Happy Valentine’s Day!!!  Here’s a guest post from one of our Emily Rose @Home Founder’s Member’s, Lori Spillman.

A year ago if you had asked me if I would be scouring the planet for 18” doll accessories, I would have said “not me”.  But, alas I have fallen into an obsession with finding and making items that would be the perfect scale for my daughters American Girl® dolls, Nicki, Samantha and Elizabeth. I am notorious for the phrase  “ooh, that would be perfect for the dolls!”

I have to say, my daughter and I are now fans of the Good Will Store, Marshall’s, Ross, the $1 bin at Michaels, Target and thrift stores in our area.  We have found some really cute things that work great for the dolls.  A large wooden jewelry box, for example, works great for a trunk at the end of their bed, to fill with all your found treasures. We found ours at the Good Will for 99 cents!  You never know what you will find!   We also enjoy crafting our own items.  Sculpty clay is now a mainstay of our home, like milk.  My hubby is often disappointed when looking in the oven and discovers miniature pizza and cookies baking for the dolls!  Poor guy.

In this time of economic crisis, it is such a blessing to have a hobby I can share with my daughter that is not going to put us out a lot of money.  It is so fun to sit at the table and make cute items form scraps of material, cardboard, or clay and talk about what’s going on in her life.  It’s a great time to connect with her. Hey, we are recycling as well!  She gets a great sense of accomplishment for creating items for her dolls.  She is learning to sew, and best of all, she is not sitting in front of the T.V.  She’s using her creativity, stretching her imagination.  The thing that I find so wonderful about the American Girl Dolls®, or any doll for that matter, is that they promote such positive values for our girls.  They are learning about history, friendships, struggles and joy. Their doll can be whoever they want her to be.  The dolls can do anything, go anywhere…so the girls learn “so can I”, that’s what it’s all about!

There are so many wonderful crafting sites on the web for 18” dolls, and YouTube has some great videos on how to care for your dolls and make fun stuff for them.  If you have a fun craft idea…let me know, Id love to post it on my blog!    http://lorisemilyrose.blogspot.com

Here are some sites to get you started: makingfriends.com, dolldiaries.com. If you like to sew, check out dollclothespatterns.net, and Emily Rose will be offering patterns for some of their outfits soon!!

It is wonderful to be able to provide the Emily Rose line of products and pass on the great savings.  Hosting an Emily Rose Party costs you nothing!  What a fun way to spend the afternoon, a house full of giggly girls, their dolls and moms!

If you live on the Central Coast of California between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, would like to host a party or find out more about Emily Rose @ Home, contact me at: lorispillman01@yahoo.com