Day 2 -- Part 2: Star Cookies

Here's the second snack post for today!

Here are the supplies I used to make these cute cookies: (I didn't end up using the white or ochre paint, just the cream)

  First, I rolled out my white polymer clay.  I used a small star shaped cookie cutter to cut out stars.  I put them on a baking sheet and put them in the oven.  They took about 20 to 25 minutes to bake.

After baking, I painted them with cream acrylic paint to make them the color of a sugar cookie.

I let them dry before "frosting" them each with fabric puffy paint.  I made 2 white cookies, 2 red, and 1 blue.

They took a couple hours to completely dry.

I think they are so cute and look realistic!

Day 2 -- Part 1: Ice Cream Sandwiches

Today I will be doing two craft posts on how to make fun 4th of July snacks for your dolls!  First up is ice cream sandwiches!To make these ice cream sandwiches, I used these two tutorials: This one from Fun With AG Fan and this one from AmericanGirlFan.

The main difference between the two tutorials is that one has white fabric puffy paint for the "ice cream" part, and the other tutorial on American Girl Fan uses thick craft foam.  I try to make things out of just the things I have around the house, and since I didn't have thick craft foam, I used the puffy paint instead.

These are the supplies I used:

First, cut rectangles measuring 1" by 2" out of dark brown craft foam.  I cut 6, to make 3 sandwiches.

One cut, I used a bobby pin end/a pencil to make little indents like so:

Spread the puffy paint on the wrong side of one of the rectangles, and place another on top.  I made the puffy paint thick so it would be more realistic.  If the paint slipped out over the sides (so that it kind of looked like a smore), I gently smoothed it to make it straight.

I made a couple more and let them dry.  They took a long time to dry!

Enjoy and be sure to share what you think of this post by clicking one of the answer to "What do you think?" below!

More Bracelets!

These little bracelets are a great way to complete your doll's Halloween or October outfit!  Click the photo to view the listing on Etsy (and more pictures!):

How to Follow My Blog with Wordpress

Do you have a Wordpress account and want to follow a Blogger blog?  I will show you how you can!  I took screenshots of the Wordpress site if you are using a computer web browser, and also if you are using the Apple app.

First, you will need to copy the link to my blog (or another blog that you want to follow).  This is my link: http://victorialsmithauthor.blogspot.com/

In your Wordpress Reader, on the top left it says "Following" with a gear next to it.  Click the gear. In the app, tap the tag.

App:

Web browser:

Once you click the gear, a list of all the blogs that you follow will appear.  The top of the page will look like this (on computers):

App:

All you need to do now is paste the link of the blog where it says "Enter a URL to Follow" and click Follow!

I hope this helped you figure out how to follow Blogger (and other types of blogs) with Wordpress using the link of the blog!

Day 1 -- Lanterns

Each day this week until the 4th, I will be doing a craft post that is Fourth of July themed!  At the end, I will post a photo shoot of my dolls with all the items having their own party.

Time for day one!

I found a good tutorial for making paper lanterns here (on The Crafting Chicks), and used it to make my doll sized ones!  Here are the supplies I used:  (I actually didn't end up using the white cut out stars, but you could!)

To make these, I took cardstock and cut a 5" x 10" wide strip.  I eventually made two lanterns out of one strip, but you could just make 5" x 4.5" strips (which would make one lantern).

Fold this in half lengthwise and use a pencil to mark cutting lines, each about a 1/2" apart.

Cut on the lines.  Cut over the fold, do not cut all the way to the unfolded edges of the paper.

Unfold.  If you cut a strip 5" x 10", measure and cut to make two, each 5" x 4.5".

Staple the sides to make a circle.

I bent and shaped the paper so it looked right.

Cut a small strip of corresponding paper for the handle.  Tape into place.  I put a long piece of string through each handle so I could hang it up when my dolls have their party.

Voila!  A beautiful 4th of July decoration for your dolls!

Bracelets

Bracelets are a wonderful way to complete any outfit! 

Click the link here to see the listing on Etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/238281346/purple-blue-and-green-bracelets-american

Also, tomorrow I start a week of fun doll-sizes 4th of July crafts!  I hope you'll join me and my dolls!

Summer Outfit #1!

Since a lot of my sewing time goes to making fun stuff for my Etsy shop, my dolls haven't gotten many new clothes recently.  I decided that they each needed a new summer outfit of their own!  I had meant to do a photo shoot of my doll in her new outfit, but today I will explain how I made the items, and hopefully do a photo shoot later on :)

This outfit is made of completely upcycled fabric.  The shorts I cut from a black and white floral dress, with light and soft woven fabric.

The tank is made with the Pixie Faire pattern here.  I cut off about one inch from the bottom hem, and left the edge raw.  The saying I saw on Pinterest, and thought it would be fun on a shirt!

The matching bracelet is made of glass seed beads, elastic cord, and a crimp bead.

Lacey Pink Tank

Wear this tank alone, under a t-shirt, or even as a swimsuit cover up!  Click the pictures to view the listing in my Etsy shop:

Freckles!

I noticed on other blogs and YouTube channels that people had been able to give their dolls removable freckles.  I just love freckles look on dolls, so I decided to try my hand at freckling!

I looked up a number of different ways to do it.  Most used washable markers or washable watercolors.  I used the latter.  This video from AGsmiless uses a toothpick  for the application of the paint (which I imagine would be better for the doll's vinyl), but I couldn't find one, so just gently used the end of a paperclip.  Afterwards, I dabbed the paint with my finger to make the freckles look more natural.

Before...

After!

I really like the way they turned out, with some larger and darker while others are lighter and smaller.

Although it may appear in the picture that there is sections with no freckles, it's just because they are very light and didn't make it into the photo.

I also put a freckle below his left knee (the right one in the picture).

Floral Shorts in my Etsy Shop

These shorts are just adorable!  Click the photo to view the listing on Etsy:

Today's New Item!

Check out the newest listing in my Etsy shop!  Click the photo to view the listing:

Doll Sized No Sew Hairbow

Hair bows are the perfect accessory for a doll, and I love to put them in my curly haired Rebecca's hair.  I decided to make some, and based my doll sized version on this tutorial from Kelly Hicks Design.  I am going to show you how I followed her tutorial, and the changes I made to make it suitable for doll hair!

If you want to make one too, you will need:

Fabric scraps (for strips 5 1/4" x 3 3/4" and 1" x 2")

Hair clip or bobby pin  (I got out 1" alligator clips and mini bobby pins, but decided not to use the clips)

Hot Glue Gun

Scissors

Cut a rectangle of fabric that is about 3 3/4" by 5 1/4".  It doesn't need to be exactly this size, you may want a bigger or smaller bow than the ones I made.

Fold in thirds.

Fold the edges in so they meet in the middle.  This is the backside of the bow.  Sometimes, depending on the fabric, I found it easier to glue these pieces down with a little bit of glue.  Gluing the back it does make it slightly more bulky, however.

Turn over and pinch.  Hot glue so the pinch stays.  Yay now you have the shape of the bow!

Take another piece of fabric, about 1" by 2".  The fabric in the picture below is 3" because I took the pic before I found it was too long and trimmed it :)  You may also need to trim it even if you cut it an original 2".  Also, I used contrasting fabric.

I folded it like you would bias tape, so there would be now raw edges.  Glue the back so the strip stays.

Time to attach the pin or clip!

For this bow, I slipped the bobby pin under the strip.  I found this stayed better than gluing it to the back.

Here are all the bows I made, and how they look on my doll.  I used different types of fabric for each.

This light pink bow is made from very lightweight burnout knit fabric.   I think this is my favorite one!

The red, white and blue bow is made of cotton.

The floral bow is of heavier weight knit fabric.

And this little polka dot bow is flannel.  

Lastly, my second favorite bow I made is made from cream colored lace.

Which bow did you like the best?