Election Day

I find it kind of Ironic that I spent 4 years studying Poli. Sci. yet feel complete and utter apathy towards our recent elections... can't stand hearing anything even remotely related to politics... that said I fulfilled my civil duty and voted... but what was really on my mind was a fun relaxing day with my family. We originally thought we'd go out and maybe have a picnic but the weather had other plans and ours were rained in.... That's when I turned my attention to a piece of "junk" I'd found the previous week...

While out walking with my daughter, a skeleton of a dolly cradle caught my eye and I thought I might be able to breathe some life into it... after all I've been thinking about getting my daughter one for awhile, she's just getting into the pretend/mothering/dolly liking stage.


This is what it looked like when I first brought it home.... no, not very impressive.... I agree








It definitely needed a coat of paint and I needed to make a base out of something. I decided to use some model cardboard I had lying around the house from old school projects. I cut two identical pieces and stapled them to the bottom of the frame with a staple gun. DH helped cut two pieces of scrap wood for reinforcement and nailed them in on top of the board. Next I painted the whole thing with two and a half coats of white paint.

No dolly cradle is complete without a mattress and bedding! so while the bed was drying I took to my sewing machine to make some custom made doll bedding. For a mattress I cut out a thin piece of foam a friend had saved for my creative purposes... and slip covered it in some pink with white polka dot flannel material salvaged from old pajamas. I used the same polka dot flannel to make a small pillow, stuffed with fiberfill and as the top side of the duvet. To add some more colour to the bedding I backed the duvet in some light blue striped cotton. For the front I added a scrap of vintage Ikea fabric and some ribbon trim, and a fabric heart (a freebie from a recent ebay fabric purchase). Easy peasy! all that during naptime!


Needless to say my daughter was delighted though she mistakenly thought the bed was for her.... I have had to remind her several times since that "this" bed is for the dollies.... and that she has her own... otherwise it's a great addition to our playroom and sparked a whole new game, tuck a doll in, rub her tummy and sing Numi Numi (never heard of Numi Numi? check it out here) till she falls a sleep, then walk around shushing everyone because "dolly's sleeping!!



Dolly hasn't commented but she appears rather comfortable...