More handmade gifts...

One of my absolute favorite parts about the holiday season is coming up with handmade toys/gifts for my children. When i first opened my website The Enchanted Tree, over 10 years ago, my main focus on handmade clothing and jewelry. It was something i loved and something i was very passionate about. As i grew and my family grew, my focus began to shift. i have recently found myself to be a toy maker, and it is truly becoming quite a passion.
These are some of the gifts that i made last year.

This year Sage has really gotten into her play kitchen and play foods. Over the last couple years i have made her all kinds of crocheted foods, and decided to try something different. This pizza is made using felt and the crust is stuffed with alpaca fiber. The topping can be taken on and off, and are all hand sew. i scored a perfect sized pizza box from our local pizza parlor, and it made for an amazing presentation and storage!

While browsing ebay, i did a search for fairy tree houses. Just to get an idea of what was out there. i came across a really cute fairy set from Pottery Barn, and knew that i had to have one!

Of course there is no way i could afford that price tag, and could not find them available anywhere else. So i decided to make my own. This is made entirely out of scrap felt that i had on hand. The base is felt with a hidden layer of recycled cardboard, and a bit of wool stuffing . i love working with felt, it is so easy to work with and extremely forgiving. No need to serge or finishes edges, and if your stitching looks sloppy just pull it a bit tighter and the stitches disappear. :)

tiny lady bug embellishments. :)

i have made Sage several bendie folks and fairies, but made this one specifically for this set. i think she turned out especially sweet, and the pink wool hair is just perfect.

For my son, i was not quite sure what to make him. He's getting a bit too old for the type of toys i normally make. Last year i crocheted him a couple pokemon, and a Crusty Crab crocheted food set. This year i had considered trying to crochet Momo from The last Airbender, but after looking at some really cool wooden pirate ships i decided to attempt making him one out of felt.

i very loosely used this pattern from Mother Earth News. The entire ship is made from a double layer of felt. The wooden plank details, were sewn on the machine, but everything else was stitched by hand using the blanket stitch. It has a layer of stuffing in the bottom that helps it to keep it shape. The anchor is on an adjustable 'chain, and can be lowered or drawn up.

i made him a bendie pirate to go with it, only realizing afterwards how much it looks like Caillou. :) Sequoia requested that i add a beard or something to make him look a bit more pirate-ish.

Both gifts were well received. Sequoia quickly pulled out all of his lego pirates, and accessories and filled the ship. i have actually been a bit surprised by how often he gets it out and plays with it. Sage too, pulled out her other bendie fairies and fairy houses and set up a village with them.

Like every year, our gifts consisted of a bit of new, a bit of handmade, a bit of (used)recycled. The kids love it all, but it's an amazing feeling to see them cast aside the loud battery operated plastic junk toys, and reach for these handmade toys that i created for them. These are the treasured toys, and i'm certain they can feel the love that was put into them.

Felt picnic playfood set.

So i have figured out, that i am not much of a blogger. That lack of blogging however, does not signify a lack of doing. Infact, i've been incredibly busy lately with way too many projects going on all at once. i have a difficult time finishing half the stuff that i have started, and then jump into new projects as soon as the desire hits me.

i have been crocheting up a storm, hats and dish clothes and lots of play food. i have also begun to play with felt. i have a huge stash of scrap felt that has been gifted to me over the years. i have never really done much with it. i have been completely enamored with all of the beautiful felt play food that can be found on Etsy, and finally decided to try my hand an making some for Sage. i always handmade many of the kids Yule gifts, and this year is no different.

i have been wanting to make a picnic set for a while now, and just finally got around to making it. The basket is about 5 1/2 x 7 inches, perfect size for a preschooler.

Our picnic consists of a stackable sandwich, carrots, banana, chocolate milk, chips, chocolate chip cookies and a cherry pie and picnic cloth. The cookies were crocheted, everything else is made from felt.

i used all scrap materials that i had at home, and purchased nothing for this set, except the basket. So, some of my colors are a bit off. :)

If you do a search online you can find all kinds of free tutorials on making different felt foods, and etsy has some amazing felt food patterns for sale. i used several different sites/pictures as inspiration for my set, and did the best i could with the colors i had. This sandwich has two slices of whole wheat bread, a slice of cheddar cheese, a slice of swiss cheese, a tomato, and a green leaf lettuce and spinach leaf. Since this is a veggie sandwich, i would still like to add some avocado slices. :)


The cherry pie, is scented with just a hint of black cherry perfume oil. :) i used this tutorial for the pie and this one for the banana. Although, i never really follow them exactly. :)

It was a real trick getting this made without Sage actually seeing it!! This will be a great gift for her, hand made from scrap fabric and lots of love.

Every little girl needs a tutu.

i have really been slacking on doing any kind of crafting lately. With summer here, most time is spent outside playing in the dirt. The gardens become my creative outlet, and all craft projects are put aside until the cooler temperatures of fall bring us back inside.

i recently saw a picture of a little girl wearing a tutu and knew immediately that i had to make one! So i bought some tulle and then search online for a quick tutorial on how to make one.
i came across this one. Which is quick, easy and fabulous!!

It was so easy to make. i cut the fabric in about 5 min. then put the tut together while sitting on the sofa in front of the tv. It took about an hours worth of time, but was well worth it!

We loved it so much that we decided to make another for a friend's little girl, who was most definitely is in need of a tutu!

Beaded mermaids.

i recently pulled out my beads for another attempt at beading. Of course, i still haven't finished the dolls...and i have a whole bin full of half finished crocheted projects that still need finished. :) hee hee. i'm trying though, trying to find the inspiration..trying to get back some of my craft passion... trying to find the time while juggling everything else in my life.

As much as i would love to jump right into making a big gorgeous necklace, i knew i needed to start small. So i dug out a few of my old basic patterns. i have always loved to make these 'pearl divers'. Basic doesn't mean easy, these little ladies caused me a lot of frustration as i tried to counted out beads, and then recounted beads...lol. Still, it was a good way to try to get back into it.



Not a bad start, three girls done. One necklace finished, one almost finished..and one to go.

i couldn't seem to get a non-blurry picture, so this will have to do. She is holding a fresh water pearl and the necklace is created using a combination of seed beads and fresh water pearls in a variety of shapes and sizes.

The first of the three, i think it came out alright. The colors are difficult to see, and i'm going to have to figure out a different way to get photos. The freshwater pearls used are lavender and teal. i hope to have these finished soon, and posted for sale. Eventually... :)

Sewing again..

We have been so busy outside in the garden these past few weeks that i have gotten very little crafting done. i'm slowly finishing up the rag dolls i have started, and also began a new Waldorf doll, as well as a mini needle felted alpaca. :)
So although i keep promising to start creating some new things for my website, i admit i would much rather make stuff for my kids.

Now that the weather has turned warm, i realized Sage was in a need of a few new clothes for the spring. i let her pick out her own fabric at the store, and she picked out this really fun pink panther print!
She loves the pink panther, but doesn't love getting her picture taken. :)


i stitched her up these basic capri's with a matching head band.



i did a 'Melody inspired' applique' on this brown shirt when i thought i was getting a pair of the See Kai Run Melody shoes. (i won a free pair of See Kai Run shoes, but the ones i wanted the 'melody' pair were out of stock! Doh!)

i dug into my fabric stash to find the prints for this super cute set. Patchy skorts and yellow calico top with butterfly applique and another matching headband.

i love seeing little girls in skirts, but Sage is a really active kid and doesn't do skirts well. So instead i made her skorts. They have overlapping panels with shorts underneath. So they are easy run, jump and climb in and she doesn't trip over them.

i love making kid clothes, and will be stitching up more and sharing photos soon!