Paper Doll Party

This is a long post, but I urge to read it to the end and look at all the pictures. :)

Friday night was party night at my house! I had been stamping in my stamp room with a new set that will be released by MFT on Wednesday named "Isabelle Paper Dolls". My girls wandered in there and asked what I was doing. When I showed them what I had done so far they starting ooohing, ahhhhhhing and cooing like the cute little girls they are. In unison, they asked, "Can we make some too?" And so it started our Friday night paper doll party. I MUST share the entire experience with you because it was SO much fun and we created memories that I will remember for a long time to come! It was the PERFECT Mommy and girls activity!


Here is a peek at my finished set (more shots of my set below):
It all started out like the perfect party should! Jammies, popcorn, a movie and stamp supplies! Doesn't sound like your typical party? LOL In our house, it is! LOL Even my son joined in with his bowl of popcorn. He just watched and nodded when we asked if they were cute, but at least he attended. LOL The party started at 9 pm. I stamped the girls a bunch of paper doll pieces and they went to work coloring and cutting out dolls and outfits. YES, Bailey is using a Copic marker. They have free reign with my stamp supplies. Even the expensive ones... *gulp*
Here is Bailey coloring more doll clothes. She is trying not to smile! LOL

Madeline is cutting out some pieces that she has colored with Prismacolor pencils and blended with mineral spirits. She was quite impressed with the blending. LOL Look at that concentration!

At this point, Bailey can't hold in the smile any longer and starts giggling. She asked WHY I was taking her picture. :) Looks like Nathan is done with his popcorn now. LOL

Both girls are still working on their paper dolls. Maddie keeps referring to her Cutterbee scissors as Bumble Bees. I think that is SO cute! It makes me giggle.

Bailey has been very patient with my picture taking. She has finished a whole set of paper dolls now and is expanding her collection.

We are now on our 2nd movie. Madeline has switched from Prismacolor pencils to Copics. The girls have been sitting with me for over 2 hours and they are STILL having a ball and coloring and cutting like cute little stampers!

If I had $1 for every time they asked me to stamp them more images I would have about $20! There were so cute! They would ask for "one of each" or "2 of each" or "1 bear, 3 tutus and 2 wings" in this case. LOL

Bailey is using my set as a model and has started coloring some of her outfits like mine because she likes my choices of colors. LOL

It's 1 AM now and Bailey is ready to lay down. We decide to camp out in the living room. The girls sleep on the blow up mattress and I sleep on the couch. Maddie isn't QUITE ready to quit, but I promise we can do more in the morning.

Here is the fruit of Bailey's labor during the Friday night paper doll party.

Maddie has a stack to the left that needs to be coated with clear embossing powder and a stack on the right that is completed. They both got very creative with their paper dolls. Here, Maddie has cut out JUST the hair and drew on a crown. CUTE! She also made some mix and match skirts and tops.

Kim (owner of MFT) gave me the great idea of placing my paper doll set in a DVD tin. I covered the front of the tin with Basic Grey Urban Prairie patterned paper. Then I added a colored Isabelle Paper Doll to the cover. I stamped on Gina K PL 80 lb paper and matted on a black Nestabilities cut scalloped rectangle. I made a teddy bear paper doll outfit, added 2 Basic Grey magnets to the back and attached it to my paper doll on the cover. I used an alphabet set (SU -retired) to spell out: my paper dolls. A couple of brads and some Heidi Swapp ghost shape flowers finished off the design. You know what they say... a Heidi Swapp ghost shape a day keeps the Stamping Doctor away! :)

Another view of the front of my paper doll kit:

Here is my paper doll undressed. I stuck her bear outfit to the right. See how the magnets will stick to the tin even through the paper? I LOVE that!

Here is a shot of the cover without the bear costume on it.

Here is a view of the back of the tin. I didn't do anything fancy. Just copied the paper layout from the front of the tin so it would be pretty. :)

Here is the inside of my tin. I made a "play area" to the lower left with a stamped doll, and some pets. This area can be used to add clothing OR add some best friends as shown in the upper right of the tin. I made a Maddie with blond hair and a crazy outfit. I CRACKED UP when she saw it and said, "oh Mommy, that is SO cute. I would SO wear that outfit!" 2 points for Mom. I didn't tell her it was her right then. I just smiled and teared up because she is SO darn cute! "Bailey" is on the right with brown hair and a green and blue outfit. She also commented that it was a great outfit. Then she figured it out. "Is that me, Mom?" she asked. *happy tears* SO CUTE!

On the right hand side is "my closet" where I attached all the other clothing items I made. Each item was stamped, colored, cut out, embossed with Ultra Thick Embossing Powder (2 coats) and had a magnet added to the back.

Here is a closer shot of just the closet:

A closer shot of the "best friends play area":

The mermaid tail is one of my favorite pieces. It was colored with Copics, then brushed over with shimmery watercolors (MFT) and then embossed in UTEE. You can really see the shine of the clothing. This will help preserve them and keep them from ripping.

This teddy bear costume was a favorite of the girls. They said it looked like it was velvet! It is colored with Copics and embossed with UTEE.

Some more outfits. I used Stickles on the tutu.

A close up of the 2 girls. :)

Here is the play area with the friends added as well as the pink tutu on the paper doll that is pre stamped in the play area.

Another view:

Costume change! Now I dressed the best friends. Please note that since the best friends have magnets on them, only some of the outfits will work. If the same charge magnet was used, the outfit won't stick. Also, only outfits with the same magnet placement, but different charge will work. I hope that makes sense. LOL On the pre-stamped girl ANY outfit will work, since all the magnets will stick to the tin itself.

A close up of the dressed up dolls.

Here is the paper doll dressed up in her Fab-O mermaid tail!

Another view:

Here is another pile of Dolls I found in my stamp room when I was taking my finished tin shots. These are from the day AFTER the paper doll party! We spent another 3 hours or so in my stamp room on Saturday and they made... MORE paper dolls. :) I was stamping other cards and finishing up my paper doll tin. Check out the doll to the far right. Maddie gave her a CUTE hairdo!

Here is what I found on Bailey's side of the stamp table. She gave her doll heads some FANCY hairdos. They did this ALL on their own. Look at the creativity each of my girls had when playing with this awesome set! I am a proud mama!

Here are the doll bodies that Bailey has sitting there. LOL I guess she finished the complete dolls and then decided to play hair dresser! Poor decapitated dolls! LOL

I really have to say that it was SO fun playing with this set with my girls. They REALLY enjoyed it and I have caught them playing "fashion show" with them several times in the past couple days. I also ordered some more DVD tins and magnets so they can fix up their sets like mine. They are in LOVE with them! Anything that makes my girls happy, makes me happy and I can see more paper doll parties in our future.

If you want to purchase an Isabelle Paper Doll set for you and your girls, click HERE on WEDNESDAY, December 3rd at 10:30 PM eastern. There will also be a bundle for sale that will include almost everything you need to make a paper doll set just like I did. You can also join the release party in the MFT FORUM HERE on Wednesday starting at 9:00 PM eastern.

I wish you and yours many happy paper doll parties!

Stamps: MFT Isabelle Paper Dolls, SU alphabits (retired)

Ink: Memento black, Versamark

Paper: Gina K PL 80 lb, Gina K PL 120 lb (for the dolls and clothing), Urban Prairie Basic Grey patterned paper, black

Accessories: Janome sewing machine, silver brads, Heidi Swapp ghost shape flowers, Stickles, UTEE, 1/4" circle punch, Cutterbee scissors, Nestabilities, glue dots, red line tape, Basic Grey magnets, Copic markers, Prismacolor pencils, mineral spirits, blending stumps