Paper Dolls

Shea and I have discovered "printables."  These are crafty things you can find on the internet, print out, and play with.  Yesterday was a printable day.  Now, these things range in difficulty from super easy to "Holy cow, I need an engineering degree."  We did a little of everything yesterday.

It all started when Shea mentioned something about masks.  I had searched the internet before and found paper masks you could cut out, so off to the computer we went.  We printed out masks of the characters from "101 Dalmations" and I chased Shea and Tracy around the house as Cruella De Vil.  It was a blast, but the dog started getting nervous with all our barking.

This lead to round two of paper masks.  This time round Shea was a princess and I was the Incredible Hulk.  "Hulk save pretty lady," I said as I scooped her up off her feet and whisked her away to the other room.  She squealed in delight as I swung her around and planted her back on her feet.  As with most games with a four year old, this game slowly devolved into chasing her around the room and making monster-like noises.

Toward the end of the night, I discovered paper dolls.  Little figurines you could cut out.  I printed out the "Princess and the Frog" playset that even came with a New Orleans background.  I slowly cut out each figurine and glued them together so they could stand upright.  Shea only got to see two of them before having to get into her bath, but I kept right on going.

I was intrigued by what one website called 3D Papercraft (this was one of the projects that looked like an engineering degree was necessary).  I printed out the Rapunzel figurine and set to work.  It took me an hour to get it all put together.  It took precision scissor skills, a glue stick (I even used some super glue), and more patience than I thought I could muster for a paper doll, but I got it done.

I've set the whole scene up downstairs on the kitchen table for Shea.  I hope she likes it.  I've attached a picture of all the handiwork here.  It's amazing what you find yourself doing in order to make your child happy.  I'm sure she will look at it/play with it for fifteen minutes.  After that, all bets are off, but I can't resist trying for that look on her face that shows me she knows she is special.