our handmade wooden doll family

by mari

DIY Modern Wooden Dollhouse Fisher Price Little People Handmade Family - Mom, Dad, Little Girl with felt hair

I have several little handmade projects I’d like to complete for Birdie this Christmas, I probably won’t get to all of them! But I found time for this little family – which I stuffed in her Advent Calendar yesterday! Can you tell which one is Birdie, myself and her Daddy-O? (Hint: She’s got the glasses!) They’re all the same size because they fit perfectly with our rather large collection of vintage Fisher Price Little People toys, barn, castle, cars, A-Frame house, tudor house, neighborhood, airport, etc!

Scroll below the images to see a list of the materials I used and some tips. Now it’s your turn: get to making people!

things I used:

  • Blank wood figures from I Used To Be A Tree (I’ve seen some at Michaels Craft Stores too!)
  • Luscious wool felt (similar felt at Benzie Bazaar)
  • Acrylic Paint and Sharpie Paint Pens (in the end I had better luck with paint and brushes, than pens!)
  • Black Extra Fine Sharpie
  • Trusty Aileen’s Craft Glue
  • Flax Seed Oil for a quick finish on the wood – but watch out, leave it on too long and it can make the Sharpie bleed.
  • Copper wire, different weights, for glasses and hair barrettes

some quick tips:

  • I didn’t do it this time, but next time I would lightly finish sand (maybe 180 grit?, 240?) on each piece before adding anything to them. Remove a little bit of the rough spots, and give it a uniform surface.
  • The Felt hair was done in 2 layered sections, I cut templates out of soft paper towel first, then laid it on the felt to cut out the shapes and do some light trimming.
  • Straight lines on curved objects are no fun. For the white faces, I used a piece of tape. For the bodies, I ended up holding a brush steady, and rotating the wooden piece underneath it.
  • I used a nail the same thickness as the wire to pound holes on either side of Birdie’s doppelganger head. The ends of the bows on her wire glasses are pushed into these holes for stability.

What do you think? I’m in love with them, and Birdie recognized herself immediately! Now we’ll see how well they “play with others”…

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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Esther December 16, 2011 at 9:06 am

So cute :)

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2 Miz Big December 17, 2011 at 4:58 pm

Thanks Esther!

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3 Kristine December 16, 2011 at 9:41 pm

You’re such a good mom!

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4 Miz Big December 17, 2011 at 4:58 pm

You are too kind, let’s just we have good days and not-so-good days. ;)

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5 Celina December 17, 2011 at 11:17 am

These are amazing, the cutest idea ever. I wish I had time to makes some before the holidays! I guess it will have to wait…
P.s. love love love your gift guides!
Have a great weekend :)

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6 Miz Big December 17, 2011 at 5:00 pm

THANK YOU so much Celina!
I’m such a fan of your blog too.

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7 Jen December 18, 2011 at 2:22 pm

Absolutely fabulous. They turned out so adorable. I’m going to show this to my kids so we can make some too!

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8 Miz Big December 19, 2011 at 8:13 am

Jen – that’s wonderful, thank you! Let me know how yours turn out!

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9 reagan December 20, 2011 at 10:29 am

hi, i just saw this on another website and i think they are very cute. i have one question though, which are only half of the faces white? i have never read your blog, so didn’t know if i was missing something. thanks for the tutorial! :)

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10 Miz Big December 20, 2011 at 3:23 pm

Thanks! The faces are just a design choice, I wanted to give the eyes some more detail without losing the simple look of the overall paint job. You can certainly play with a zillion different faces!

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11 rebecca January 16, 2016 at 7:14 am

I love this craft! I have been looking for wooden peg dolls that fit retro fisher price toys, we have a small collection ourselves (mostly the A-Frame house and some furniture and cars) I went to the etsy link you provided but there are so many peg people options! Which ones did you use? I love toys that fit together! Are these the ones you used?
https://www.etsy.com/listing/61975813/octuplet-girls-with-skirts-paint-your?ref=shop_home_active_8&show_panel=true

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12 Mari, Small for Big January 16, 2016 at 10:00 am

Thanks! I just love little wooden people and Fisher Price toys too! Yes, the link you have should be the same ones that I used. Have fun!

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13 Dearlives May 31, 2018 at 9:02 pm

Wow! so cute handmade wooden doll.

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