Summer Crafts

If your daughter is like mine, I'm sure you've already heard this phrase at some point this summer "What are we going to do today mom?" Well we found some great crafts that were very inexpensive to assemble and made for hours of play for the girls & their dolls. These great craft ideas came from the following website & they had some other great craft ideas for girls too so check it out at www.makingfriends.com

For both crafts we used communion cups which we purchased at the Family Bookstore. For the Sundaes we used pom poms for the ice cream, 1 cotton ball for the whipped cream topping, and two sizes of pony beads for the cherry & sprinkles. I used clear tacky gel glue(from Hobby Lobby)to hold it all together.

To make the drink cups fill the cup 3/4 with clear tacky glue. Next push in some irredecent tri-beads until it's full. You may need to add a little bit of glue on the top as well. Then cut a coffee stir stick into small pieces & insert it into the center of the drink. We let ours dry overnight. I hope you have a great time trying out these crafts with your kids.

June Outfit of the Month

In honor of Alexa & Mallory's dance recital last weekend, we are offering our Swan Lake Ballerina outfit as our June Outfit of the Month. The original price is $16.99 so with 10% off it will be $15.29. You need to e-mail us your order if you'd like to take advantage of our monthy special.
This outfit includes a leotard, tutu, ballet slippers and a hair tie. Here is a photo of Mallory with her doll Jessie at her ballet gala. Of course you can view this outfit and all our others on our website at www.emilyroseathome.com/joelleschrader

Doll Care 101

Since making an investment in an American Girl d0ll is a large amount for girls who are usually between the ages of 3-12, I think it's important to teach our daughters how to take good care of their dolls. I'd like to share a couple of tips that I have learned that can help keep your American Girl doll or any favorite baby doll in great condition.

Cleaning Tips:
If you get dirt or stains on your doll, there are two things I have found that work well to remove them. I always try baby wipes first. Since they are made with mild cleansers and are soft enough to use on babies, they work great for dolls. If you can't remove the stain with a baby wipe, my second action would be to try some baking soda mixed with a little water. I prefer to use a soft bristle toothbrush to scrub the area. Again, remember we want to be gentle & the soft bristle tooth brush is gentle enough that it won't scratch your doll but will enable you to scrub the area to remove the stain. I want to mention one other thing that I've found that works for stains on dolls--Magic Erasers. I do want to caution you not to use them on the face of your doll as they could remove painted cheeks, but I've found that they work great for stains on arms & legs. Don't overuse them as they could take the color out of a doll who has a darker skin tone. I have to say that it even took off pen marks that my youngest daughter Mallory made on her sisters doll when she was 2! What a stressful experience that was. Luckily it worked.

Hair Care:
The best type of brush to use for your doll's hair is a wire bristle brush. Lightly mist the hair with some water from a spray bottle first & then begin to brush the dolls hair starting at the bottom & working your way up. If you have a really bad case of "frizzy doll hair" you can also try a leave in spray conditioner. Nutrigena has a good one that we have tried with success in the past.

I hope you find these tips helpful. We'll be posting more in the future so look for those to come.

Emily Rose @Home

Alexa & I are trying to grow our mother/daughter business. Last year we became founders members with EmilyRose which is a company that sells clothes, accessories, and furniture for American Girl dolls and other 18 inch dolls. I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for us to have some fun together and a great way to teach my daughter the ins & outs of business. You can never learn to early the importance of integrity, standing behind your products, how companies make money, marketing, and networking skills. Emily Rose @home has provided us with a wonderful opportunity to do this. We have started small & held probably 10 parties in the past year. We are now trying to take our business to the next level and are working hard to attract new customers. We now have our own website where customers can view our products and shop directly via the web. Check it out at www.emilyroseathome.com/joelleschrader

I must admit that I have not really used this blog much in the past year. I am a busy mom with a full time career as a training manager for a community bank. Then I'm an entrepreneur with my own at home business. Needless to say that doesn't leave much time for blogging, but my goal for the rest of this year is to post at least twice a month on our blog. I hope to share helpful tips for caring for dolls and for fun crafts that you can try with your girls. I will also feature an outfit of the month from Emily Rose @Home that we will offer to anyone who follows our blog at at 10% discount. So I hope you enjoy our information & Alexa and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Doll Beach Party

Lexy & I have had a lot of fun hosting several doll beach parties in August. The girls enjoyed several crafts including making swim fins & sun visors for their dolls out of fun foam. We also enjoyed seeing who could "Limbo" the lowest and who could keep the hula-hoop off the ground for longest amount of time. We learned that many of Lexy's friends are quite good at hula-hooping! We danced to Beach Boys music and we even had a ton of fun dipping fruit/marshmellows/Rice Krispy treats into a chocolate fountain. Here are some photos of Lexy's own beach party event.

Our new mother/daughter business

My daughter Lexy and I have loved American Girl dolls for years. She got her first doll when she was 5 years old. Since then we have added many outfits and accessories to Marisol's wardrobe. Just recently we had the opportunity to join the founders circle of Emily Rose at Home. Emily Rose offers fabulous outfits, accessories, and furniture for 18 inch dolls like the American Girl dolls. They also offer great prices! As a mother I have appreciated both their price and their quality for the past year. So, when the opportunity to join Emily Rose at Home was offered we jumped at the chance to own our own joint business. It is a great opportunity for me to teach my girls about business and saving money.



Lexy is putting part of her income from our business in her college fund and the rest into her efforts to own her first Nintendo DSI. I am excited to plan fun parties for girls & their moms while bringing in some extra income to help offset the tuition costs for private school at Lakewood Park.



Birthdays in our family have always been big celebrations. In a few weeks we will be hosting Lexy's 9th birthday party and in line with our new business, we are having a doll beach party. The girls are all bringing their American Girl dolls to the party and we have lots of fun events planned. Each girl will get a swimsuit for their doll. I made them myself, so while they aren't the prettiest outfit ever, they are functional! We will be making swim fins & sun visors as our craft. These fun foam creations will put each doll in the appropriate attire for the beach party. The girls are making fun foam visors for themselves as well. Then we'll move out to the deck for a limbo contest and beach treasure hunt. We'll dance to music from the Beach Boys & have a beach ball toss. We hope it proves to be a fun event. Then after our trial run, we plan to offer these types of parties for anyone who has girls who love their dolls.



If you read this blog and are interested in seeing what products we have available, you can check out our personal website link for Emily Rose at www.emilyroseathome.com/joelleschrader. You can order directly from our link on the website or you can contact us to set up an in home party at jolexschrader@yahoo.com.