Magnetic Paper Dolls

While I was in Rexburg, Idaho recently, I visited a store I am sure all paper crafters would love called Artco. They had tons of paper, cards, guest books, matchbooks, and other items for sale at a very low cost. I bought 8  12" x 17" sheets of thin magnet paper for a project for church. (Only $.50 each.) But alas! we decided to go in another direction so I was left with lots of magnet sheets. I decided to make some personalized paper dolls for the grandchildren who will be here in a few short days. In the past, I used photographs and my Xyron 900 machine and the laminate/magnet roll to create refridgerator magnets of mom, dad, both grandparents, some aunts, and the children themselves. (They lost the magnet with my photo! How could that be?) This time, I wanted to have lots of costumes for the children to use with their dolls so I decided photographs wouldn't do.

I found a great website called Making Friends with lots of multi-cultural paper dolls with many costumes. Then I found some good shots of the grandchildren's faces. I selected the paper doll page I wanted to use, then right clicked on it and selected COPY. I opened a NEW file in Photoshop (you could use any digital photography program), then pasted the page of dolls. I also opened the photograph of my grandson with Photoshop. Using the lasso tool, I selected just his face. I copied this on the clipboard and then pasted it on the face of the paper doll. I rotated it just a bit to make it fit the angle of the head of the paper doll.


I have started to fill in the edges using the clone tool in this shot.
 Of course they were not the same size, so I used the clone tool to fill in the shape of the head with his skintone. (The paper dolls are a little fat-headed!) I used the blur tool to blend in any lines. This took me a long time to get it how I wanted it, but now I think I could do it pretty quickly. I painted the ears to match the face skin, but I didn't change the body color. (Laziness.) Sometimes I had to redraw the outlines with the pencil tool.


I used the blur tool to soften the lines that the clone tool left.

Once I had my paper dolls personalized, I went back to the website and found the clothes that I wanted. I pasted many of them into my Paint program and then selected only the specific items I planned to use. (I was trying to squish them together to save paper.) Then I printed them with my Inkjet printer on the magnetic sheets. I was concerned that they might smear, but it worked great.















One thing I encountered after I had printed out everything was that the magnets weren't very strong. Only two layers will stick together at a time. Next time I would test things out first before I printed everything.

If you can't make it to Artco, you can buy magnet sheets at craft or office supply stores. You could also printed the dolls on cardstock and glue them to those thin magnets you get as free advertisements or you could use a Xyron machine to laminate and apply a magnet.


Note: If you decide to change the size of any dolls or clothes, make sure you change all of the images by the same percentage so the clothes will fit.

22 comments :

Just Jaime said...

haha Their faces make me laugh, but they look great!

Jordan McCollum said...

Too cute! Did you get the pictures of Rachel?

Erin said...

This is so darn cute!!!

Attic Rat said...

Those look so FUN! These would also make great additions to birthday cards, etc.

Happy creating,
Teresa

Tracy said...

Teehee how fun are these. The kids are so going to have a blast playing with these. I know I would ;)

Kristine@thefoleyfam said...

HOW FUN!! Great idea!!

We host a linky party “Help a Momma Out” every Tuesday. This would be a perfect link up! Please feel free to add it :) We appreciate it! Thanks for sharing!

Kristine
www.jandmseyecandy.blogspot.com

Kristine@thefoleyfam said...

Thanks so much for linking up to “Strut Your Stuff Sunday” on our blog!! We appreciate it! :)))

Kristine
www.jandmseyecandy.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

That is magnet-ificent!

Jill said...

Great way to use that magnetic paper! Great idea for the kids!

Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
Hope you have a great week!
Jill @ Creating my way to Success
http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

Mindie Hilton said...

My kids would love these. Thanks for linking to Bacon Time. See you soon.

Kasia said...

cool idea! I love magnet projects. thank u for sharing

SJ @ Homemaker On A Dime said...

I'm so honored that you chose to join the Creative Bloggers' Party & Hop. Thank you for adding this special masterpiece to rock my party :)

Jami said...

What a fun idea for the kiddos! Thanks for sharing it at the Tuesday To Do Party!
Smiles!
Jami
www.blackberryvine.blogspot.com

Nicole@Thrifty Decorating said...

Cute idea!! Thanks for linking!

Sumo @ Sumo's Sweet Stuff said...

Thanks for linking up! I'll be featuring your idea on my blog on Saturday!

http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com

Thanks!
Sumo:)

Alison Agnew said...

so fun...what a great birthday gift for a child too...thanks for linking it up to fridays unfolded!

alison

Ashley said...

hehhe soooo cute and fun! i totally love them

Unknown said...

These are adorable! I would love to make some for my kiddos. Thanks for linking up with DIY under $5!

Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas said...

how adorable & fun. would love to make something like this for my girls. They would get such a kick out of it.

would love to invite you over to my child centered linky party - http://momto2poshlildivas.blogspot.com/2011/07/sunday-showcase-child-centered-linky_30.html

Bernadette

Melanie @ bear rabbit bear said...

Awesome idea!

Thanks for sharing!

Melanie
bearrabbitbear.blogspot.com

Katie said...

These are super cool!

Thanks for linking up last week at Sew Woodsy last week! Hope you'll join us tomorrow and link up!

Unknown said...

This is really appreciative and interesting to read,I musts say.

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