Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Ten: Dolls and Their Clothes

These are in the running for my favorites of the whole lot of handmade gifts. 

Meet: Rosie and Penelope.

(Named by Trisha)

I had an old doll pattern that I developed over several revisions. I thought it was right, that it fit my vision.

Then, after two late nights working on some dolls for the girls and having them fail me, leaving me exhausted and frustrated, ready to give up doll-making forever, I scrapped it all and started over. These were the result.

I was thrilled. Now this, fits my vision. Definitely more Black Apple-inspired, but still completely my design. I am in love with these two girls.

And they're pretty fond of each other as well. They're best friends. Inseparable.

Penelope's my favorite. Like, of all time. But don't tell the others.

I'm pretty fond of her, too.

(Full-length view)

All right, this one...she fairly disgusts me. She's from the old pattern. 

Now that I've developed my new girls, I can barely look at this one and her freakish giraffe-like neck.

Bella wanted one that was 'her'. Hence, the short brown hair, blue eyes, and tiny sprinkling of freckles across the nose region. (I don't put noses on my dolls, much to Bella's chagrin.)

She is wearing a nightgown made from one of Bella's old swaddling blankets she had as an infant. I love the thought that she was wrapped in this blanket, barely bigger than the doll itself, and now she wraps her 'baby' in it. This doll's redeeming quality is that Bella loves her and is proud of her. When people ask her what she got for Christmas, she can often be heard to lead with "Well, I got 3 of mom's dolls that she makes, and this one is me. I used to be wrapped in this when I was a little baby." So we'll keep her.

Though not handmade by me, I found this bed at an antique mall and fell in love with it. I paid an inordinate amount for it because of that love, and the perfect fit for my dolls.

Besides the nightgown the Bella doll is wearing, I made one more nightgown, 2 dresses (1 with puff-sleeves and 1 with a flutter sleeve), 2 shirts with a flutter sleeve, and 1 with a puff sleeve. Pattern for the doll clothes from Bit of Whimsy Prims. I love her dolls so much. Luckily the clothes fit my dolls too.

And here are the girls modeling the two flutter sleeve tops.

I see a lot, a LOT more dolls from this pattern coming. I love them!

Thanks for following my Handmade Holidays series this year! I loved doing it, and I've loved hearing your feedback, so keep it coming! If you link to me, let me know- I'd love to visit!

Now on the rest of the year's crafting...
Here are the links to the whole series:
Handmade Holiday 2010 Part One: Gifts for Men (and Boys)
Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Two: Sentimental Repurposed
Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Three: Funky Decor
Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Four: Gifts For Kids (That aren't my own)
Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Five:  A Late Wedding Gift
Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Six: Classmates
Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Seven: Stuff You Put On Your Head
and here, too
Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Eight: Luggage Tags
Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Nine: Gifts For Families
Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Ten: Dolls and Their Clothes

Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Nine: Gifts For Families

Gifts for families are hard. For me, anyway. You have to find something that you think each member of the family would enjoy or use, and would be meaningful to them in some way. And won't cost you $100.

You may remember this project from last year.

You may have also seen it on Miranda's blog when I did a guest post.

Last year I made it for Miss Molly's family, and I liked it so much I did it for Hannah's family, and Timm's brother David's family.

So hopefully you're not sick of it, cause I'm not. It was still so fun to make.

I give you: Tin Advent Calender!

 

 

If you hop on over to my guest post on Miranda's blog you will see where I buy my tins and specialty magnets. This would be a great idea for any kind of countdown. You could make them generically decorated and use them in February for love notes each day, a birthday or birthday month with treats and listed reasons you love the birthday girl/boy, Gratitude lists in November...Use your imagination and get crafting!

As Promised

The child-size ear warmers have been found! My mom brought them to me yesterday while she is here for a couple of days. Notice the intentional wavy stitching on Bella's that I loved.

These are addictive! 

And so cozy, Bella is still wearing hers around the house.

Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Eight: Luggage Tags

Like I said, I didn't reinvent the wheel much this Christmas, which helped promote my productivity. Using this tutorial, I made these luggage tags for Linda and Nana. Simple, useful, and scrap-busting. I especially loved the trick of printing directly onto the fabric using freezer paper! These are one of those gifts that had me numbering all the people I wanted to make them for.

I thought they also made a cute tag for a gift!

Isn't the internet a wonderful place, with so many people willing to create and then share their process? Or just post their copies, like me.

Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Seven: Stuff You Put On Your Head

Again, with the hats made from recycled wool sweaters, ala Soule Mama'a pattern. This little one's for baby Greta, adorned with 3 felt buttons.

Blogger refuses to rotate this blurry photo, but it's another recycled sweater hat I made for Diana, with felt flower clusters.

Using this tutorial, I made a few of these this year:

Fleece ear warmer headbands! These were really fun to make.  This one was for Sophie, commissioned by Linda.

Here I am modeling the pleated one I gave to Trisha. Never mind the fact that I do not actually have them covering my ears. They are very cozy.

I put off posting this collection because I made tiny ones for Bella and Fiona that make my heart hurt, but I left them in Philadelphia and they may or may not have been accidentally thrown away. I was hoping to recover them in time to post this, but I'll just post them later if I am able to find them. They would make such cuter models! With Bella's orange one I experimented with some wavy stitching that I loved. I still want to raid my closet to find some t-shirts I can repurpose and maybe make myself a thermal one!

Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Six: Classmates

I really wanted to make something for all 23 of Bella's classmates, so I needed something that was fairly quick and pretty cheap. When I saw this tutorial, I was instantly sold. I think these are adorable, they were very easy to do, and I only spent about $10 total. That equals about 43 cents per child. Not too shabby for something unique, homemade, cute, and consumable. That last part is my gift to the parents.

You really should read her tutorial because it is a great craft for your kids to be involved in- Plus, sadly hers turned out way cuter than mine. For the future-because I plan on doing these again next year with a new and unsuspecting class- I will use less blue dye so they are clearer. Also more white soap shavings. And use a more dome-shaped ice cube tray and less square.

I found these tiny reindeer, apropos, in the doll miniature section at Hobby Lobby for $1/dozen. We also used some tiny 3-d snowflakes, but the reindeer were way cuter.

(Again, my main complaint is that I used too much dye so the figures aren't as recognizable as I would like. Still, put them in a cellophane bag with some baker's twine courtesy of Michelle, add a cute tag, and voila!

I'm totally making these again and wholeheartedly recommend this for kids!

**Edited to add: the soap was way more translucent once it was wet. It makes me think that maybe I had the color and opacity right after all.**

Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Five: A Late Wedding Gift

 This started out as an idea I had for part of a triptych (except in embroidery instead of painting) for Charlotte's wedding. (Yeah, sorry Charlotte- Not only did you get ripped off and get your wedding present for Christmas, but it's only 1 of what was originally planned to be 3. ) I'm not disclosing the details of what the other 2 were to be in case I actually get my game together someday and send them to her. Just know that if you mysteriously receive some embroidery at some time in my life, it may be meant as a complement to this one, Charlotte.

 Doesn't it look nice amidst my decor? It almost made me wish that were my anniversary so I could keep it there. Then I thought it might be okay if I just make myself one with my own anniversary. Maybe someday when I don't have emails of requests for commissioned items and backlogs of things to make for various birthdays and occasions.

Incidentally, I forgot to photograph the finishing of it, but I glued the fabric in the frame, and then glued grosgrain ribbon all along the interior of the frame, giving it a nice finished edge. Then for fun, I used an idea Michelle had and did the same along the outer edge of the frame, finishing it in the same blue grosgrain. Cause a little extra grosgrain never hurts.

Merry Christmas/Belated Congratulations!

Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Four: Gifts For Kids (that aren't my own)

These are just a few little things I put together for our friend's gifts and Eva. Documentation of my girl's gifts is still to come.

Hair clips- super easy, and feels a little bit like a non-gift. But I had all the materials on hand- metal alligator clips from Hobby Lobby, velvet ribbon, and coordinating buttons in the same hues as the ribbon.

Lunch money cuff for Sebastian, idea from here. I loved these and wanted to make one for Miles and Lucas, but after talking to Michelle I was afraid they might be too juvenile. Bella was in love and requested one promptly (which she commonly does with everything I make). I thought they would also be good for joggers and moms on the go who only need a key and a bit of cash.

Also for elementary school-aged boys who think it's rad to carry their own cash.

 Memory, I made for Truman. I made a few of these last year and I still love them.

And for Eva, of course, another dinosaur. I actually used a pattern instead of making up my own like I always do! (Pattern from One-Yard Wonders.)

I was moderately pleased with the results, but it came with a fair amount of disclaimers, as usual.

Handmade Holiday 2010 Part Three: Funky Decor

 I didn't try and reinvent the wheel much this Christmas, and I think I owe much of my productivity to that. I made everything in about 7 weeks- from start to finish, neighbors to classmates to friends to everyone in our family. I have an ever-running list of links to things I want to make in various folders, and come time to choose my gifts I start selecting and editing. This is the inspiration for these yarn and felt wreaths, although her shop is empty now, so check back after the New Year- her designs are awesome!

 I made this 12" monochromatic one for Miss Molly, and it was the sneak peek macro shot I posted a couple of weeks ago. (I didn't have good light so I had to prop them up on my sideboard, hence the oddly-placed glass knobs in the photos.)

 This 12" one for Shell, I think is my favorite-designed to coordinate with her chartreuse front door.

 I made this 10" one for Emily. The colors spoke to me- specifically they said "We would be perfect for Emily and her college apartment.".

I was inspired to make miniature versions for the girls' doors, so I found these 6" ones online.

 Bella's. I snazzied these ones up with little pompoms as well.

(Shown for scale.)

 Fiona's.

And a different kind of wreath- a button wreath, inspired by the ones I did last year. My mom wanted a replica on the one I made for Linda last year. (They are very low-tech as you can see from the corrugated cardboard the buttons are glued onto.)

Usually I would hang the wreath with a nice velvet ribbon, and preferably a pearl buckle, but alas, my studio was out of those supplies. I felt confident my mom, the recipient, could procure her own velvet ribbon.

These felt and yarn wreaths were my very favorite thing to create this year, despite the fact that Timm hated them and thought they resembled life preservers. I wanted to make so many, but I was afraid they were a little too 'crafty' for some. (i.e. my mom and Linda.) They are a bit funky to be sure, but I adore them. This was the kind of gift that you are so thrilled to have made, so proud of your accomplishment, but also unsure if it will be appreciated! That's always a risk you run when you create something, but especially when you make something so stylized. No matter what you make, you are always putting yourself out there, not to mention the potential pressure you put on the recipient. This year I may or may not have emailed Michelle to tell her how much I loved the gift I made for her, that it was perhaps my favorite gift I made so far, and that there was no pressure for her to love it as much as I did.