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Thank you for such kindness and sympathy towards my last post.* My grandmother will be greatly missed.* And we’re all doing perfectly well.* She’s one happy lady right now.

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I have been a little set back with holiday prep, due to my trip to CA.* But I stayed up late last night, finishing up a few things because I can hardly wait until Christmas morning.* There are so many little things I’d like to make……we’ll see how far I get.* And if I don’t finish in time, no biggie, I’ll finish them eventually and give them as “Happy January 15th” gifts.* Or something.

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Anyway, I was walking through some store, some day (haha…..I can’t remember specifically because I’ve seen them several places), and a set of magnetic dress up dolls caught my eye.* It was $30 for the whole set and I just couldn’t stomache the price……even though I knew my almost 5 year old would love a set.

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So while at Hobby Lobby, I saw a little book of paper dolls (over by the coloring books) and decided that $4 (plus a bit more for the other supplies) was way better than $30…..if I just took the time to make them myself.

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And before I explain any further…….my original plan was to find some cute boy paper dolls and make one of these for my little guy too.* And then I thought longer and realized he’d probably enjoy a pirate ship and some pirates more, so he could create a little magnetic scene with them.* However, I ran out of time.* So keep that in mind if you don’t have any little girls to make this for.* (Cut out some dinosaurs, some cars, a jungle scene……or anything.* Boys would love sticking their shapes to a metal sheet as well.)


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Anyway, the book of paper dolls worked perfectly for this project.* And gave me so many choices to choose from.* (I probably only used about a 1/5 of the paper doll punch-out book.)* But this way, I could choose the exact outfits from the book that I wanted to use………and then use a metal cookie sheet to stick them to.* How fun to have so many outfits to swap in and out.



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And I don’t want my little lady to lose any of her pieces……so I made a little fabric cover.* Kind of like a fitted sheet.



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It’s the perfect way to keep everything together while not in use.* Perfectly snug.



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My little girl loves to imagine.* And play pretend.* And make her little dolls talk and interact.* She’ll love this.



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I think I mostly love that everything gets tucked away under the fitted fabric cover.* Oh, and the fact that this cost me way less than the varieties I have seen in the store.* Both make me happy.



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And don’t worry……I have tested and played and bent the pieces a bit.* The paper dolls haven’t peeled up one bit from the magnetic sheet.* That was my biggest worry.* But isn’t any longer.



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Christmas morning will be an imaginative one.

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Would you like to make your own Magnetic Paper Dolls?



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Supplies:

• Book of Pre-cut Paper Dolls, $3.80 (Hobby Lobby with my coupon….over by the coloring books)
• Adhesive Magnetic Sheets, $2(?) for 2 sheets (I bought mine at Wal-Mart….cheapest I found.* I bought 3 packages.* But it just depends on how big your doll pieces are.* Mine were really big.)
• Cookie Sheet, $2.88 (Wal-Mart……..or use an old one and spray paint it.* Cute.)
• Piece of scrap fabric slightly bigger than your cookie sheet, free (from my stash)
• A piece of 1/8 inch side elastic a little smaller than the perimeter of your fabric piece, free (from my stash)
• OPTIONAL: scrap fabric for lettering and small piece of double sided fusible web, free (from my stash)

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Before I began, I thought I was going to have to use special glue and seal the edges and add extra glue to each piece, etc.* However, the adhesive magnetic sheets I bought worked wonderfully.* It doesn’t peel away from the paper dolls at all.* In fact, I tried to peel a paper doll dress off of the magnetic sheet and it tore the bottom layer of the dress right off.* Success.

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Here is the package of magnetic sheets I bought, that came as a 2 pack.* They worked awesome and like I mentioned above, the paper dolls aren’t peeling up one bit.* This stuff sticks pretty darn well.



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To get started, punch out your doll pieces (or cut if applicable) and place them right to the sticky side of your magnetic sheets.* Try to use up as much space as possible and arrange all of your doll pieces down first before cutting anything.* Press each piece down firmly.* Then, begin cutting out each shape with the magnetic sheet stuck right to the back.



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Each of your pieces should be nice and secure to the magnetic backing.



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Repeat with all of your pieces.* Set aside.



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If you want to make a cover for your cookie sheet base……..cut out a piece of fabric that is about an inch bigger on all sides.* Cut with the contour of your cookie sheet.



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Then zig-zag or serge around the outer edge.



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Then cut out letters and adhere to the fabric with double sided fusible webbing.* (I did this the same way as the lettering here.* Except instead of stitching around each letter, I just sewed a line through the center of each letter……just to keep them in place.* I figured that the stitch plus the adhesive of the webbing would keep it on well enough because this will never be thrown in the washer.)



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Next, place your fabric right side down, under the needle of the sewing machine.* Begin sewing one end of your elastic down for about an inch, right next to the edge of the fabric.* (I started in the middle of one of the longer sides.)* Then, with your needle in down position, pull the end of you elastic so that it stretches out a bit……..



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Then keep it pulled and lay it down along your fabric.* Be sure to keep that fabric pulled flat as you sew, like shown on the left.* Down loosen the grip on your elastic or it will pull in your fabric, like shown on the right (which is not correct).* Just keep the elastic pulled semi tight and right next to the edge of the flat fabric as you sew.* And sew down the center of the piece of elastic.* (Using a zig-zag stitch can be helpful for this too if you keep missing the elastic as you sew.)



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And then as you sew, your elastic will pull back in and will pull the fabric in with it.* See how that works??* This way, you don’t need a casing for your elastic.* And as you sew around a corner, just pull the elastic around the corner a bit, sew a few stitches, then re-adjust and repeat several times.



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After you make your way all the way around your fabric, overlap the elastic about an inch and sew down in place.* Cut the excess elastic off.



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Now your fabric piece should cinch in like this.* If it didn’t, you didn’t pull your elastic tight enough as you were sewing.* (And you’ll have to unpick it and try again.)* If it’s pulled in tighter than this, that’s okay……it will still work great.



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Now place over your cookie sheet to be sure it fits just right.



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And that’s it.* Your little Magnetic Paper Doll set is ready to be played with.* Now make a little boy version with boy paper dolls (if you can locate some)……or create a magnetic scene of dinosaurs or cars or friendly monster shapes.* Just as fun.

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