From Broken Toy to Fun Play With Mom

My oldest daughter has a Barbie that she got from her aunt. Her name is Summer. She is a fully jointed, made-to-move doll that my daughter has carried around and used in scenes ever since she got her. However, Summer had an accident. One that broke her hand at the wrist. Despite her Dad and I trying to fix it, we had to admit defeat and tell our girl that she would have to just bear with the broken hand. So for many months now, she has been taping and re-taping the wrist to keep the hand from falling off. She has since purchased another made-to-move doll, but Summer is still one of her main characters in play. So she doesn't want to give her up. But Dad finally told her that re-taping the hand is getting old and burning through the tape. So what to do? 

Mom has an idea!

I decided that Summer wasn't out the picture yet. She had an accident, but aside from losing a hand, she is still functional. So I started a new story line for the girls to follow and continue with the imaginative play! I told them to pick an accident. They can work it into their ongoing story during play time. And Summer would now become an amputee doll. We have done this before. Or I should say, my little sister did this before. She had an 18" doll that lost an arm. We turned her in Bethany Hamilton! 

Creating the new story with pictures! 

We have enjoyed setting up photo scenes with the dolls for about a year or so now. I make accessories and clothes that fit the needs. The girls give me ideas and help me set everything up. Since Summer "lost" her hand in an accident, we decided to set up the hospital scene!

We started with the initial hospital room. Family is gathered around the patient. Pink haired Avery is the "Mom" to Summer. She brought the hand in a jar in the hopes that the doctor would be able to reattach it. We made this room more realistic by adding printed posters that you might see in a doctors office. Resizing was simple in a Linux version of Word.

These are Grandpa and Grandma. Here for emotional support. Grandma kept her figure well, don't you think? I love her pearls!

Summer's husband is comforting her and keeping her calm through this. I think I need to make some of the posters a little bigger. They were a mix of scale sizes.

The doctor is studying her notes while Avery asks her about the hands viability.

Time for the doctor to examine the hand while they wait for the x-ray to come through. To make this realistic, I used a tiny jar from the Dollar Tree store. I cut a small piece of gauze, put a drop of red food coloring in the middle, and put the hand on top. Amazingly enough, the hand fit perfectly!

The lid even closes on top. We talked about adding the hand to my future science lab scene. Just a little yellow water after removing the gauze and it will look just like it is in formaldehyde! That or make it a Thingette? (Addams family anyone?)

Well, the x-ray came back. Bad news. Can't reattach the hand after all. Sorry Summer, but you will have to learn to live without it. We wrapped her nub with gauze and a strip of light pink washi tape. Looked just like a surgical bandage. The x-ray was printed after resizing.

The big reveal! Summer now has a nub. I had a very light pink colored play dough. Scars in the beginning are typically a brighter pink. But after adding a sealant to keep it in place, I'm hoping it will darken slightly. In the future, we may make Summer a hook attachment for fun. Or maybe even look into 3D printing a sort of prosthetic? I have some ideas. For now, the girls have been enjoying creating her new story. Shark bite? Industrial accident? Who knows what they will decide. But Summer has a new life now.

Bonding Over Barbie

I have never been the best at playing Barbies with others. I would most often go with a friend to a church to play while her mother worked as the secretary. But she would often tell me what my dolls were supposed to do or say. For the sake of keeping the peace, I would sometimes follow along. Other times I just had to come up with the better idea for our playing. Especially when she wanted the dolls to play "dirty", if you know what I mean. 

Fast forward to now. I have two little girls who love playing with their dolls. And to listen to them, they are often telling each other what to do. Instead of just reacting to the other player. So when they ask me to jump in... I usually do not want to. 

During the pandemic, however, I found something fun that makes playing with them easier to handle. Grandma Gets Real and My Froggy Stuff gave me the inspiration. Oh and Bella_Belladoll! They are my favorites by far. I have gotten ideas for making doll accessories, clothing and furniture without having to pay a ton of money. As well as ideas for posing and taking photos of the dolls. This is something the girls have been enjoying doing with me. 

We now take our dolls around town. The library and parks are a favorite for us all. The local library in the town we lived in was having a summer reading program when we took these. As well as a Find the Mermaid Tails treasure hunt. You find a tail, you win a prize! The last time we went, the girls' both found a tail and we couldn't help but take some quick pictures.

We pretend together with our respective dolls, and I don't have to go crazy with someone trying to tell me how to play! I'd call that a Mom win for sure.

Bonus part is that we (older daughter and I) are also both learning to take better photos. She has helped me take pictures when I was busy with other things.

We even had fun having the Barbies pack for our move! After all, not all the dolls should move in the boxes. We had to save out a couple dolls and props for the photos to come before the move, during the move, and as we entered the new home. It just adds to the adventure for us girls. So our dolls had quite the discussion on what to pack away and what to put in our suitcases to take in the car with us. We were so excited about making the trip! 

However, the best part has been collaborating with my girls. They are so full of ideas. We talk about what would be considered important in our pretend houses. Then Mom gets to try to recreate those things. I'm not always successful at it. But I like to think I do pretty good. My youngest made my day recently when she ran up to give me a hug and said," Thank you for being such a good Mommy!" It really is the little things. (Get it? Little, as in the dolls....) 

Your turn! Tell me what you think every dollhouse needs. I can't wait to get some new ideas. Drop a comment below. And who knows? I might actually build it! 

Taking the Doll On a Trip

When are we too old for dolls? No, really? Not that I actually play with them, but I have been enjoying the doll photography. I even got my daughters participating with me. They love creating more realistic doll accessories with me. We painted their dollhouse and added sticker paper to the walls and floor. Then we began photographing their dolls. We play in the #Mondayfordolls Instagram event created by @bella_belladoll every chance we get. We also like looking at the posts by Grandma Gets Real. They can be hilarious. I even created my own dollstagram - ANerdsDay.

So why am I bringing this up? Well, I'm going to Israel in a little over a week (another post is coming where I show you how I pack in a carry-on only). With this, I talked my husband into letting me bring a doll. Before you start laughing at me uncontrollably - I take my doll around town too! I love doing it. The girls bring dolls in the car to play with as we drive from place to place quite often. I started carrying a camera and bringing my own doll sometimes. We try to find ways to take photos uniquely. At the park. At the library. We don't get out much. Well, now I am thinking it might be fun to get photos of the doll in another country. I'm not big on getting photos of myself (though there were will be some of those too). At first, my husband laughed when I brought it up. His grown wife carries a Barbie around. But he has seen some of the posts I have checked out. He has watched how the girls join me and we take photos together. Our 9 year old has even started practicing setting them up and taking pictures on her own! So when I mentioned it again, he actually thought it sounded like fun for me.

But now comes my dilemma! Which one do I use? My Wonder Woman doll or my Lara Croft doll. They are interchangeably "me" in doll form. Who would have thought I'd have a harder time picking the doll to take than I would on packing my clothes!

Do you think it strange that I do doll photography? Or do you find it interesting? Which doll would you take along? I'd love to hear from you, so leave me a comment below! And be watching for my next post that is coming soon. I plan to show you how I'm packing everything in a personal and carry-on only!