When the time came for us to transition Katie Wynn from her crib to a big girl bed (yes, over a year ago!), the hardest part of the switch was figuring out what to do above her bed! I adored her alphabet collage but, while it was so cute above her crib, it just did not work with the lines of the new bed. I had an idea early on that I couldn't figure out how to execute so I scrapped it. After that, I was STUMPED.
Then, I found inspiration in these little girls that I cut out.
Big paper dolls on the wall would be so cute, right?!
I liked the shape and proportions of the ones I had cut out of paper so Mom and I measured and drew a larger template to use. Then I passed it over to my Dad so he and Matt could cut them out of a thin wood. (It's not really wood, I can't think of what the material is called. It's what pegboard is made out of, just without the holes.) After they had five girls cut out, I painted them the same grey as her walls (except the white plank wall that they would be going on). The first one went on, centered above the bed...
And then the other four were lined up with her!
Mom's part (probably the hardest part!) was next. We cut out triangles for the girls' dresses and picked out fabric that would match the room. Then she fashioned them into dresses that would cover the triangle forms and attach to the girls. Scroll through the pictures below to see the dresses she made. I love that the middle one has KW's monogram...it's like a tiny nod to the alphabet wall that was there before it (that had her monogram in the middle).
We weren't able to cut all five paper dolls out of one solid piece of wood. And I really didn't want the seam where their arms met up to be visible. So I purchased precut wooden hearts from Michael's and painted them pink. They were the perfect finishing touch for our row of dolls!
Here's the complete view of all five dolls:
The dresses are just velcroed on to the doll forms. I initially had thought it would be fun to let Katie Wynn take them off and redress them, but I still haven't told her about that idea. Not sure I'm ready to encourage her to pull things off the wall. And I know it would bug me if they weren't on straight or in the "right" order. :) Maybe one day...
I LOVE how this little project turned out and it was so easy to do. This row of girls makes me smile every time I come into the room, especially when Katie Wynn names them all with her friends' names. And this project just proves that sometimes you have to sit and wait and stare at an empty wall before the right idea hits you. That's what I'm going to keep telling myself since there are still big empty walls in our house...