Pippin- the world traveler.

With school out, garden season sick kids and still dealing with the affects of  the Lyme treatment,  i've had to put my dolls on the back burner for a while. i look forward to rainy days when i have an excuse to stay inside and sew. Unfortunately we haven't had a lot of rain lately, and there isn't any in the forecast until mid next week. 

This is the one i was working on last month. i decided to name her Pippin, because she looks very hobbity to me. My first thoughts were that she was a quiet homebody, who loved good food and good company. i can picture her in a little hobbit hole with a vegetable garden and cottage style flower garden.  She seemed a little boring though, and i wasn't sure what she needed to bring out her personality.  i made her a felt bag with a tree applique', but didn't like it at all.  She needed patchwork!

So i made her a little patchwork bag, and shoes and suddenly i knew she needed a hat as well!!

Although she is mostly a quiet homebody, she has a 'Tookish side' and can not pass up a good adventure.  :)  So she is my world traveler, that loves to explore new places but is always happy to come home to her little hobbit hole and her garden. 

 i've been checking the decorative boxes at the craft store, i would LOVE to find a suitcase style box or steamer trunk to package her in.  So far, i've been able to find one that is the right size, but i'm constantly looking.

i still have a few details to finish up on her, but she will be available for purchase soon.

Muriel- the Artist (NFS)

i wanted to share a few pictures of Muriel before i sent her off to her new home.   i posted photos of her before, but she got some new shoes, pigtails (requested by the customer) and some fabulous new jewelry.   The rainbow necklace matched an amber teething necklace worn by the little girl that would be receiving her. i also made her a mandala necklace, just because that's what i do. :) 

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Muriel is wearing rainbow tie dyed dress, with blue and purple batik bloomers. She has rainbow accents in her hair and dragonflies on her bag and shoes.

i really enjoy taking pictures of each doll before i mail them out. At the end of the year, i would like to make a photo book of all the dolls i made and sold that year.  

Muriel holding some forget-me-nots from my garden. 

Hopefully one day i'll figure out this camera and take pictures without that horrible glare. Muriel has peachy skin with blushed cheeks. She is the third to be finished and sold this year.  Madeline is still available, although i haven't really done anything to promote her.  As strange as it may sound, i'm not in a hurry to sell these dolls. i love them and get quite attached and am happy to have them hanging around my craft room for a while.  i feel like everything will happen in it's own time.

i'm currently working on 7 others dolls. A little at a time. Finishing up the basics and then waiting for their personalities to come out. Some take a little longer than others and require several hairstyles and outfits before they are ready to move on.

With garden season i'm spending a bit less time sewing, but i look forward to my rainy days, so that i can put all of my energy into these dolls. i hope to have more dolls for sale and updates soon!

Doll making Journey- April

At the beginning of the year i decided to finally put my focus into my dolls and commit to making and selling them. It's really been a process and a long time coming. i dealt with some insecurity issues, and problems with the pattern but have finally created a pattern that i am really happy with and am creating doll that i'm confident selling. 

River was the first to sell.  The mama that purchased her wanted to sweater and extra outfit, plus owl hat and bag. i was so pleased with it all. She just came out amazing, it was very hard to let her go. i truly become quite attached to these dolls. i know she was heading to a wonderful home and i'm sure the family that received her loves her as much as i do. 

"She arrived!!!! Oh my god, she's even more beautiful and amazing than the beautiful photos. Tree, you are not charging enough. I don't know how you do it. All the details on the doll herself and then the flowers on the shoes, the beaded necklace!!!! Melody is so happy and she loves her soo much. Oh, the underwear!!"

This is why i love to make dolls.

So, what did i do with the money i earned from my first doll sale? Bought more materials of course!! i order from Weirdolls.com which is out of Ann Arbor Michigan, my old stomping ground. :)  i grew up in a town just south of Ann Arbor. 

i'm a disappointed that they are discontinuing their organic interlock knit. i still have some of the peach/blush and i purchased a few yards of the tan, but they are selling out quick and won't be restocking it. i'm not sure where else to purchase the organic, but i'm going to keep looking. i wanted some other skin tones, so i also bought some of the mocha and cocoa fabric.  i love the mohair boucle yarn and picked up several different colors of that as well.  Doll making supplies are very exciting! i can't wait to make some beautiful dolls!

i currently have lots of doll parts, dresses, sweaters and shoes made up and ready to go.  i can sew these parts pretty quickly, but the actually construction of the dolls takes a good amount of time, and then the finishing takes even longer.  i'd like to eventually get some custom cloth tags made for these with my business logo on them. Sometimes the finished dolls sit around for a week or two before i have a vision of who they are and then am able to pick the outfit and accessories that bring out their personality. i have several that have been sitting here for over a month, just waiting patiently for the perfect sweater or bag. i love the process of figuring them out, and really am not in a hurry to finish them. It will happen, everything in it's own time.

i recently finished and sold my second doll.  i had named her Juniper, but the mama that purchased her requested a name change to Luna.   So this is Luna, although i still think of her as Juniper. :) 

 i made several sweaters before deciding on this one. i was afraid the purple was too much with her purple hair. The wooden tree branch button helps to bring some of the brown into it, and the headband is made from the same fabric of her dress and breaks up all the purple from her hair.

Of course now i'm totally in love with her. She is a little bit spunky, care-free and fun-loving. She loves to gather fresh herbs and wildflowers.

She is made with the organic cotton knit, stuffed with clean carded wool and her hair is a wool/mohair blend. She's wearing a batik dress with matching headband and purple tie dyed bloomers. Her bag and shoes are eco-fi felt.

i would really like to eventually start using the wool felt for the shoes and bags. i bought some felt sheets a few years ago and they were too thick to use.  Perhaps the next time i put in a supply order i'll get a few sheets from Weirdolls to see if it works better than the stuff i had before.

This is the latest girl i'm working on. She is quite hobbity looking. i named her Molly, because something about her she reminds me of  Molly Weasley.  i gave her a skirt instead of bloomers, but think i may change it to a patchwork skirt instead of the solid green. She is very earthy, and will have a bag with trees or leaves on it. Still working through the process, but eager to see her personality emerge. 

With spring here, i'm having a bit of trouble staying focused on the dolls. So much garden work to do, butterflies to chase and birds to watch. :)  i cherish the rainy days though, and do as much sewing as i can on those days. i'm still feeling very good about the direction i'm heading with these, and am excited to keep creating! By adding a beaded necklace and crocheted sweater to each doll, i'm able to continue sewing, beading and crocheting and don't feel completely limited to one craft. i really feel in my heart like this is what i was meant to be doing. 

Doll progress.

i'm really happy with my doll progress and hope to have a few available for sale soon. i admit, i really like to take my time and 'get to know' each doll before finding them forever homes. i tend to change the outfits/hairstyles several times before i'm completely happy with them. 

This is the batch i started back in February. The dolls themselves are done, except a couple still need hair sewn on, but most are just waiting on the details. Finding the perfect outfit, shoes and accessories...all the things that give them personality. i'm in no hurry to finish them though. They are a labor of love, and at this point the only benefit to selling them is that i'll have money to buy more supplies so i can make more. :)

i do have a few i'd like to introduce you to though.

This is River, she is a free spirit with unruly hair and a love of the out doors.

She's wearing gorgeous batik cotton fabrics, is wearing a hand beaded mandala pendant and has a felt bag and shoes.

This is Muriel.  She has a big imagination and loves to pretend play, dance and do anything creative.     Her batik dress is in bright rainbow colors, and she has rainbow streaks in her hair as well.  

This is Madeline, although she prefers to go by Maddie. She is a bit shy at first, but warms up once she gets to know you. She loves spending time in the garden or curled up with a good book. Her dragonfly dress has a corduroy heart appliqued on it, and she's wearing matching corduroy pants and felt garden boots.  She is carrying a handmade rope basket filled with needle felted carrots.

So as you a can see, a lot goes into these. Much more than just sewing together fabric. Each doll has a personality waiting to come out. Some are quite obvious, but others take a bit more time.

i know i've mentioned before that i am enjoying the 'process' of doll making, and i truly am. i look forward to finishing up the others and seeing their personalities come together. i hope soon i'll be seeing pictures of these dolls in their forever homes with the smiling children that have adopted them.  

Back to Dolls Again.

Making dolls is one of those things i seem to always come back to. i started making rag dolls several years before i had children. Then was my daughter was born i fell in love with Waldorf style dolls, but they weren't affordable and so i decided to learn to make them.

i made her a new doll every year for her birthday. In this photo all of the dolls are made by me except the one on the far right. The first two on the left i made for her before she was even born.  The second one from the right is the first waldorf style doll i ever made. 

This one was made in 2012 for her 6th birthday, but was lost a year later in our house fire along with all of her other dolls.

These are the dolls i made for her 2013, 2014 and 2015.  As ,much as i loved the Waldorf look i really struggled with them.  i had thought about making them to sell, but just never felt that confident with the pattern and really struggled with them.

This year i decided to try again, but instead of following the Waldorf patterns i had been using before i went back to my old rag doll pattern.  i used what i had learned from the Waldorf technique of sculpting heads and combined it with a pattern i was more comfortable with.   Just like that- it all seemed to come together.  The areas i struggled with before are no longer a problem and i'm very happy with how the dolls are turning out.

The last few weeks i've been working on them non-stop. i have 7 almost completed and 3 more started. i'm really enjoying the process of seeing them come together. i'm still just trying to find and perfect shoe and sweater patterns, details like bags and hats etc.  The dolls typically go through several outfit changes before i figured out their personality. Then i begin to add the extras.

These girls are waiting on shoes and bags. The doll on the left will probably have another outfit change, as i'm not really loving the pastels on her.  

This one was my least favorite of the bunch until i figured out her personality, and then she just came together perfectly. 

Every year i start off making dolls, then abandon them once gardening season starts. This year i'm really trying to stick with it.  i feel like this is the year, this is what i am meant to be doing right now. i truly do love the process of seeing them come together, now i just need to work on the finishing process and actually listing them for sale. :) Everything in it's own time.

#Creativeeveryday Weekly Roundup #4

i haven't been doing a very good job of documenting my daily creativity. i've been working on a lot different projects that are time consuming and despite putting in a couple hours a day, there isn't always a lot daily of progress to show.

One of my biggest struggle right now is having visions for the pieces, and not having the right materials to finish them. So i end up putting things aside until i can get the items needed to finish the pieces.  This morning i ordered Amethyst rounds, so i'll be able to finish this necklace once they come in.

i had been waiting for these fresh water pearls to arrive so i could embellish this pendant. This necklace is going to be gorgeous, but i still have a lot of beading to do on the actual necklace portion. The beading technique that i use takes about an hour an inch, and i still have another 12 inches or so to go before it is finished. 

i lost all of my hand drawn beaded patterns in the fire, and the lost most of my archived work images that were stored on the computer.  i was recently able to retrieve some large images of my past work from a myspace business page that i had completely forgotten about.  From those images i was able to recreate my mermaid pattern. It was a long process of coloring dots on a grid paper, but i was able to do it and actually improve my original pattern. 

i had so much fun working on the mermaid, that i decided to make more.  These little mermaids are only about 1 1/2" long, but they take 2-3 hours to complete.

i've slowly started making them into necklaces, but i'm already finding myself lacking the correct color pearls, glass beads, clasps etc.  i need to put in another bead order, but i need to sell something before i can do that..ah..it's a catch 22. ;)  Trying to support my bead habit is truly a problem. tee hee.

This my newest doll. She isn't quite finished yet, or maybe i just don't want to sell her. i'm not sure, but i do seem to hold on to these dolls a while and make very little effort to actually put them for sale. i keep having to remind myself that i can more. She just really turned out lovely, don't you think?

This is my batch of dolls that i need to finish up. i'm hoping to post them for sale this week..probably Friday. We'll see though. ;)   So that's what i've been up to the last couple weeks.  

i'm already starting to feel overwhelmed by all the things i have to finish and new projects to start. i spent the weekend trying to organize my craft supplies, after finding a bakers rack to use as a craft station. i'm behind on posts again, but will have a new giveaway posted soon and a tutorial for making Elsa's door (Frozen).  

i have the kids home again today, because of the weather. So we'll see how much actually gets accomplished. We have plans to make rainbow cake or cupcakes for St. Patty's day. 

Any of my readers participating in #creativeeveryday?  What have you have you been working on?

Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.

-Greg Anderson

#Creativeeveryday Weekly Round up 3

i have been doing a lot of creative work the last couple of weeks, although i don't feel like i have a whole lot to show for it.  Kids were home from school because of snow days and sick days, so i haven't had a regular work week in quite a while. 

i've started beading again which i love, but honestly each project i get into takes so long that i'm beginning to wonder if it's worth it. i really should be putting this energy into other things. That said, here is what i've been working on.

i finished the Agate wrap, with peyote tubes and beaded braids. The picture isn't the best, but it turned out really nice. 

i originally beaded a piece of Amethyst for this necklace, then decided i'd rather use Abalone shell. The project sat in limbo for a while until i was able to find what i was looking for. It's been so long since i've bought beads that i can't even remember where i use to find them now. i purchased this shell pendant from Michael's. The necklace still isn't finished, i have about 2" of tubing that still needs beaded, and then i'll finish it in beaded braiding. i'd like to find fresh water pearls to embellish it, but i'm having a hard time finding those too. 

i like the first Abalone wrap necklace so much i decided to make another This time in green. i really like this style of necklace. The beading is in herringbone stitch, but i like to do it over plastic tubing so it keeps it's shape. It ends up very similar to a peyote tube, but takes about half the time. i found some pearls online to embellish this one, just waiting for them to arrive.

i use up the left over red boucle to finish up this little dolly. She's a mini only around 7-8 " tall.   i'd like to make her more clothes, maybe a sweater and some pants. i have 3 other dolls this size that i need to finish. 

i love the way this girl turned out. She is mostly done, i still have to finish her feet and i'm working on a different sweater as the one she is wearing is just a hair too tight. i'm pretty sure the reason i have a hard time finishing these dolls i because i'm not ready to let them go. There is a lot of time, energy and love put into each one and so it's not always easy for me to just shove them in a box and send them on there way. i'll get them for sale eventually, but i'm not in an rush.

My daughter asked me to paint her door to look like Elsa's in Frozen.  i really didn't want to paint it, since she'll probably be over the movie in another week or two and thought i could easily recreate it out of construction paper.

It ended up being way more work than i intended.   i ran out of the dark blue paper, so i can't finish it until i pick up some more.  It isn't proportional, Elsa's went from the top of her door to the bottom, but i think it still turned out pretty well. My daughter loves it, and that's all that really matters.

 After all the work i put into it (hand drawing the designs) i was thinking about posting a tutorial with the design images that you can download and print on your construction paper, and then all you'd have to do it cut out the pieces and assemble them.  Any interest in that or am i the only one crazy enough to do this?

This week started with a sick kid home on Monday, and now i've caught his cold and plan to spend most of the day in bed too. Thankfully i can still work on my jewelry, and dolls from the comfort of my bed.


An artist never really finishes his work; he merely abandons it.  ~Paul Valéry

#creativeeveryday Weekly Round Up 2

Lots of progress this week, but i have a terrible habit of constantly starting new projects before finishing the ones i'm working on.

i did get the kids Valentine owls finished up. i think they turned out pretty good. :)

i started more dolls.  Since i'm having so much trouble completing just one, i thought i'd practice making heads. i'm quite happy with the consistency of them.  The shape, size and faces are very similar.  They don't quite have the look i was trying for, but i'm getting closer and i'm learning what i need to do to get a nice consistent look. So that's good progress!

i've almost finished up this girl.  She needs pants under her dress, and maybe a hat or bag.  i admit, i get rather attached to my dolls and sometimes i think i slack on finishing them just to keep them around a little longer. :)  i am quite in love with this girl at the moment. :)

So instead of working on dolls, i decided to pull out the beads again.  Played around with peyote stitch and herringbone/dembele.  i always forget how much i love beading. There is a gentle meditative rhythm to this type of bead weaving. It's done with needle and thread, sewing one one bead at a time. It is the same rhythm that is in hand stitching fabrics and the reason i often choose it over machine sewing. It's more time consuming of course, but forces one slow down and really connect with the piece they are working on.  Your breathing slows, you mind quiets and you get into a zone. This was impossible when the kids were younger with the constant interruptions, but now that they are older and in school i'm making the time to sit down with my beads and find that place again. After spending an entire year feeling lost, this feels like coming home.

Doesn't matter how hard i try to get away from the bendy dolls. i always come back to them. :)  This is the last of my valentine fairies.  Hoping to put this energy into other things now. With spring quickly approaching, i worry that garden season is going to suck up all my time.  i have always dreaded the winter, but this year i have truly embraced it, and am quite content to have another 6 weeks of it. 

There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you.... In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself. ~Ruth Stout

Finding Inspiration.

i've been on a bit of a crafting break ever since we moved back to the property. Part of this is because it's garden season and that tends to occupy my time. This year we've had a ton of rain, and that gave me a lot of opportunity to be creative and yet i wasn't.  Truth is, i just wasn't feeling it. i've been struggling with depression, and the space inside the RV is not great for crafting inspiration...especially with two kids in it as well.

i was really hoping that once the kids started back to school i would start feeling inspired again. i started making a few dolls and got a request for a family set. i do not typically take custom orders, but every once in a while i will.  The request was for a family set.

i love the way it turned out. The dolls were all remakes of previous dolls i have made in the past.  It was the motivation i needed to make a few other family sets.

Acorn family. This set is available for $26 shipped first class (US).

Toad Stool Gnome family set.   This set is available for $26 shipped first class (US).

As much as i love making bendy dolls, i have been wanting to get away from it and find something else that i enjoy.  Something that actually pays for the time i put into making them.

Last year i really started to get into making Waldorf dolls and then lost all of them in the fire before i ever got around to putting any of them for sale. i lost over a dozen dolls, and a ton of materials that had just been purchased and hadn't even been opened.  i think i had 10lbs of wool, and around 10 yards of organic cotton fabric and a huge box of hand sprung wool yarn hair. So although i wanted to start making them again, i've been a little apprehensive.  The materials are so expensive, and i really didn't want to have to re-buy all of those materials again.A sweet friend donated some materials so that i could make Sage a doll  for her 7th birthday, and was really pleased with how it turned out. So i decided to give doll making another try. i picked up just a yard of fabric and a lbs of wool to get started.

i thought with the kids in school i would be able to sew without distraction.  i had no idea how much trouble a kitten would be. :)  Thank goodness he naps often.

i was pleasantly surprised at how quickly i remember the process.  i really do enjoy doll making, especially the hand sewing and face embroidery which really connects you with the doll. 

This was my first one using materials i just had on hand.  She is only 8" tall. i wanted to make a handful of mini-dolls to make my one yard of fabric last a bit longer, rather than just making one full size doll.  i'm still working out my pattern on these, but i do hope to offer them for sale soon.

So this has been my week. Trying to get back into it.  My only real struggle has been making the dolls a consistent size. i don't have a drawn out pattern and just sort of wing it, and so although the dolls are around 8" tall, it is not exact. i'm also having a hard time finding hair yarns that i like. i don't want to buy anything in bulk, and the art yarns are so expensive. i've been browsing the internet looking for some wool boucle that is reasonably priced.  It took me a long time to collect all the fabulous hair yarns i had before, so it's a bit depressing having to start over again. i have a feeling i'm going to have a bunch of bald for quite a while.

i'm really looking forward to getting back into doll making. i've decided i don't really care for this little size. i actually prefer the 16"-18" dolls. i really enjoy making all the extra accessories and really personalizing them. Once i get settled in our new house and begin to set up a craft space i plan to buy the materials so that i can start making the larger dolls.

i do have quite a few of the bendy dolls available for purchase, if your interested you can visit my fb page (it's the only place i sell at these days).  Once i have all these dolls finished, i will be posting them for sale as well.   i'll be sure and post more photos of them as i beining to finish and personalize each one.  i have so many other projects i want to do, but am really limited in this RV.  So for now i am just working on making a bit of money to go back into my supplies. i really look forward to having a full stocked craft space again one day.