As a follow on from my last post – about trying not to buy, buy, buy, and being inventive and creative instead, I came up with this little project for the girls. Despite my knowing that catalogues are produced with the purpose of making purchases happen, I still subscribe to numerous catalogues. I intend on canceling them, but in the meanwhile, some really beautiful catalogues come through our mail slot. Some I toss them into the recycling without a glance, others I save to ooh ahh over. The Pink Chicken New York Summer catalogue arrived this week, and it has some really beautiful clothes. I sat looking over and over the pages trying to decide what I would buy, if I had a choice. The layout of the catalogue had many dresses laying flat on a plain white background. It was something about the colours and patterns, I really really liked them, and I was feeling the pinch of wanting to buy one. I think my desire sprouted a craft project. I started imagining the dresses on paper dolls. I could not have one in reality, but that did not mean I could not enjoy the designs and styles. It was not long before I had scissors in hand and a pretty pile of cut out paper clothes. The girls were both enthusiastic and took turns choosing from the pile. We then went ahead and made catalogue cut out collages. It was a really fun craft activity. I am thinking of extending this further into traditional paper dolls. I loved that I was able to adore the sweet little dresses, and that my swooning led to a creative outcome!