My American Girl

For my second Design Team assignment, I used Page Pattern 29 - the Fifteen Page Spot pattern, and "Mist" colored grid paper.  I worked with clear acryllic stamps to stamp the words "always" and "sweet."  And, I'm not going to lie, I "cheated" and relied on the handy punch to cut out my 2 1/8" squares.  But, Tami, I promise, everything else was on the grid! 

My niece, Samantha, is an avid American Girl reader and doll collector.  For those of you who may not know, American Girl books tell the story of young girls (usually around age 9) in a historical fiction context.  Each of the main characters has a distinct time period and her character is developed over the course of several books.  Samantha's interest in the stories is immense - she has read more than 75 chapter books - and she also loves the nonfiction section at the end of each book that details the real-life history behind the fictional characters.  We travelled to Chicago to meet the author of some of the books, Valerie Tripp, and to Colonial Williamsburg to see where one of her favorite characters (Felicity) would have "lived" in 1774. 

Samantha just got two new dolls for Christmas (Marie Grace and Cecile - 1853).  When I snapped the shot of her in front of her collection - it occurred to me that I had done so in years past and it would be fun to document the progress of her growing collection.

The 15 small pics on the left page show Samantha with her first doll, her first trip to Chicago, American Girl themed train rides with her cousins, and a visit to Atlanta on Spring Break to pick up the Doll of the Year last year.  The large pic on the left side is Samantha's current collection (which I jokingly refer to as her "college fund).  The pics on the right show her American Girl pet collection and the growth of Samantha's doll collection over the course of the last four years.