New Clothes Explosion

Well, technically it's more of a photo dump than an explosion, but "explosion" makes for a better title.

Last week I showed you the dolls' new clothes in progress. Here are a few photos of the completed outfits in a doll-house-esque setting (translation: with props).

A leisurely baking scene with Isabelle, Alia, and Corazòn, all (I hope) wearing their new clothes well. All the shirts and shoes are new, as well as Alia's jeans.  I'm a little obsessed with Alia's outfit, so expect to see it again sometime soon.

Meanwhile, Sally is attempting to snatch a cinnamon bun from the tray...

Poor Daisy is just a little too short to reach the barre. Perhaps I'll make her a smaller barre scaled to her size. She does look nice in her new brown hairpiece, though.

Who would you like to see featured more frequently?

Dollhouse 3.0 - Make Bunk Beds

Last week Dollygirl requested a bunk bed tutorial, and here it is. It's very easy and shouldn't take long at all, particularly if you already have doll beds that you want to use.

If you don't already have them, make a pair of doll beds with this tutorial.

Cut a piece of paper at the height you want your poles to be. Color it and cut it in fourths.

Glue each pole to the ends of the bed and fold over the top a little to create a surface to glue the top bunk. I rolled mine into cylinders, but that's entirely up to your tastes.

Put some glue on the folded tabs and attach the top bunk. Use any scrap paper to make a ladder so the dolls can climb up and down.

And you're done! The next tutorial, per Malia Hanes's request, will be for a sink and caddy with working drawers. If you have any tutorial requests, please let me know and I'll do my best to make it happen.

Spoiled Girls

These past few weeks have provided an explosion of new releases - Wilde Imagination in late January, American Girl this past Thursday, and Toy Fair starting today. With all this wealth of paper doll inspiration, I decided to make a few things for my crew.

The trio, of course, got the bulk of the new items. Since they're the largest, it's easiest to make clothes for them. The top row is primarily replacement parts for missing/worn out clothing, and below are new clothes.

That's not to say that the trio was the only beneficiary...

Daisy got a few new hairpieces to go with her new dresses...

And Sally got a new hairpiece and dress. While the two Wilde girls are quite cute, their tiny size makes drawing for them very tricky (and the amount of clothing for them quite small), hence the smaller size of their new wardrobe.

I originally planned to make a few winter garments, as the weather was quite frigid for the past few weeks, but the sudden temperature rise changed my mind; ergo, the short sleeves. In a way, I envy my dolls a little - they are quite spoiled to get a whole wardrobe of custom-tailored clothing!

 How have you updated your paper doll wardrobe?

A brief sneak peek at an upcoming post:

Dollhouse Part 2.2 - Bathtub

Finally, a tutorial that's actually on Tuesday! I'm going to continue the dollhouse tutorial series as long as you have requests for pieces for it, so if you want more of this, let me know in the comments.

Today's tutorial is for a bathtub to go with the vanity from this tutorial. Unlike the snack cart, it's quick and fits together easily. As always, you'll need the basic pencil, eraser, and markers or colored pencils, but you may also find a craft or pocket knife useful for cutting out the tiny pieces.

Start by sketching everything as basic shapes. In addition to the tub, I drew a shower head and curtain. If you want to add a curtain, be sure to make a curtain rod to attach the curtain to the tub.

Add in the small details of the tub, such as the soap dish and scrub brush or washcloth. If you've made several small items, you may want to make a caddy to attach to the shower rod and hold the little pieces so they don't get lost.

Color everything in, cut out, and assemble. I glued the shower rod behind the faucets, and attached the ends of the curtain rod to it to create a semicircular shape.

Here's a clearer view of the assembly. It looks a little rough, but I don't mind because it's not going to be seen in photos.

Sally is a little on the small side for the bathtub, but the scale isn't too bad.

I hope you liked this tutorial! What other pieces would you like to learn to make?

Make a Kitchen Island Snack Cart

I meant to post this tutorial on Tuesday, but since there was a lot going on this week it got pushed to today. I hope you don't mind.

I've been on a food kick since my post on the food boards, so naturally this tutorial is focused on food. It's an amalgamation of my kitchen tutorial and the campus snack cart by American Girl, and can be used for both. Just a note about this tutorial - take careful measurements of your dolls and the cart sides so that it will fit together. I eyeballed it instead of measuring, and that caused me a lot of problems later, when I was assembling it.

Draw the general shape of the cart to fit your doll's height. I didn't use an exact proportion, but it should be about chest-high on the doll.

Draw the details on the outline, and add a canopy if you are so inclined. 

Color it all in, and if you want to make it more realistic, cut out the refrigerator, sink, shelf (if you included one). Trace the holes and glue paper in with little tabs to make the features three-dimensional.

Here are a few photos of the cart in action. Please forgive the blurred quality - on rainy days the camera just doesn't want to focus.

Here you can see the refrigerator stocked with frozen treats. They are so small that I had to use a craft knife to position them properly.

By not gluing down the last side of the cart, it can extend for more counter space and work well as a kitchen island. I added a grill, and now it's all set up to roast pineapple shrimp skewers. 

You can see here how it looks in the kitchen, with a stovetop instead of a grill.

On a side note, I really love Corazòn's outfit. It's inspired by the Doll Wardrobe's Not Just Dancewear series, and the combination of L'Atelier de Sitara pieces (you know how I am about that cape) and Nora, Maple, and Penny's impeccable taste looks fantastic on Corazòn. Her hair needs a little work, but I don't know if I'll just trim it or make a new hairpiece. Your thoughts?

Hope you liked this tutorial! Let me know if you have any questions or requests.