Craft- How to make a Doll Purse

Your doll will need something to hold all her cute retro items, so let's make her a purse!

Materials:

• 1 small sock
• Yarn or String
• Fabric markers, buttons, jewels, 
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors 

1. Cut off the end of your sock.

2. Cut a small hole on both sides of your sock.

3. Slip your yarn through the insides of the holes. Then tie a knot

4. Hot glue the knot in place.

5. Draw and decorate your purse however you like!

My sisters and I loved this craft so much! We made ALOT of purses for our dolls. DollBaker24 made  the first three. DollPandaLover made the rainbow one, the stripe one, and the one with dots all over it, and I made the purple purse, the Grace purse, and the poodle purse. 

Don't forget to send in photos if make any of the MM crafts! :)

-American Girl a Doll Crafter

P.S. I've reached 3,000 page views! I can't believe it and I'm so excited. Thank you to everyone who visits my blog! 

Craft- How to make a Doll Necklace

For MM Fashion week, let's make a pearl necklace for our dolls! I think pearls were popular back then, because Maryellen has a pearl necklace in her accessories. :)


Materials:

• A package of small pearl beads
• 15 inch piece of elastic
• Scissors
• Clear coat nail polish or Crazy Glue (Crazy Glue works best)

1. Thread beads onto your string. I used 34 pearls.

2. Once you have that finished, tie a knot so your pearls won't slip off.

3. Elastic can come undone easily, so add a drop of clear coat polish or crazy glue on the knot.

Now your doll can look stylish and retro!

-American Girl Doll Crafter

Maryellen Month- Retro Fashion Facts

Guess what week it is?! Fashion Week! Are you excited? Let's start with some fashion facts.



Girls

In 1954, girls liked to wear pullover sweaters, fashionable jumpers, skirts and quilted cotton sets.

So cute!

Adorable! Notice that many girls had bangs back then, like Maryellen.

I love this one!

Boys 

In 1954, boys usually wore western flannel with bright colorful patterns. 

Davy might have worn something like this.

I love the 50's dresses! Which one was your favorite?

-American Girl Doll Crafter

P.S. A fun fashion craft is coming tomorrow!

Craft- How to make Doll French Fries

I'm sorry, I was supposed to post this on Saturday, but I just got home from my vacation. ;) Im still going to post it, even though it's fashion week! Let's make some doll french fries!

Materials:

• Yellow pipe cleaners
• White card stock
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Tape
• Red marker

1. Cut a 5 by 1 1/2 inch strip of paper. This will be the fry box.

2. Fold both side so they meet equally in the middle.

3.  Then, fold about a 1/2 inch more so it has a 3D look.

4. Get your scissors and cut off half of the front of the fry box. Don't cut the sides; just to the first fold.

5. Tape the front together.

6. Cut out a small piece of card stock that will fit under your box. Tape it on.

7. To make fries, cut 1 1/2 inch strips of pipe cleaners. Put your fries in the box.

Then, decorate the box however you like!

This is my favorite retro diner food craft. What was yours?

-American Girl Doll Crafter

Craft- How to make a Doll Burger

Next, we shall make the burger! (This craft has ALOT of clay in it, so cover your work surface when you need to use the clay.) 

Materials:

• Large Paper Plate
• Sculpey clay (I'm using the oven bake variety pack, but you will basically just need tan, brown, yellow and red) 
• Modeling tools or a plastic knife
• A crumply piece of tinfoil

1. Knead all your clay so it will be easy to work with. 

2. Divide your clay into 2 small balls. Take your first ball and press down on the sides so it looks like a dome. Get your second ball and smush it flat. Your hamburger buns should be almost the same size as a quarter.

3. Make a small ball out of  brown clay and smush it too! Then, mash it down on the crumply tinfoil.

For grill marks, use a black permanent marker and color lightly across the burger pattie.

4. Cut a small square out of your yellow clay. Dent the edges so it will look more realistic.

5. I don't know how to explain this, but I'll try! :) Using your red clay, make a thin random shape for ketchup.

6. Bake your burger in the oven. I set my temperature at 275, but you might want to follow the directions on your packet of clay.

Did you like this craft for MM? The French Fry craft is coming later tonight or tommorrow!

-American Girl Doll Crafter

Craft- How to make a doll Milkshake

The Milkshake craft won the most votes! So today we will be making one.

Materials:

• Tape
• 1 cotton ball
• 2 Pom poms
• Modge Podge
• Puff Paint
• 1 small cup
• Hot glue gun (not shown)

1. Start with your Pom Pom. Put a piece of tape on the bottom. Then stuff it down in the cup.

2. Put another peice of tape on top of the first Pom Pom. You'll need it for later.

3. Next, glue a Pom Pom on the bottom of the cotton ball.

4.  Stick the Pom Pom in the cup.

5. Paint Modge Podge on the cotton ball.

6. Make a zig zag design on the milkshake.

And you're done! It's adorable and one of the cutest things I've ever made!

-American Girl Doll Crafter

Guess what? I've reached over 2,000 page views thanks to you!

MM- Retro Doll Diner

Does your doll need a retro diner? Here are some ideas on how to create a simple one.

Today, Ruthie is working at Doll Diner. I used Julie's table and chairs (no longer available) and made a menu for it.

Hello! What would you like today?

This is all the food. I will be showing you how to make the pink milkshake, the burger, and the fries for MM. The other things are from OG and AG.

So, what do you want to make first? The Milkshake, the Burger, or the fries? 

Tell me in the comments! I'll pick the one with the most votes!

-American Girl Doll Crafter

MM Diner Facts

For the last few days of this week, we will be focusing on retro diners!


Lots of diners were either red, black, or blue. There were booths and tables with leather seats and checker floors.

Almost every retro diner I have seen has the color red in its interior. (Hey, maybe blue was popular for kitchens and red was popular for diners!)

The food usually consisted of Burgers, Fries, Milkshakes, Sodas, etc.

Here is a menu from one of my favorite diners, Steak 'n Shake!

I've always loved Steak 'n Shake. My family used to eat there all the time.

Just look at how yummy the food is!

Most diners had a jukebox. It would play music while the customers ate!

Our generation sells a cute retro diner. They also have a waitress outfit! This would be perfect for Maryellen, but AG is already making her a retro diner. If American Girl's Diner is too expensive, I'll be saving my money for this. :)

Have you or you doll ever been to a retro diner?

-American Girl Doll Crafter

P.S. Tommorrow we are going on a short vacation to my grandparents lake house! It will be fun seeing my other cousins. I'm also going to interview my Grandpa and Grandma. They lived in the 50's! :)