Because of the pandemic, Jasper has seen a lot less of his grandparents this year (and baby Felix is still practically a stranger to them). I wanted to make an heirloom Mother’s Day gift that would allow my mom to snuggle my kids from afar and that would last a long time as a reminder of their cute toddler and baby stages.
Materials:
Have you read the book Flat Stanley? He’s a boy who’s, well, flat, and he goes on a journey through the postal system. I made heirloom doll versions of my boys that their grandma can receive and then fill. Hopefully other moms and grandmas can have a cozy Mother’s Day this year with these photo transfer plush dolls while we wait for the (ever-approaching!) light at the end of the long COVID tunnel.
The technique for these family photo heirloom ornaments is so versatile! With such a limitless method, I knew that it wouldn’t do to just put away my Christmas decorations at the beginning of the year and set aside these photo transfer projects. I have had so much fun making ornaments and plush dolls with the instructions in our ebook.
Past Projects
Last year our team made plush dolls of our celebrity crushes for Valentine’s Day and then honored some of our Black creative heroes by immortalizing them in plush form. After a year of being at home with family, it just seemed right that I would make photo transfer plush dolls out of family members. Mother’s Day is a great time to make that happen. After all, what mom or grandma doesn’t want a completely customized heirloom doll in the shape of her kids or grandkids?
The embroidery adds such a beautiful, whimsical finishing touch to these dolls. I can totally see Jasper’s spunkiness and Felix’ squishy snuggliness shining through these photo transfer plush dolls.
For the sake of our photos we stuffed our dolls and sewed them up. If you left off that step, though, you could put your embroidered forms in an envelope, mail them to your mom or grandma, and let her bring them to life with stuffing.
Instructions:
Download the photo transfer plush e-book from our shop for all the details on how to make these dolls!