Winston takes a walk in the woods with Grandpa Eustace. Winston is a dog made from cotton batting and dryer lint. His collar is a tiny red ribbon, his leash a piece of chain from old necklace.          There are certainly many methods used to make little dollhouse characters. I chose to use a traditional wire armature method to craft a grandpa doll for our growing family of six inch people.         I named this doll "Grandfather Eustace" and although he is partially blind, he helps many dolls to ''see'' the world around them with a bit of ..read more

        These painted scraps from the Victorian era may be printed-out on a home computer so that young people can use them in their creative paper doll crafts. They were scanned from originals in my former collections. I have removed scratches and tears and restored these for this very purpose. Do not redistribute them from alternative websites, enjoy. The rose laurel for her hair. A furry winter's bonnet. A boy dressed in a brown sailor's suit. She wears a coral beaded necklace. The newspaper sailor's hat ..read more

Description of Coloring Page: English wooden doll, jointed, carved, short arms, flowered dress, bonnet, painted features 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 ..read more

       This craft is very old and seldom seen in antique shops today. Collections of sea shells were mounted inside shallow display boxes or frames with glue. Often the shallow frames were constructed in hexagon or octagon shapes. Sometimes two identical frames were hinged together so that a top and bottom could be made to close into a box with a lock. Two versions of Sailor's Valentines for our dollhouse mantles.        It is said that these Sailor's Valentines were made at sea during the long lonely hours by men on board ships for t ..read more

        I will include here the Victorian lady scraps that have been restored for personal crafts from the antique versions I have in my own collections. In the future I will post how I have made paper dolls from these over the years. Click here to see how I made paper doll lace cards for my sewing basket. Blond lady in blue silk gown. Dark haired lady in gold silk gown. An exceptional illustration of a gypsy with gold coin trims in her garments.   ..read more

        These antique "die cuts'' or scraps of young girls from the Victorian era come from one of my older blogs that is being discontinued this week. However, I will keep and upload those scraps that I feel students would enjoy using for their own personal paper doll crafts. Girl in apron and ruffled hat. Girl with bouquet of roses. Girl with lace and ribbon collar. Girl biting her nails and fidgeting ..read more

        I have fewer cats and kitten scraps than dogs, but perhaps I will find some more on my next trip the "flee market?" Not real ones though, there are many folks in my home who are allergic to these little beauties. How will you finish dressing them up for your paper doll collection? If you prefer, you could dress them in something like velveteen and hang them on a Christmas tree, just like the Victorian's did. A tabby with pale green eyes and red ribbon collar. A blue ribbon collar around this cats' neck. Here is a little Vict ..read more

        The following pet dogs are for students to scrap their own paper dolls. Why not make your own unique collection? I will eventually acquire more than the four depicted below. Perhaps I will find a breed that is just like the pet you have at home. A Bull dog with toothy grin.   A black labrador holding a duck for dinner. A black and tan terrier with collar. A mixed breed looks wears  a man's bowler hat. Victorian die cut of a girl cradling her pet cat and dog in her arms ..read more

       The Victorians manufactured many die cuts for paper doll making, in fact, countless variations of them. Some of these were of humans and some of animals. I will compile a small number of these on this post as I find them. The first two scraps below are of birds wearing dressy hats with feathers and flowers. At the bottom is a Victorian child dressed in winter costume, holding a morning dove in her gloved hands. Student may print them out, cut and paste them onto cardboard to create some unusual paper dolls . . .  Bird scrap head wearing a straw hat ..read more

The yo-yos above are first attached together at both the top and bottom and from side to side. Then the yo-yos are whipped stitched on top of a bottom layer of fabric that is the size of our doll's blanket.        Fabric yo-yos or Suffolk puffs are fabric circles, that can be made any size, and are gathered around the entire circular edge, pulled taunt and tied into a ''cookie-like'' shape. Multiple yo-yos may be tacked one to another in order to shape a decorative blanket, pillow, table runner etc... Sometimes these yo-yos have buttons or bows tacked to their cent ..read more