Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Just one question


It's a busy week at our volunteer jobs, and any blogging must be done from my tablet, but I didn't want to dispense with the Hodgepodge entirely.  

So I decided to answer just one question.  It's this one:

5.  What was your favorite thing to do as a kid?   Elaborate.

Of course, there were many things I enjoyed doing as a kid.  But one of my favorite activities was paper dolls.  Of course I owned many wonderful sets of paper dolls.  Back in the day they were very inexpensive.  They came in large softcover books, with the dolls ready to be carefully removed from their card stock covers and their wardrobes and sometimes accessories ready to be cut from the pages inside.



Some of these sets represented movie or TV stars, like the Lennon Sisters paper dolls above (snagged from Pinterest).  Others were characters from cartoons or kids' books.  Trixie  Belden and her friend Honey Wheeler, for example.  There were many different sets of Barbie paper dolls.

But my favorite paper dolls were the ones I made myself.  I might draw my own, or trace around an existing paper doll.  Then I would find colorful magazine pages to use as "fabric" to design clothing to fit the dolls, adding tabs to hold it in place.

One Christmas, my parents got me the most amazing gift: a Betsy McCall Fashion Designer set.  It included a light box and patterns for paper dolls and every sort of clothing and accessory imaginable.  Entire pages of skirts and tops, for example, with dozens of combinations to choose from.  So much fun!  I spent hours with this activity.  It's a special childhood memory for me, and the set remained intact for my daughters to use.  Fun times!

Happy Wednesday, everyone! 😀

8 comments:

  1. Oh I enjoyed paper dolls as well. I also inherited my mom’s paperdolls that I cherish.

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    1. Your mom's paper dolls would be treasures indeed, Debby!

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  2. Me, too. I loved my paper dolls. Your fashion designer set sounds like a dream for little girls. What a sweet thing for your parents to know what would give you hours of pleasure.

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    1. I know! I don't remember even asking for this kit. There was a similar kit more geared to boys, with which one could design cars, planes, etc.

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  3. Oh yes, my sister and I loved to play with paper dolls. We used to get the Betsy McCall paper doll out of the McCall's magazine each month. They always had a few new outfits for her in the magazine to be cut out. I know we had some other "movie star" paper dolls too. Jane Powell comes to mind (who remembers her???) Anyway, that Betsy McCall designer set sounds wonderful!! That would definitely be a dream come true! How wonderful your own daughters were able to play with it. That's pretty special.

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    1. I replied to you with a lengthy comment but lost it! On my Christmas blog, you can do a search for Betsy McCall and find a post I wrote on the topic. It included a link to printable Betsy McCall paper dolls from years worth of the magazines. Sadly, the link no longer works. I will check it out when I get home and see if I can fix the link. I know you would enjoy seeing them. 😊

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  4. Oh wow ths brings back memories, my sister and I had Lennon Sister paper dolls. E had so much fun!
    As a kid my favorite things were about the same as now. I love drawing, arts and crafts and writing poetry, I loved being outside by the lake. I grew up near Lake Superior. It looks like a big inland ocean. I could never get tired of its beauty

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  5. What a wonderful childhood you must have had, Cheryl! I enjoy all of those things too. It must have been amazing to grow up near Lake Superior! 💙🌲

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