What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Corynn's Valentine Surprise

I have been working on a Valentine's Surprise for Corynn in the very sporatic spare minutes I have when she is not around. I put the finishing touches on it this morning. I just know that she will enjoy it-it will be a great 'take along' thing for trips, and the best part? It was FREE!



I printed off some FREE paper dolls from this website which has a HUGE selection of dolls and other free activities. I chose the Polly Pratt's Valentine doll with her friends and baby brother. They have the most darling little outfits!!! I cut around each one and reinforced the children by gluing them on a thick cardstock.


Then I took a folder and glued felt pieced on each side for a (VERY simple) background.

I added pieces of felt on the backs of the children and the furniture so that they would stick to the backgrounds. (I didn't do this for the clothing as that was unnecessary.)

Then I stitched a few squares of flannel to a piece of white felt to make beds (and storage pouches) for the children. I also made a little armoire that opens up.


On the back I added an envelope for clothing and accessories storage. A super simple gift, and SUPER cheap (since I used only things I had or got off the internet). I am thankful that my children are young enough to appreciate the FREE suprises too.

I don't have anything planned for the Panda, except for lots of hugs and kisses. If I come up with something, though, I will let you know!

8 comments:

Wendy said...

A delightful gift!! I remember having paper dolls when I was young...I love to bring back those lost treasures!! What a lucky girl Corynn is to have a Mama as thoughtful as you...how easy would it have been to go out and buy some "valentine toy"...your time and effort is worth its weight in gold!

Paula said...

OH TOO CUTE!!!! I LOVE how you did this! Thank you for the site to print the dolls and THE PICTURES ON YOUR BLOG! That makes this look too cute! I am gonna HAVE to post a link to this you know!!

Also, you did something to your blog where I am only able to get the first few sentences of your posts in my reader now. I miss that. I would have missed THIS cute post if I had not clicked to comment about how you changed your feed somehow. With as many blogs as I read in a day, I need the whole post to show up in my reader as I cannot keep clicking on web sites. LOL!!!

OK, I am off to post a link to this GREAT idea! Did you glue the dresses to thick cardstock too, or just the dolls??? This looks SO PROFESSIONAL!!!

Also, still waiting to hear back from the comment I left on your BEAUTIFUL calling cards! :)

Carmichael Family said...

What a cute idea! I'm sure Corynn will love it! My kids love paperdolls, the only problem came recently when Kaden got a hold of some of them and they got rather chewed up!

Bonnie said...

I just wanted to echo how cute the paperdolls are! I LOVE vintage (or vintage looking, whatever the case may be) paperdolls! I saw it and first thought I would mooch your idea and use it for Audrey, but as she is not quite 2, I don't think it would go to well. I am tucking this idea away for future use though!
P.S. How goes the house hunt?

Full of Grace said...

You did an amazing job on Corynn's gift! She will love it! If I would have gotten a gift like that as a girl, I would have cherished it forever!!! :)

Rebecca said...

Thanks everyone! I hope she likes them as much as you all think she will! ;-)

Paula~I didn't do anything to my blog and I surely wouldn't know how to fix whatever it is that was done! The only thing I can suggest is that I post every other day excluding weekends. Sometimes more frequently but almost ALWAYS every other day. Maybe just check back then and you will get two days worth instead of waiting for a sentence feed or whatever that was. I left a comment for the calling cards in that post. Oh-and I reienforced the children with heavy cardstock but not the dresses. I didn't think that would be necessary.

Catherine-I am finding this out-crawling babes sure make more mischief for the other ones!

Mrs. Bonnie~ DON'T ASK! I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT! :-) Seriously, no progress has been made and I am banging my head on the side of a wall because I want to get it done and TALK about it and my husband shushes me about it everytime I bring it up. SO-who knows. But I do know time is running out and soon we will be forced to take desperate measures. I will keep everyone updated when there is something new to report. Thank you for asking, it was very kind of you to be thinking of me.

Abigail said...

This is so cool! I just very quickly scanned some of the dolls on that site, and they have vintage Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. Hurrah!

Someday, if I get off of my duff, I'll steal your idea of a paper doll pouch. If I don't ever get off of my duff, maybe I'll pay you to do it for me.

Rebecca said...

I didn't even see them! I only scanned it very quickly. Good deal. I liked their duds, too.