When I spotted this set of Elvis Presley Russian nesting dolls — you know, where you open the wooden doll shape to reveal a smaller one; open it and there’s a smaller one yet; and so on — it sparked all sorts of ideas!

Decoupage, my friends!

See, I knew you could get blank (unpainted) sets of Russian nesting dolls (Amazon’s got them in the $10-$16 range, depending on how fancy you want to get, and who the vendor is), but I’ve always been a bit intimidated by the idea of trying to do a good enough painting job to justify the purchase. You know, the whole charm of the Russian dolls depends on the decoration…

Then I saw Elvis.

And after I finished laughing, this idea came along:

You could make your own Elvis set of nesting dolls by applying cut-out pictures of The King with decoupage glue onto the blank wooden dolls.

Or, of course, you could make a set of dolls for whatever celebrity you have a not-so-secret passion for… or more than one. The members of AC/DC, maybe, or all the actors who have played James Bond?

Or never mind a celebrity — what about Russian nesting dolls to represent your family?

Take photographs of the members of your family, and decoupage them onto nesting dolls in order of age and size. If you’ve got a small family and run out of people before you run out of dolls (I believe most sets have 5 figures), then make the smallest ones into your dog and cat — heck, do a favourite houseplant, for that matter! An awesome gift for a grandparent, don’t you think?