Sewing: Drawstring Bag

I came across a Simple Drawstring Bag tutorial from Happy Things and luckily she spoke in simple sewing terms.  I more than lack skills in sewing so if I can sew it you certainly can too. 
I made this bag a few months ago for some homemade lacing shapes. A little drawstring bag could hold so many kid things like fun-shaped homemade crayons and story dice and would make a perfect little gift for a birthday or Christmas.
(find another simple Drawstring Bag tutorial on Make and Takes) 

Ed Emberly's Fingerprint Drawing Book

I checked out Ed Emberly's Fingerprint Drawing Book from the library and my 7 year old daughter has had so much fun with it!  I equipped her with a smock, stamp pads, wet rag, scratch paper, and construction paper.  She wasn't satisfied with her beginning practice but I told her to keep trying and look closely at the drawings and after a while she proudly showed me her page full of fingerprints!  She also made two birthday cards and was inspired to create a fingerprint drawing of her own (big dipper)!

The pictured directions for each fingerprint drawing are easy to follow.  The fun includes holidays, seasons, garden, and feelings.  Ed Emberly's Fingerprint Drawing Book would make a fun kid gift!

*Post contains Amazon affiliate links

10 Cute Printable Paper Dolls

These cute paper dolls would be fun for lots of things: a SUMMER car trip, *fridge magnets, boredom activity for a rainy or snowy day, little girl birthday gift, party activity or favor, stocking stuffer (*in a little magnetic tin), etc..  All of the free printable paper dolls are for non-commercial use.  *One Pearl Button has a Magnetic Paper Doll tutorial.

Wee Wonderfuls has download freebies (mostly patterns)!

paper doll (1)

Patty Reed Designs has 6 printable dolls! (2)

 

Babalisme has many free printables (*memory game made with her reindeer tags).  If you place your cursor over a download link on her blog and the link shows in the bottom left of the computer screen as going to ziddu I would caution you to not go there.  Babalisme has changed her hosting site to Scribd (only a few links are still ziddu) and it's a much nicer site.  You will have to sign up and skip past a couple of 'offers' before the download will happen.  It's worth the trouble though!  Her paper dolls are really sweet!

fairy tale paper doll (3)

Halloweenie dress-up boy and girl (4)

Santas's little helpers and decorate a tree (5)

Kireei has free printable stickers and paper dolls.  The site is in spanish but all you need to do is click on 'english' under the image and then 'download'. (found via How About Orange)

Clementina (6)

Terri Pettit has a whole page of paper doll links that she's scanned; she created the Vector Strawberry Shortcake. (found via How About Orange)

Little Kiddles (7)

Vector Strawberry Shortcake (8)

The Graphics Fairy has many vintage paper dolls. (9)

Wee Life has paper dolls with clothes and Halloween costumes to color! (10)

This Mama Makes Stuff made a cute Fabric Scrap Paper Doll Kit.  (I had to include this, even though it's (11) and there's no printable for her sweet and simple doll, because it's such a fantastic idea.)  A little metal box would be perfect for storing regular and magnetic paper dolls.

• This top ten eleven paper doll list is linked to Top Ten {Tuesday} on Oh Amanda.  The dolls listed are in no particular order!  **part 2: black-and-white printable paper dolls

Barbie Kelly Dolls

 Barbie Kelly Dolls are cute and age-appropriate for my 6 year old daughter.  She has a Kelly Club 5 set (the 'hair stylist' gave them updated looks last Christmas Eve) and has a fun time with them.

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CONS: Changing outfits can be difficult for little hands.  The shoes are even smaller than regular Barbie so they're even easier to lose!  The legs won't do a complete 90° angle to sit right.  Kelly Dolls are almost non-existent in local stores.  Every little girl wants a wardrobe for her doll but you have to search for clothes online and most of the time pay unreasonable prices for them.

PROS:  Like I said, they're age-appropriate for little girls.  They have adorable clothes that are cutesy and girly.  Role playing with Kelly Dolls is a lot less dramatic than with Barbies.  They take up very little space since they don't drive cars or own homes.  They're too young to have boyfriends or bras.

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Search 'Kelly Club 5 Dolls', 'Kelly Dolls'  or 'Barbie I Can Be Kelly' on Amazon and eBay.  There are seller stores on eBay that sell individual dolls, clothes, outfits, shoes and accessories (on the left side do a search for 'kelly dolls' under where it says 'Search for a Store').


♥ My daughter's getting the Barbie I Can Be... Kelly Professions set from Grandma for Christmas.  Tip- On Amazon the picture isn't always the exact product.  If you look at this picture or view all the images you might be confused.  Scroll down and look at Product Features and 4 dolls are listed.
2/2010- After playing with this set with my daughter I noticed they're slightly larger than the Kelly Club 5 dolls she has.