ever smiled so at him. Tommy would have given his useless little life for Bessie, and thenceforth the time he was not devising mischief he spent in bringing little pleasures into her life. It was Tommy's delight to bring that smile to her pale little face and a look of pleasure into her big, patient blue eyes. The other boys on the street tried to tease Bessie at first and shouted "Cripple!" after her when she limped out. But they soon stopped it. Tommy thrashed them all one after another for it, and Bessie was left in peace. She would have had a very lonely life if it had not been for Tommy, for she could not play with the other children. But Tommy was as good as a dozen playmates, and Bessie thought him the best boy in the world. Tommy, whatever he might be with others, was very careful to be good when he was with Bessie. He never said a rude word in her hearing, and he treated her as if she were a little princess. Miss Octavia would have been amazed beyond measure if she had seen how tender and thoughtful and kind and chivalrous that neglected urchin of a Tommy could be when he tried.
       Tommy found Bessie sitting by the kitchen window, looking dreamily out of it. For just a moment Tommy thought uneasily that Bessie was looking very pale and thin this spring.
       "Bessie, come for a walk up to Mr. Blacklock's store," he said eagerly. "There is something there I want to show you."
       "What is it?" Bessie wanted to know. But Tommy only winked mysteriously.
       "Ah, I ain't going to tell you. But it's something awful pretty. Just you wait."
       Bessie reached for her crutch and the two went up to the store, Tommy carefully suiting his steps to Bessie's slow ones. Just before they reached the store he made her shut her eyes and led her to the window.
       "Now - look!" he commanded dramatically.
       Bessie looked and Tommy was rewarded. She flushed pinkly with delight and clasped her hands in ecstasy.
       "Oh, Tommy, isn't she perfectly beautiful?" she breathed. "Oh, she's the very loveliest dolly I ever saw. Oh, Tommy!"
       "I thought you'd like her," said Tommy exultantly. "Don't you wish you had a doll like that of your very own, Bessie?"
       Bessie looked almost rebuking, as if Tommy had asked her if she wouldn't like a golden crown or a queen's palace.
       "Of course I could never have a dolly like that," she said. "She must cost an awful lot. But it's enough just to look at her. Tommy, will you bring me up here every day just to look at her?"
       "'Course," said Tommy.
       Bessie talked about the blue-silk doll all the way home and dreamed of her every night. "I'm going to call her Roselle Geraldine," she said. After that she went up to see Roselle Geraldine every day, gazing at her for long moments in silent rapture. Tommy almost grew jealous of her; he thought Bessie liked the doll better than she did him.
       "But it don't matter a bit if she does," he thought loyally, crushing down the jealousy. "If she likes to like it better than me, it's all right."
       Sometimes, though, Tommy felt uneasy. It was plain to be seen that Bessie had set her heart on that doll. And what would she do when the doll was sold, as would probably happen soon? Tommy thought Bessie would feel awful sad, and he would be responsible for it.
       What Tommy feared came to pass. One afternoon, when they went up to Mr. Blacklock's store, the doll was not in the window.
       "Oh," cried Bessie, bursting into tears, "she's gone - Roselle Geraldine is gone."
       "Perhaps she isn't sold," said Tommy comfortingly. "Maybe they only took her out of the window 'cause the blue silk would fade. I'll go in and ask."
       A minute later Tommy came out looking sober.
       "Yes, she's sold, Bessie," he said. "Mr. Blacklock sold her to a lady yesterday. Don't cry, Bessie - maybe they'll put another in the window 'fore long."
       "It won't be mine," sobbed Bessie. "It won't be Roselle Geraldine. It won't have a blue silk hat and such cunning brown eyes."
       Bessie cried quietly all the way home, and Tommy could not comfort her. He wished he had never shown her the doll in the window.
       From that day Bessie drooped, and Tommy watched her in agony. She grew paler and thinner. She was too tired to go out walking, and too tired to do the little household tasks she had delighted in. She never spoke about Roselle Geraldine, but Tommy knew she was fretting about her. Mrs. Knox could not think what ailed the child.
       "She don't take a bit of interest in nothing," she complained to Mrs. Puffer. "She don't eat enough for a bird. The doctor, he says there ain't nothing the matter with her as he can find out, but she's just pining away."
       Tommy heard this, and a queer, big lump came up in his throat. He had a horrible fear that he, Tommy Puffer, was going to cry. To prevent it he began to whistle loudly. But the whistle was a failure, very unlike the real Tommy-whistle. Bessie was sick - and it was all his fault, Tommy believed. If he had never taken her to see that hateful, blue-silk doll, she would never have got so fond of it as to be breaking her heart because it was sold.
       "If I was only rich," said Tommy miserably, "I'd buy her a cartload of dolls, all dressed in blue silk and all with brown eyes. But I can't do nothing."
       By this time Tommy had reached the paling in front of Miss Octavia's lawn, and from force of habit he stopped to look over it. But there was not much to see this time, only the little green rows and circles in the brown, well-weeded beds, and the long curves of dahlia plants, which Miss Octavia had set out a few days before. All the geraniums were carried in, and the blinds were down. Tommy knew Miss Octavia was away. He had seen her depart on the train that morning, and heard her tell a friend that she was going down to Chelton to visit her brother's folks and wouldn't be back until the next day.
       Tommy was still leaning moodily against the paling when Mrs. Jenkins and Mrs. Reid came by, and they too paused to look at the garden.
       "Dear me, how cold it is!" shivered Mrs. Reid. "There's going to be a hard frost tonight. Octavia's flowers will be nipped as sure as anything. It's a wonder she'd stay away from them overnight when her heart's so set on them."
       "Her brother's wife is sick," said Mrs. Jenkins. "We haven't had any frost this spring, and I suppose Octavia never thought of such a thing. She'll feel awful bad if her flowers get frosted, especially them dahlias. Octavia sets such store by her dahlias."
       Mrs. Jenkins and Mrs. Reid moved away, leaving Tommy by the paling. It was cold - there was going to be a hard frost - and Miss Octavia's plants and flowers would certainly be spoiled. Tommy thought he ought to be glad, but he wasn't. He was sorry - not for Miss Octavia, but for her flowers. Tommy had a queer, passionate love for flowers in his twisted little soul. It was a shame that they should be nipped - that all the glory of crimson and purple and gold hidden away in those little green rows and circles should never have a chance to blossom out royally. Tommy could never have put this thought into words, but it was there in his heart. He wished he could save the flowers. And couldn't he? Newspapers spread over the beds and tied around the dahlias would save them, Tommy knew. He had seen Miss Octavia doing it other springs. And he knew there was a big box of newspapers in a little shed in her backyard. Ned Williams had told him there was, and that the shed was never locked.
Tommy hurried home as quickly as he could and got a ball of twine out of his few treasures. Then he went back to Miss Octavia's garden.
       The next forenoon Miss Octavia got off the train at the Arundel station with a very grim face. There had been an unusually severe frost for the time of year. All along the road Miss Octavia had seen gardens frosted and spoiled. She knew what she should see when she got to her own - the dahlia stalks drooping and black and limp, the nasturtiums and balsams and poppies and pansies all withered and ruined.
       But she didn't. Instead she saw every dahlia carefully tied up in a newspaper, and over all the beds newspapers spread out and held neatly in place with pebbles. Miss Octavia flew into her garden with a radiant face. Everything was safe - nothing was spoiled.
       But who could have done it? Miss Octavia was puzzled. On one side of her lived Mrs. Kennedy, who had just moved in and, being a total stranger, would not be likely to think of Miss Octavia's flowers. On the other lived Miss Matheson, who was a "shut-in" and spent all her time on the sofa. But to Miss Matheson Miss Octavia went.
       "Rachel, do you know who covered my plants up last night?"
       Miss Matheson nodded. "Yes, it was Tommy Puffer. I saw him working away there with papers and twine. I thought you'd told him to do it."
       "For the land's sake!" ejaculated Miss Octavia. "Tommy Puffer! Well, wonders will never cease."
Miss Octavia went back to her house feeling rather ashamed of herself when she remembered how she had always treated Tommy Puffer.
"But there must be some good in the child, or he wouldn't have done this," she said to herself. "I've been real mean, but I'll make it up to him."
       Miss Octavia did not see Tommy that day, but when he passed the next morning she ran to the door and called him.
       "Tommy, Tommy Puffer, come in here!"
       Tommy came reluctantly. He didn't like Miss Octavia any better than he had, and he didn't know what she wanted of him. But Miss Octavia soon informed him without loss of words.
       "Tommy, Miss Matheson tells me that it was you who saved my flowers from the frost the other night. I'm very much obliged to you indeed. Whatever made you think of doing it?"
       "I hated to see the flowers spoiled," muttered Tommy, who was feeling more uncomfortable than he had ever felt in his life.
       "Well, it was real thoughtful of you. I'm sorry I've been so hard on you, Tommy, and I believe now you didn't break my scarlet geranium. Is there anything I can do for you - anything you'd like to have? If it's in reason I'll get it for you, just to pay my debt."
       Tommy stared at Miss Octavia with a sudden hopeful inspiration. "Oh, Miss Octavia," he cried eagerly, "will you buy a doll and give it to me?"
       "Well, for the land's sake!" ejaculated Miss Octavia, unable to believe her ears. "A doll! What on earth do you want of a doll?"
       "It's for Bessie," said Tommy eagerly. "You see, it's this way."
       Then Tommy told Miss Octavia the whole story. Miss Octavia listened silently, sometimes nodding her head. When he had finished she went out of the room and soon returned, bringing with her the very identical doll that had been in Mr. Blacklock's window.
       "I guess this is the doll," she said. "I bought it to give to a small niece of mine, but I can get another for her. You may take this to Bessie."
       It would be of no use to try to describe Bessie's joy when Tommy rushed in and put Roselle Geraldine in her arms with a breathless account of the wonderful story. But from that moment Bessie began to pick up again, and soon she was better than she had ever been and the happiest little lassie in Arundel.
       When a week had passed, Miss Octavia again called Tommy in; Tommy went more willingly this time. He had begun to like Miss Octavia.
       That lady looked him over sharply and somewhat dubiously. He was certainly very ragged and unkempt. But Miss Octavia saw what she had never noticed before - that Tommy's eyes were bright and frank, that Tommy's chin was a good chin, and that Tommy's smile had something very pleasant about it.
       "You're fond of flowers, aren't you, Tommy?" she asked.
       "You bet," was Tommy's inelegant but heartfelt answer.
       "Well," said Miss Octavia slowly, "I have a brother down at Chelton who is a florist. He wants a boy of your age to do handy jobs and run errands about his establishment, and he wants one who is fond of flowers and would like to learn the business. He asked me to recommend him one, and I promised to look out for a suitable boy. Would you like the place, Tommy? And will you promise to be a very good boy and learn to be respectable if I ask my brother to give you a trial and a chance to make something of yourself?"
       "Oh, Miss Octavia!" gasped Tommy. He wondered if he were simply having a beautiful dream.
       But it was no dream. And it was all arranged later on. No one rejoiced more heartily in Tommy's success than Bessie.
       "But I'll miss you dreadfully, Tommy," she said wistfully.
       "Oh, I'll be home every Saturday night, and we'll have Sunday together, except when I've got to go to Sunday school. 'Cause Miss Octavia says I must," said Tommy comfortingly. "And the rest of the time you'll have Roselle Geraldine."
       "Yes, I know," said Bessie, giving the blue-silk doll a fond kiss, "and she's just lovely. But she ain't as nice as you, Tommy, for all."
       Then was Tommy's cup of happiness full.

How to make boxy bunk beds for your dolls?

Left, the 3 bunk beds made using a discarded shoebox fit little dolls like Skipper, Stacie and 
Chelsea dolls. Barbie would fit in these beds too but I designed them to be included in a child
bedroom for our dolls. Right, the bunk beds are outfitted with mattress, sheets, pillows.

       The most wonderful thing about this doll bedroom craft is that it may look so very unique based upon who is crafting it. The possibilities are endless and all you really need is a box! In this version of a bunk bed craft I chose to use a shoebox. 

       You might say that crafting doll furniture using shoeboxes is one of the great American child pastimes. I rarely meet a little one who hasn't made something using a shoebox. Either he or she has made a diorama in school, a postbox for Valentines or a bed for their dolls using this common material. Shoebox crafts are as common to childhood as Playdough or lemonade.

       My modern version of this set of bunk beds includes ''holds'' for climbing into the beds instead of old-fashioned ladders and what American kid wouldn't prefer these? 

Basic supplies include a cardboard box and fabrics.

Supply List:

• Sculpey for "holds''
• decorative scrapbook papers
• white school glue
• cardboard box 
• cotton batting
• fabric for bed linens (felt, flannels etc...)
• matching threads
• additional scrap cardboard
• acrylic paints (for details)
• lattice flower garden woodcuts (optional, Dollar General Store)
• hot glue
• Mod Podge

Left the holds shaped using Sculpey oven-bake clay. Center and Right, the holds are hot-glued
to the places where ladders would ordinarily be included for the dolls to climb into bed. But,
our dolls are interested in rock climbing so I chose to use these interesting brackets instead.

 

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Remove the lid from a shoebox, turn it on it's side and now you have the perfect beginning of a doll's bunk bed. I chose to make my version here for three dolls. This meant that I would need to measure the length of my shoebox minus one inch, divide that number in half and glue an additional piece of cardboard to fit neatly into the center of the interior of my shoebox. This will give our family dolls three levels for beds: one at the top, one in the middle and one at the bottom.
2. The "minus one inch'' is the allowance I made for the lowest bed's platform at the bottom of the shoebox. I raised the lowest bed off of the very bottom of the shoebox so that the doll would not be laying directly on the floor. Cut a strip of cardboard measuring one inch wide and glue this into the box so that an additional cardboard bed may rest on top of this raised platform. 
3. I cut additional narrow strips of cardboard to glue just beneath the second center ''bunk bed" in order to lend it support while it dried and extra strength during play.
4. The top of the shoebox is the final and third bunk bed. For this bed you will need to cut safety rails so that dolly won't roll out of bed in the night and break her arm or something worse... My rails for the third bunk on top were cut from cardboard. I did not need to cut railing to wrap around the entire bed; I only cut enough for the one side facing out from our dollhouse walls. 
5. I built a shallow two inch wall to wrap around one end and the back wall of the top bunk and left one side at the end of the bunk beds open so that a doll could climb up one end into the top bunk. Normally this would be where a real tri-level bunk bed would include it's longest ladder. However this is where I hot glued my Sculpey holds onto the side of the doll bed for dolls to climb instead of a ladder. 
6. Hand sculpt small abstract shapes to mimic "holds" for the dolls. Bake these according to the directions on the side of the box, apply when cool with a hot glue gun on the flat side, paint with acrylics and seal with Mod Podge.
7. Now comes the fun and easy part of the craft, decoupage all of the walls using decorative papers and white school glue or Mod Podge. Do not use large quantities of glue all at once or the box may become warped. The key here is to do this process slowly, allowing the glue to dry on different levels of application before adding more paper. Take your time!
8. I glued in an additional bedrail to the edges of my doll's second bunk (center bunk) last. i had to build a shallow wall on the edge measuring 1/2 inch wide to give support to this flower bed rail cut from balsa wood. I glued the wooden rail to the front of the cardboard support. This added detail echoed the floral wall prints on the interiors of the first and second bunk walls. 
9. After these rails dried, I painted them using acrylics.
10. The second half of this craft involves to sewing for our bunk beds bedding. I made these doll linens by hand but you may choose to use a sewing machine with parental guidance if you are learning to sew on it. This is an excellent project for 5th and 6th graders to make and learn simple sewing techniques. First, measure the lengths and sides of each bed platform to sew mattresses. Add a 1/4 inch seams to all sides before cutting mattress fabric. If learnin to sew, you may wish to make those seams 1/2 inch instead.
11. With right sides together, sew a straight stitch around the two longest lengths plus one end only , leaving one of the shorter ends open for stuffing the mattress with cotton batting, after you have turned the right sides out and created a pocket. Use very little stuffing for the mattresses so that by the time you have made bed pillows and blankets there is still room to slide the doll into bed!
12. The pillows are made in the same way except much smaller. 
13. Cut blankets from no fray fabrics like felt, flannel so that younger students may complete the bed linens quicker.

Above, I sewed simple canvas mattresses to fit into each bunk bed and then covered them with
flannel striped fabric for doll sheets. Each bunk was also given a sleeping pillow with a pillow 
case and decorative pillows too! Every interior wall was covered in floral papers.

The outside of the boxy bunks was decoupaged using faux wooden paper, white-washed in surface
design for a 'country look." The holds were also painted bright colors: teal green, hot pink, yellow
and orange, just as these are in real life.

Each doll is tucked in snug for a good night's sleep. Center, see the railing is made using lattice
flower bed brackets cut from balsa wood. I purchased these from a Dollar General and painted 
them to match the printed, white-wash wood siding. Right, there are simpler plain rails glued to
the highest bunk bed. 

See Kids Climb Around The House:

• Easy DIY Indoor Kid's Climbing Wall
• How to make a climbing wall in a kid's room...
• A painted climbing wall in the house 
• Climbing wall bunk beds - how to assemble these in real life!
• Playroom with rock climbing wall

New wallpaper prints for your dollhouses

       Here are four new prints for papering the interior of your dollhouse, if you like. There is a dark olive check, a dotty blue print, a country plaid and a small red square design. Enjoy!

checkered wallpaper for a dollhouse

dotty blue designed wallpaper

plaid wallpaper in reds and greens

a small checkered red wallpaper design

Color this birthday bear...

Description of Coloring Page: teddy bear, birthday hat, ruffled collar, stuffed animal toy, pom poms

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

School Desks for 18" Dolls

        As I acquire more examples of desks for doll school, I will include photographs of them in our posting here. I have yet to find the chair that goes with the first desk by Battat. All of the other classroom furnishings are very popular and easily found online. I purchased all of mine at resale for a few dollars each.

Left, Our Generation by Battat home room school desk is made of durable plastic. The desktop is
 brilliant cobalt blue and the lower half is tan. Right the front of the desk is made to be simple and
 sleek; I had a desk like this with a bright orange, modern chair when I was in fourth through
6th grade. This desk is sold in a playset still at Target for $29.99.

Left, The American Girl Truly Me 18" doll flip-top school desk retails for $65.00 and includes
 school items with it. It has the distinctive star logo cut-out on the back of the chair. Center, see the
 desk from the side. Although the entire desk is manufactured from durable plastic, the legs are
painted to look like real bent metal. Right, the desk comes with a flip-up top and has a clip board
 on the inside. There is also an attached bookcase beneath the desk top. My set is coral, white
and tan. It is also sold with a blue chair and turquoise shelf unit with a white desk top.

Left, an original Pleasant Company school desk for the Molly McIntire Doll. Next, it too has a
desktop that opens for papers, books and school supply storage. Center, the chair swivels and its
legs and rigid chair support are made of metal. Right, the desktop also has an ink well and groove
 for writing instruments. Molly's desk first sold in 1990 for $60.00 and was then retired in 2011.

Left, the Pleasant Company Victorian school desk for Samantha Parkington is original. Center, it
has a cast iron base with a scroll-work pattern. The desktop and seat are wooden. Right, there is
 a groove at the top for chalk and pencils and an ink well (hole) on the right. Samantha's desk first
sold for $68.00 in 1990 and was then retired in 2008.

• See an Upcycled Toy Desk for The Doll's Office
  
• See clip art of vintage student desks here and ink bottles once kept on school desk tops inside the well (hole) along with a quill-pen when such tools were still used.
• DIY Office Supply for A Doll's Desk - Crafts for pencils, pink erasers, journals, paper weights and tape dispenser!

How to Craft a Sleigh Bed for Barbie

Two dolls, a fashionista and a Ken relax while watching a baby, toddler and their beagle.

       Here is a lovely Queen sized bed for Barbie and Ken to share  once they have decided to settle down, marry and have a family of their own. For their master suite I will design a cozy bedroom that includes all of the comforts Barbie has grown accustomed to in her past dream homes. But this home will include a new husband, baby, and other children with pets.

The bedding for this doll bed is made from cotton prints in purple and blue. The through blanket
 was upcycled from an old purple fuzzy scarf.

View of sleigh bed construction using a box and additional 
scrap cardboard and dowel rods.

       To make this queen sized Barbie bed I cut identical cardboard pieces for the sides to glue onto either side of a box measuring 12" x 9" inches. The sleigh shaped head and foot boards add more length to the bed for the doll. As you can clearly see in the photographs, sturdy dowel rods glued securely between these cardboard pieces are used to hold up the delicately shaped cardboard pieces. 

       The next step is to attach cardboard to the inside head and foot boards. This is done by applying a generous amount of glue along the edges of the cardboard sides pieces. With masking tape, secure a length of light weight cardboard up, over and down to the bottom edges of the bed to close in the sleigh shaped head and foot boards. Remove the masking tape after the glue has hardened completely. Then sand down the edges if this is needed. I then decoupaged the entire sleigh bed using brown paper bag paper and more white school glue. 

       To make the mattress, I decoupaged the box part of the bed's mattress using a decorative ivory paper that reminded me of a mattress. Now all I will need to do to finish the bed is decoupage the faux wooden parts with printed wood papers and then sew the bedding. This is a bit less time consuming because the mattress in this bed design is the box. It won't be necessary for me to cut it out from foam and cover it with fabric in other words.

Above you can see how I braced the interior of the sleigh bed cardboard sides with a wooden
dowell rod. 

Left, the mattress is embossed paper decoupaged on top of the box. Center, a small Sculpey
detail featured on the end of a sleigh bed headboard. Right, underneath the bed you can still
see the box that I started with.

Left, is the view of the finished bed taken from the footboard side. Right, is a sideview of my
doll's sleigh bed with finished faux wood decoupage.

More Doll Bed DIYs:

• Craft an old-fashioned shoe box bed for Barbie with ''carved'' bumble bees in the headboard and a kerchief bed spread
• Craft a Heavenly heart-shaped bed for a smaller doll...

A Ski Lodge Mantle Display

Our doll's faux stone fireplace is decorated with life-size ornaments from our own
Christmas tree collection. Ordinarily the ski lodge and star above it hand on a tree for
 decoration, but they look just as charming inside of the dollhouse, on top of the mantle.

    This year we will experiment with decorating our largest dollhouse for Christmas in both traditional and unique ways.

    As you can see the eighteen inch doll's stone fireplace is trimmed with a ski lodge, embroidered star, horses, bottle brush trees and a small cast iron figure carrying his own set of skis back to the cozy winter scene on our mantle vignette. 

• See how we built this faux stone fireplace for play!

    The mantle is outfitted with a simple, vintage covering cut from white felt. You can make a similar one to ours quite easily! Just measure the length and width of your doll's own fireplace mantle plus one to two inches extra to hang over the edges. Cut this shape from snowy white felt and then clip the corners for a bit of overhang. Wherever the felt hangs over the edge of the mantle, cut an abstract squiggly line that looks like snow drifting in winter. (See the mantle photo.)

       During the 1950s, tree skirts and mantle covers where sold in five and dime shops with similar cut patterns. One of these miniature hand-cut covers can dress up your doll's fireplace for cozy winter nights and will also protect the surface mantle from scratches while you play.

       I also included in this display a 24 inch white tree that was purchased for the large dollhouse from a resale shop. Some years we decorate this tree using only handmade ornaments and other years it is decked out with miniature glass baubles.

       Beneath it's lowest branches are the doll's Christmas gifts wrapped and displayed on top of a handmade tree skirt. Each little box has a lid that is wrapped separately so that the dolls may open their presents every year without spoiling the fancy paper.

• Learn how we made a no-sew miniature tree skirt.
• Christmas gift wrap for dolls

Left, the white, 24" Christmas tree is decorated with gold and silver tinsel, and tiny glass
ornaments. Center, the mantle is covered with a hand-cut felt cover that is made to look
 like snow. Right, See the tiny horses in front of the bottlebrush trees; these are charming
additions to our small Christmas vignette.

       Below is an alternative way to decorate the mantle using the felt snow using red, pink and white ornaments. Here the dolls have put out delicious looking cupcakes for Santa. This sweet cake stand with a glass dome is also an ornament normally used on our family Christmas tree.

Here you can see an alternative Christmas display using the same snowy, felt cover. On this version
of the mantle I've included pink bottle brush trees with peppermint stands. A vintage Santa ornament
made using baker's salt dough is hung above the mantle and delicious looking cupcakes under a glass
cake dome will soon be consumed by dear old Santa himself, after the presents are arranged beneath 
the red and white trimmed tree.

Left, you can see our version of a peppermint tree skirt. Center, a vintage Santa holds a tiny chenille
tree and is displayed at the top of our doll's white Christmas tree. We show folks how to make a 
similar craft like this one at our Belsnickle Blog here. Right, are a few red and white wrapped gifts
for the dolls on display in the seat of our white, wooden rocker.

Foam Bauble Wreath Craft

Doll sized Christmas bauble wreath.

       Young people can make this festive dollhouse Christmas wreath using the following supplies purchased from a Dollar General store. 

       Hang it inside or outside of a dollhouse to decorate for your doll's Christmas holidays...

Supply List:

• Styrofoam balls pack (Dollar General Store)
• Tacky white craft glue
• scrap cardboard

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut a round wreath shape from light weight cardboard, like recycled cereal box material. Then cut a hole in the inside of the round shape, so that the cardboard cut-out looks something like a donut.
2. If you feel it necessary to ad strength to the cut-out, you may cover it with masking tape.
3. Tape or glue a wire hanger to the backside of the cardboard wreath cut-out.
4. Next, stack and glue Styrofoam balls using tacky white glue.
5. Let the festive bauble wreath dry near a warm sunny window or heating vent.

Christmas, His Birthday...

Children remember His birthday.

Christmas, His Birthday
by Susan Coolidge

How did they keep his birthday then,
The little fair Christ, so long ago?
O, many there were to be housed and fed,
And there was no place in the inn they said,
So into the manger Christ must go,
To lodge with the cattle and not with men.

The ox and the ass they munched their hay,
They munched and they slumbered, wondering not,
And out in the midnight cold and blue
The shepherds slept, and the sheep slept, too,
Till the angels' song and the bright star ray
Guided the wise men to the spot.

But only the wise men knelt and praised,
And only the shepherds came to see,
And the rest of the world cared not at all
For the little Christ in the oxen's stall;
And we are angry and amazed
That such a dull, hard thing should be!

How do we keep his birthday now?
We ring the bells and we raise the strain,
We hang up garlands everywhere
And bid the tapers twinkle fair,
And feast and frolic - and then we go
Back to the same old lives again.

Are we so much better, then, than they
Who failed the new-born Christ to see?
To them a helpless babe, - to us
He shines a Savior glorious,
Our Lord, our Friend, our All - yet we
Are half asleep this Christmas day.

What Santa Claus Thinks...

Dear Old Santa loves all good children...

What Santa Claus Thinks...

HI!  another  one!  What's  all  the  world  about?
Don't  these  people  know  that  I'm  most  worn out?
Millions  of 'em  coming  year  by  year;
Every  youngster  wretched  if  I  don't  appear.

First,  they  want  a  rattle,  then  a  ring  to  bite:
Then  a  box  of  sugarplums,  then  a  doll,  or  kite;
Next  a  story-book  to  read,  then  a  bat  and  ball, -
Santa's  back  is  broad  and  strong,  be  must  bring them  all.

Gratitude  they  talk  about, - not  a  bit  for  me.
First  you  know  they  get  so  wise,  cry  out,  ''Fiddle de-de! 
No   such  chap  as  Santa  Claus!" Can't  deceive them so;
Never  find  a  six-inch  stocking  hanging  in  the  row.

Here's  this  jolly  little  chap,  scarcely  here  a  week;
Don't  I  know  he  rules  the  house,  though  he  looks so meek;
Both  his  eyelids  shut  up  tight,  mouth  wide  open, too.
S'pose  he  got  a  look  at  me,  wonder  what  he'd  do?

Sleep  away,   my  little  man;  trouble  comes with years;
You  are  bound  to  get  your  share,  in  this  vale  of tears.
Rattle,  is  it? Well,  all  right! Yes,  I've  got  my pen;
Finish  out  your  little  nap  and  I'll  be  round  again.

The Christmas Tree

"It came from the land of snow..."

 The Christmas Tree

YOU  come  from  a  land  where  the  snow  lies  deep
In  forest  grand,  on  mountain  steep;
Where  the  days  are  short,  and  the  nights  are  long,
And  never  a  sky-lark  sings  his  song.
Have  you  seen  the  wild  deer  in  his  mountain  home,
And  watched  the  descent  of  the  brown  pine  cone?
Do  you  miss  your  mates  in  the  land  of  snow,
Where  none  but  the  evergreen  branches  grow?
Dear  tree,  we  will  dress  you  in  robes  so  bright,
That  ne'er  could  be  seen  a  prettier  sight;
In  glittering  balls,  and  tinkling  bells,
And  the  star  which  the  story  of  Christmas  tells;
On  every  branch  we  will  place  a  light,
That  will  send  its  gleam  through  the  starry  night,
And  the  little  children  will  gather  there
And  carol  their  songs  in  voices  fair;
And  we  hope  that  you  never  will  homesick  be,
You  beautiful,  beautiful  Christmas  tree.

How to craft a doll sized cell phone...

Samples of our handmade doll sized cell phones.

        Cell phone - "A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone or hand phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while the user is moving within a telephone service area."

       To make your dolls cell phone simple cut tiny paper rectangles and layer these together using white school glue. Then take a photo of a real cell phone and print this slightly smaller than the paper version. Cut it out and glue it to the top of the doll's phone and seal it with white glue or Mod Podge. Then slip it into a doll sized purse/handbag.

How to cut and assemble cosmetic compacts for a doll...

Cosmetic compacts for a doll's purse.

       This doll makeup craft, an eye shadow compact, is one of the oldest like it on the web. I've made our own versions to stuff inside of our party handbag favors...

Supply List:

• colorful papers
• white school glue
• toothpick(s)
• Mod Podge
• tiny rubber band(s)
• silver tape (optional)
• scrap cardboard
• mirror or ''reflective'' paper (tin foil)
• cotton ball

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut small square, compact sized rectangles from scrap cardboard.
2. Score them down the center on the outside of each compact.
3. Cut tiny tabs of paper, glued ends together and paste on the edge of the compact to create a closure for the compacts. (see photo) You will need three of these loops. Two on one side spaced apart and one between these two, pasted to the opposite side.
4. Mod Podge each compact with a layer of black paper on both the inside and outside of each compact. These finishing paper layers should cover the pasted raw edges of the paper loops so that these ends will not be seen, only the loops will be seen extended from the sides of the compacts.
5. Now cut a toothpick to slide between all three tabs. Cover it's end with a bit of glue and cotton batting. Cover the stem with metallic tape. This is the makeup applicator. 
6. Using a hole punch, make colorful eye shadows. Paste these inside each compact on one half.
7. On the other half of the inside, cut a smaller mirror from mirrored paper and glue this in place.
8. Use a tiny rubber band to hold the compact closed along with the toothpick applicator through the loops.

Left, different sizes for compacts containing pretend eye shadows or blushes.