Bendy doll sale.

i'm marking down my bendy dolls a bit, in hopes of earning a bit of money to purchase more doll making supplies.
i'm finding that making the dolls themselves is not difficult for me at all, however finishing them is proving to be quite a challenge. Although i have skeins of lovely wool yarn...none of them are 'perfect' for the dolls i have made. i feel like to really get the look that i want i need to have 3-4 skeins per doll in different textures and shades. So the hair isn't plain and flat looking. i want it to have streaks, textures and colors...similar to the two i made with the acrylic. So, right now, i'm working to build up my yarn stash. i've been drooling over all the fabulous yarns on Etsy, but can't quite afford to be spending that much just on hair. Sigh....

So here is a couple new bendy doll that i made a week or so ago. Normally i have these priced at $12 each, first class shipping included (US only). For the next week or so, i'm dropping the price to $10 each, first class shipping included (US only).
This is my latest little Earth Gnome Girl.


The picture on this one isn't the best. It's raining and overcast, and i just couldn't get a better picture. Her shirt is dark pink, and her top is light pink. Her legs are light/dark pink stripped, she has pink hair, blue eyes and an acorn cap hat. She's $10.

As another incentive, every order will come with either a baby bendy (like pictured above) or a painted toadstool ( like first picture). You chose. This is per order, not per doll. So if you order 3 dolls, you would only receive one baby or toadstool. If it's a large order i may add in a couple extra goodies. :)

To see what Bendy dolls i have available, you can visit my Facebook For Sale Album and you can also check my website. i believe i still have most of the bendy dolls that are listed there, but i'll go through and make sure it is all updated later today.

All dolls that are priced $12 are on sale for $10. If you your interested in a set or one of the higher priced Bendy dolls just drop me a line and i can make you a deal. Thanks for all of your support!!

Beginning my journey into doll making...

Today i received my doll making materials in the mail. Lots of beautiful clean, carded wool stuffing. Several varieties of Mohair and Boucle yarn for hair.


A variety of 100% cotton Interlock knit in several different skin tones.

Last week i had mentioned to my MIL about possibly having her spin yarn for doll hair. She was really excited at the idea, and immediately sent out this amazing box of handspun wool yarns. Wow! i love the idea of purchasing my yarn from her, and i plan to 'hire' my SIL to knit sweaters for the dolls once i really get into making them. i'm really hoping that this is something i will be doing for a while.


So i posted a picture of this girl almost completed a few days ago. i ended up adding wings and a wand. :) i absolutely love the way she turned out. i hadn't intended to use felt for the wings, but didn't have a cotton fabric in colors that matched. The felt is a dark pink that matches the streaks of pink in her hair, not red like it kind of looks. i decided to leave her with the acrylic hair. i figure i can make some dolls true Waldorf, with all natural matierals and also make a few that are Waldorf style...maybe using reclaimed fabrics, and yarns that may contain some acrylics.


i finally finished up this girl too. Again i decided to keep her hair. She was just way too cute, and i haven't had much luck finding the same color varieties in wool locally. i had a really hard time making the clothing for her, in fact i made three different dresses, before deciding she just really wasn't a dress girl. Her pants are made out of corduroy scraps, and her top is made from felt. The sweater is crocheted from a wool blend, and the buttons came off of a wool sweater i'm planning to re-purpose. So both of these dolls were entirely made from scrap material i just had sitting around.

This week i will begin starting on dolls with my new fabrics and materials. i'm both nervous and excited.

Old Gates Farm Winner Announced!

The winner of the Old Gates Farm $15 GC is.....

mamasteele said... 37

favorite item,,, I'd say the soap :)

mama.steele@yahoo.com

Congratulations!!! i'll send an email later today. You will have 48 hours to claim your prize or a new winner will be chosen!

Thank you all who entered!!!

Wordless Wednesday; Signs of Spring in the Blue Ridge

Daffodil

Hyacinth

overwintered turnips

overwintered spinach

catnip

Rhubarb

Spring is coming!

Click here for more Wordless Wednesday posts.

Autumn Tree Weaving Project

Earlier this week i was sitting at the dentist office waiting to get called back for my apointment, and i happened to pick up and old issue of FamilyFun Magazine that was sitting next to me. We used to get this magazine several years ago and it always has the neatest ideas. i still browse their website often for new craft projects to do with the kids.
Anyhow, i can across the coolest idea for a simple Fall tree weaving.


i didn't take pictures step by step, but you can get the full directions from the website above if you need them. i walked out back and cut a couple pieces of grape vine. Then wrapped them into basic wreaths. Then i cut 12-15 pieces of yarn. They need to be long enough to tie on the top evenly spaced, and then have quite a bit extra to tie all together at the bottom.


You could really use any kind of materials to weave through. We used wool roving, but you could use fabric, ribbons, yarn or strips of fleece (like in the familyfun photo).
Then you just weave the fabric through, using the over-under method, alternating on each row. You can add new strips of fabric/roving to create your design.


This was such an easy project my daughter (4 1/2)caught on right away. She only needed a bit of help to add the new materials, and tuck in the ends.


Her attention span didn't last the entire project though, and i ended up finishing it for her. After weaving all the fabrics into the top of the tree, you use brown yarn to wrap around the bottom yarns, creating the tree trunk. You can divide and wrap some of the strands to create branches.


Even though i helped, Sage was thrilled with her tree.


My boy also enjoyed this project. i helped him to get it set up, and tied the original strings, but he did the rest without help. It was a quick project for him, taking less than 30 min. to complete.


We used a different yarn for his that was multi-colored and slightly textured. It gave the weaving a really neat look. Once he we done, we fluffed some areas to make it have texture.


His tree really came out wonderfully, i love the colors he used.

i think this would be a fun project to recreate this summer, using natural materials...like long grasses, flower stems and leaves. i bet you could come up with some neat tree weavings by playing around with different materials/textures and colors. Both of my kids enjoyed this enough that we will definitely be looking for more weaving projects in the future.