Doll Craft Ideas?

[kitandkat]

Does anyone have any good craft ideas that I can make for Harper's arrival on Wednesday? I've already made her 2 books, and am making her a burka (sp?) and head scarves (as she is Muslim).
Harper likes poetry, her favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird, and her father is stationed in Morocco and is in the US Foreign Service (all the fruit of one VERY boring English class), but anything will do... I just need something to keep me busy and keep my mind off her!

[Bean Bunny]

Can you knit or crochet? You could always make her a blanket or scarf (or something more complicated if you already know how and you're way advanced.)

You could bead her some jewlrey. Or weave/knit/crochet/cut a rug out of cloth.

Or, see if your library has this book, or something similar:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/081...lance&n=283155

Since, you know, Morocco.

Edited to add: if she's Muslim, won't she need a prayer rug?

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ June 12, 2006 02:06 PM: Message edited by: Bean Bunny ]</font>

[Polly Marie]

You could make a prayer rug. Here is a site about the Islam prayer rugs:

http://islam.about.com/od/prayer/f/prayer_rugs.htm

I know that it has taken patience in not opening up Harper's box, but it's VERY soon now!
[img]graemlins/clock.gif[/img]
Polly Marie

[kitandkat]

Thanks for the ideas! I can knit... sort-of. I don't normally have the patience for it. But a doll rug wouldn't have to be that big, lol. I could always make it out of fleece since I'm sure we have some fleece lying around. And a prayer rug is a good idea.
Will see if the library has the book tonight at work!!

[PrincessRuthie]

Are the other girls planning a party for her? If so, you'll definitely need to get that ready.

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ June 12, 2006 03:19 PM: Message edited by: PrincessRuthie(Laura) ]</font>

[kitandkat]

Oh my gosh! I didn't even think of a party! (SCREAMS) What a good idea (...)!!!!!!

And I like the green idea. In fact, I am staring at a large piece of green felt right now. So I think I'm going to decorate it with fabric paint to make the prayer mat. And then I have to bug my mom to get out the fabric, and the pattern, and the sewing machine to make the burqa (which should only take about a half-hour).

I will see if we have any sculpey as well. Moroccan food is the best!! [img]wink.gif[/img] (That's my favorite resturant at Disney.)

I think we will have the party in my room since most of my dolls are up there, except for the ones who are keeping a vigil by her box, lol. (That girl deserves a party!) They can eat the Moroccan food... hmm, I wonder if I can convince my mom to make REAL couscous!!

Oh, I'm getting so excited! Thanks everyone!

[Sakurako]

Is it hot where you are? You can make fans for your dolls to hold by gluing round cards (stamped image, greeting cards, whatever) on both sides of half a popsicle stick. Oh, guess you'd have to eat the popsicle first and then wash the stick. Life is full of complications.

Of course you can also make plain folded fans. They'd be nice party favors.

[BellasMama]

My Husband is moroccan and I've been to Morocco several times..Women/girls do not wear burqas. (they would be insulted to know you thought they did) Casablanca is a modern city with very western (american) Style.

Women wear the entire range from the traditional conservative jelaba and foulard (although chadras are rare),** to american & european suits, to skin-tight shirts and mini-skirts. The choice of dress tends to depend on both age and occupation: in general, teenagers wear sexy or casual Western (american) clothes; professional women wear Western-style business clothing; and older, blue-collar, and unemployed women wear jelabas.

**Traditional clothing: A jelaba is an ankle-length, long-sleeved, loosely-fitting gown. A foulard is a scarf worn over the hair and fastened under the chin. A chadra is a veil which covers most of the face. When a foulard and chadra are worn together, only the woman's eyes are visible.

Morocco is a beautiful country ,rich in culture and religion. They have great food too.

JMTC [img]graemlins/money.gif[/img]

[BohemianMare]

I find it very interesting that you would think to make a doll Muslim. Would you consider it rude if I asked what made you decide Harper should be Muslim? I'm very curious...always love to hear what fuels a very orginial AGT character. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[kitandkat]

Originally posted by BellasMama:
My Husband is moroccan and I've been to Morocco several times..Women/girls do not wear burqas. (they would be insulted to know you thought they did) Casablanca is a modern city with very western (american) Style.

Women wear the entire range from the traditional conservative jelaba and foulard (although chadras are rare),** to american & european suits, to skin-tight shirts and mini-skirts. The choice of dress tends to depend on both age and occupation: in general, teenagers wear sexy or casual Western (american) clothes; professional women wear Western-style business clothing; and older, blue-collar, and unemployed women wear jelabas.

**Traditional clothing: A jelaba is an ankle-length, long-sleeved, loosely-fitting gown. A foulard is a scarf worn over the hair and fastened under the chin. A chadra is a veil which covers most of the face. When a foulard and chadra are worn together, only the woman's eyes are visible.

Morocco is a beautiful country ,rich in culture and religion. They have great food too.

JMTC [img]graemlins/money.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Thank you for all the info! What I am planning on making sounds more like a jelaba. I should have researched the different types of traditional clothes before I posted that! LOL. I guess I am also making a foulard as well. I was thinking that she would have the traditional clothes even though she is an American/living in the city, in case her father took them to the rural areas or a neighboring country on business or a vacation. Thank you!!

BohemianMare:
When I was in about second grade, I was totally obsessed with Judiasm... just another random obsession along with Titanic, Princess Diana, etc. So I bought the Hanukkah set and tried to convince my mom to celebrate Hanukkah... we're Catholic, but I thought since it is in our Bible, why not? LOL. So Marie (ret GT10) was Jewish. Even though she is also a French princess and even though she has an American last name. (Linsi aka Lindsey is NOT Jewish because she and Marie were supposed to be different.) The girls always go to Marie's castle for CHRISTMAS and celebrate CHRISTMAS even though her family is JEWISH. (But they also celebrate Hanukkah; Marisol is Jewish too!)
So anyway, that was the first "religious diversity" project doll.
Then my friend and I were sitting in English class this one day. I had just converted her to doll obsession-hood a week or so ago (she has Elizabeth, Kaya, Felicity and Samantha but wasn't really obsessed until... me! same with a lot of my friends and Harry Potter. I'm a bad influence). She didn't want to read THE THINGS THEY CARRIED for English so the teacher was trying to come up with a substitute book, and we were trying to think of the books we'd read since eighth grade. We got up to TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and couldn't remember what the author's name was, and then I remembered, Harper Lee. I was all, "hey, that would make a great name for a doll!" I decided it would be 23 since I had wanted her for awhile. Then I was asking Nichole (my friend) what her story should be, since each of my dolls has a huge complicated story (I think I'm going to make a thread about that... lol). Nichole thought she should be from Morocco because she had had this thing about Morocco for awhile (we're doing it for Model UN next year, so my research that was supposed to happen was for Harper and MUN, but I got too busy to follow up on the research). I then decided that Harper would be Muslim, because all my dolls are Christian or Catholic except for Marie, and my mom thinks I should get more "diverse" dolls. Eventually Harper became a poet because... I don't remember why, and got a blog because (at the time) we could access Blogger at school and it was something to do in study hall. Her favorite book is obviously To Kill A Mockingbird, and she was named after Harper Lee. Her last name, Simmons, is because I didn't have any dolls with an S last name. Her mother is a professor and is Moroccan, but her father is in the US Foreign Service (I had to have a reason for her lighter skin, so he was Caucasian). Therefore, she is an American citizen. When my mom didn't let me open the box I thought she would be detained by the Embassy but since she was in America already it would probably be the Moroccan one. I believe she lost her passport [img]redface.gif[/img] and being Muslim aroused a bit of suspision.
I did research a bit by reading parts of the Koran (I was also using it for my AP European History mock Model UN session) but then I got in trouble for checking it out of the library... lol.
Harper's going to be slightly conservative and wear the foulard out in public, I think, but I'll convince her to let me post pictures here [img]tongue.gif[/img]

ONLY TWO MORE DAYS!

PS: I ordered the Arts and Crafts of Morocco book so hopefully Harper and I can read it together and maybe do some of the crafts!! (Doesn't look like it'll get here by Wednesday, it'll probably be there on Wednesday when I go to work but Harper will already be here! YAY!)