Doll Dollar Store Finds: Vacation Edition

As I mentioned in my previous post, I found a new-to-me dollar store on vacation. It's called Lucky Dollar, and it had some fun things in it. One of my absolute favorites was the spinning rack by the cash register that was full of these purses in every color you could imagine -- all for $1 each! I really liked the black one, so I decided on that one. (Dolls don't really need every color when they're all the same style, right?)

This was different enough to warrant getting it, and the bonus is that we can hang something decorative from that little chain.

I'm pretty sure these were meant to be coin purses, but they're perfectly-sized for the dolls.

This was one of those things that only a doll-lover would understand. I just had to get this perfectly mini-sized Vaseline jar for our doll spa. It was only $0.75. As you can see, I'm not always all about economy. I know I could get 100 times that amount for roughly the same price if I bought a store-brand of this same thing, but I loved the fact that it was perfectly to scale.

These bubble containers are perfect doll-sized cakes, and I love how the lid fits right into the cake theme. I have some plastic paint, so I may try painting them different colors (or even just the "icing" decorations).

We found a doll-sized washing machine at the thrift store a few months ago, so we needed a way to "dry" the clothes. I loved the pink clothespins, so now I just have to dig out my cotton crochet thread for the clothes line. :)

Last, but not least, I found both of these cat collars at a Dollar Tree. I loved the polka dots and hearts, so I snatched them up. They make perfect doll belts once you remove the jingle bell.

Have you found anything fun at a dollar store recently? I'd love to hear about it!

Thrifted Doll Finds, Vacation Edition

While we were on vacation, we did a good bit of thrift store shopping. We enjoy it as a family, and we all have things that we look for. I generally look for doll-sized items, and I found some good ones this time.

I found this 6-pack of glittery doll-sized notebooks (from Target) brand-new in Goodwill's bins for $0.49. Two of them have already become Christmas countdown gifts, and I may save the rest for next schoolyear (for the dolls).

I've been looking for some doll-sized candlesticks, and I found three of them. The brass one was $0.10, and the wooden ones were $0.55 each. I found the menorah candles in the same shop as the wooden candlesticks ($0.55 for the box). The funny thing is that I found the brass one first and immediately thought of this kind of candle to go inside. I wasn't sure where I'd find them, but there were several boxes of brand-new ones at this thrift store. (I'll have to add a little play-doh to get them to fit inside the wooden candlesticks, but they're the perfect scale otherwise.)

One of my favorite semi-local Goodwill stores gets a lot of Dollar Spot items from Target, and they're only 10/$1. You have to dig through a massive bin, but I usually find a few treasures in there.

I got this tape measure for Alex. It will probably be a Christmas countdown gift this month. My son is going to love it!

This mini "Rubiks cube" was also in the bin and will likely be a countdown gift.

Lastly, I found this golf ball towel. (And men think we have some strange "tools of the trade"!) I seam-ripped down one side to remove the clip and open it up, and now we have a nice bath towel for our doll spa. I wish I could have found a few more of these!

Next up: dollar store finds from vacation. (Hint: I found a new-to-me store called Lucky Dollar, and it had some things I hadn't seen before.)

Dollar Store Doll Games

If you remember from previous years, we do a countdown to Christmas with our kids each year. It helps to lend a little excitement to each day, I don't have to keep telling them how many days there are until Christmas, and we don't get bombarded with requests for early Christmas gifts. This year, I focused on doll-related items that would have gone into some of the bigger Christmas gifts anyway (like the DIY Campus Snack Cart that I made this summer and still haven't taken pictures of).

This year, we were on vacation for the first week, so we didn't do any little daily gifts until this week.

I set up a corner of my daughter's play area as the doll's Christmas tree area. (I didn't think to take pictures, but I'll try to remember to do that for another post.) I added some lights and garland to the pine tree that has been outside the dolls' cabin since summertime, and it makes the perfect little doll tree. We put a small wooden bench next to it so they'd have a place to sit and sip hot chocolate. I pulled the fireplace into the area and pushed three small pins into the top to hold stockings for each of the dolls - Paige, Alex and Kit. (Kit doesn't get daily gifts since she's my doll, but she's okay with that. Most of Paige and Alex's gifts are marked from her anyway.)

Each day, my plan is to put the small countdown gifts into the dolls' stockings. This day's gifts didn't fit, so I put them in doll-sized gift bags.

My daughter has asked several times for the Fun & Games Table from American Girl, so I found a few doll-sized games at Dollar Tree that my kids can actually play with the dolls. This first one is a set of dominoes.

See? They're the perfect size for the dolls! They're just the regular domino set that is sold year-round in Dollar Tree. I didn't realize how small they were until one time I saw a package that had been ripped open in the store. Since my kids love to play dominoes, I was thrilled to find these.

The cardboard packaging isn't made to store them in, so I pulled out a gift card tin I had lying around, and it perfectly fits the set when it's stacked inside. (Sorry, I didn't think to take a picture of this, either.)

The other game is an off-brand of Connect 4, sold as a travel-sized game at Dollar Tree. It's also perfectly doll-sized, and it's another of my kids' favorite games.

They really liked these!

Animal Print Doll Outfit

I've been quiet the last little while because I've been on vacation. I fully intended to do some blog posting on vacation, but then I decided that I needed a total break. It was just what I needed!

I finished this cute animal-print outfit before I went on vacation. Please excuse the terrible lighting. Since I have a few days off from homeschooling this month, I'm hoping to get my lightbox in working order again. Natural winter lighting is dreary.

The inspiration for this dress came from a pack of 7 (or 8?) fat quarters that I picked up at Tuesday Morning for $3-4. Both of these prints were in the pack, and they caught my eye together. It's not my usual kind of combination, but I do like how it turned out. It's different.

I made the bolero jacket from McCalls M6764 that I picked up at Hobby Lobby's last $0.99 pattern sale. I'm pretty happy with the fit, although it does border on snug. However, it was originally designed for a jersey knit, so it will certainly fit a little differently when made with a cotton fabric instead.

I trimmed it with a tiny white pom-pom trim from Hobby Lobby. I used two lengths back-to-back so there are pom-poms on both sides of the trim.

The dress is from the pattern I've been using so much - a freebie from My Cup Overflows. (Remember, if you make this dress, you should refer back to my original dress post for some things you really need to know about this pattern.) I simply added a strip of the polka dot fabric at the waist and the hem.

I'm pretty sure my daughter is going to go crazy over this outfit. I can't wait to give it to her!

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