What little girl doesn’t love paper dolls? I wanted to create the perfect handmade gift for a little 3 year old girl and was inspired by a tutorial for magnetic paper dolls on One Pearl Button. I sifted through the recommended Betsy McCall paper dolls and selected my favorites. I preferred the versions from the early 50’s.
Instead of adhesive magnetic sheets recommended in the tutorial I opted for printable magnetic sheets. Unfortunately my printer could not handle the thickness and I ended up printing the dolls on other paper and then gluing them to the magnet sheets. There is a lot of wasted real estate on the printable pages. To conserve my magnet paper I rough cut around the individual dolls on the print outs and then glued them on the magnet sheets. I was able to fit about 3 sheets of dolls onto one magnet sheet. It was a blessing in disguise that I could not print directly on the magnet sheets.
I chose a larger round tin to store the paper dolls. I thought the larger tin would have more play space on the lid. I decorated the lid and glued one of the dolls directly onto the lid. Love the button embellishments made with the Martha Stewart button punch. Before wrapping up the gift I chose a magnetic outfit for the doll on the lid to wear. I did not glue anything on the inside of the lid, but instead used the space to dress up a few of the magnetic dolls to show how the lid could be used as a play space for the magnets. In the body of the tin I neatly stacked extra dolls and all the clothes and accessories.
These magnetic paper dolls make a great portable toy. They also work well on the fridge to keep little ones busy while your cooking. Sometimes that is still too close to the action, so a cookie sheet on the table works too!
Sharing this project here:
I Heart Naptime
One Pretty Thing
Tatertots and Jello
ADORABLE! so smart and simple!!!
love it!
How lovely: such a brilliant idea that my daughter will adore!
hi my names Florence and i think this is a great idea I’m ten and i make my own paper dolls all of the time! With bags and clothes and jewellery but i love this as a car trip journey toy i would definately buy this!
thankyou
Have you had any problem with the magnets curling or not sticking well? I’ve seen a few people mention problems with the printable magnetic sheets and am trying to find a brand that works well!
Lindsey, I gave this set as a gift. We did create others for the boys. The magnet paper is pretty thin, so it is prone to curling and the magnet is not very strong. It was only a problem when layering a lot of magnets on top of each other, the ones on top did not have much sticking power, because they were;t in contact with the metal. My boys loved playing with them on cookie sheets.