All Dolled Up

In one of my first blog posts, I casually mentioned that I can make anything out of construction paper. As a little girl, crafts – specifically paper crafts – were my favorite way to spend time . . . and scotch tape. One thing I absolutely loved to make were paper dolls. Let me just tell you, my inner child is ecstatic about this post.

One of my favorite artists is Kody Stewart. She makes charming, beautiful watercolor portraits, and I’ve followed her on instagram for quite a while. I love seeing her work, and she’s recently developed a new product that is adorably fun.

She’s created a line of paper dolls. And when I say “a line” I mean: one day she posted a paper doll on instagram, asking followers if there was any interest, and less than one month later she has an Etsy shop FULL of delightful characters and outfits. (And she’s provided us with a special surprise – so keeping reading!)

So there I was, loving these new paper dolls, but with only a two-year-old to share them. While my sweet girl loves to color, we aren’t exactly at the let’s sit and color detailed paper dolls stage. So I had to get creative.

The answer? Magnets.

I immediately hopped onto Amazon and purchased magnets and self-laminating sheets. Two days later (thanks Amazon Prime!) we had a set of ridiculously fun paper doll magnets living on our refrigerator, and the kiddo is loving them.

Interested? It’s super easy!

1. Head on over to Etsy and pick yourself out some downloads. We went with Isabella, Max, and Evie. Disclaimer: Currently Kody has dolls and “minis” (think: older kids and toddlers). But in our house “boy and girl” usually translates as “daddy and mama”, so I just rolled with it and picked dolls that most closely resembled our family. She has loads to choose from, and I hear some actual adult-sized paper dolls are in the works.
2. Color to your heart’s content! I used colored pencils, but these would be adorable with watercolors. Frankly I think it would be hard to mess them up. And the awesome thing about these downloads is that once you purchase, you can print as many as you’d like!
3. Gather your magnet-making supplies. I wanted mine to withstand the intense love-grip of a two-year-old, so I opted to print on card stock and laminate them. Obviously I don’t have access to a laminator, so I bought these super easy lamination sheets from Amazon. I also grabbed some business card-sized adhesive magnets. Since I knew I would need small bits of magnet, it made sense to start with manageable-sized pieces instead of large sheets.
4. Assemble. Cut those babies out! Feel free to trim off the tabs, you won’t need them for the magnets. Arrange them on your lamination sheet, apply the other side of lamination, and cut (I was much more generous when cutting the lamination edges than the paper doll edges). Press out any remaining air bubbles with a flat edged piece of plastic, gift card, etc.
5. Make ’em stick! All that’s left is to apply the magnets! Simply trim the magnets to the appropriate size and place them along the back of your characters. Note: Pay attention to magnet placement. Try to keep it the same for clothing and accessories as dolls. The clothing magnets are sticking to the doll magnets, which are sticking to the fridge. So your clothes and dolls need to line up.

All done! You now have adorable paper doll magnets! We love to have ours on the fridge – it’s a great way for Penelope to stay occupied while I knock out kitchen duties. They also store wonderfully in an old chocolate tin, which is awesome for contained playing and especially traveling! We can take them to Nana’s house or even play with them in the car since she can use the metal tin to dress her dolls! It would work great with a novelty tin like ours or even an old school metal lunchbox.

These have been so worth it for us. Penelope absolutely loves them – more than I actually expected – and they’ve already provided hours of fun. And as an extra special treat, Kody Stewart has provided us with a discount code! Head on over to her Etsy shop and use code MEGANSAVE25 for 25% off your purchase! Awesome, right?!

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I hope you have a blast making these, and I’d love to see how they turn out! Happy creating!