Magazines and Paper Dolls

My love of magazines comes from my dear grandmother.  I grew up living next door to her and spent a lot of my free time hanging out with her.  She subscribed to several magazines and I loved to go next door and collect them from her black wrought iron mailbox on her front porch.  My very favorite was McCall's magazine.  I loved everything about that magazine; the ads, the fashion and decorating articles, but mostly the page with Betsy McCall the paper doll!  Through the years I followed Betsy's life as if she were a real American girl!  Years later, married with three daughters and my very own stack of glossy magazines arriving in my mailbox monthly, I happened upon paper dolls in the Mary Engelbreit magazine and it was like deja vu!!  My girls were past the paper doll phase in life (apparently they are more mature than I ha ha) but I couldn't resist and once again found myself joyfully turning to the paper doll page...admiring the latest outfits of Anne Estelle and her friends. I bought a box covered in Mary Engelbreit's signature print and collected those paper dolls, saying all along that someday I would have granddaughters who would enjoy them (don't be fooled though...they were for me too)!   Now that my first granddaughter has joined our family I can squint and see to a future when she will arrive at Gi Gi's and want to play with the paper dolls in the box.  But then again, she is part Dodd...she might rather go out in the yard and kick a soccer ball or head to the bookstore for the latest book... Either way would be just fine with me as I have enjoyed my little side trip down memory lane.

My very own Mary Engelbreit Paper dolls