I told you all about
her before, but my incredibly talented friend has opened her own etsy shop called
Ten Fingers Workshop! She paints these perfectly hip wooden dolls. The details are amazing–can you see all the belt loops on that little dude’s jeans?! You can buy the one of a kind dolls in her shop, or you can contact her for custom dolls. For christmas I commissioned her to paint my family and my in laws (so everyone had a matching wooden doll on christmas morning) and they were a hit! My daughter calls them her “family guys” and plays with them everyday. The two pictured above are Miles and Cora and they are my favorites, but there are plenty more and beautiful handmade mobiles as well. So click over and imagine yourself in wooden doll form…
Posted in inspiration. 7 Comments »
sorry for the absence, I am slowing crawling out of a flu hole–one that sucked me in for almost a week. Thank goodness for extremely supportive and hardworking husbands!
Needless to say, nothing got done this past week. But in honor of
whipup’s children’s crafts month, which I am very excited about, I scrounged up some things I made for my daughter a while back. It surprises me how excited she is to have accessories for her dolls (as I cannot accessories myself out of a paper bag). The top two photos are pictures of the swing smock from Amy Karol’s book, “Bend the Rules Sewing.” I just traced the pattern in the book–no enlarging necessary–and followed her directions. I used velcro as a fastener instead of ties, but other than that it is the same as the bigger version. The bottom left is a little mattress and pillow for her dolly’s cradle. I should have used extra batting on the inside so it was more tufted, but oh well. And the last is a wonky dolly diaper. Super easy and as this one has already been lost, I think it’s time for me to make another. She didn’t help with any of these, but a child could certainly pick out the fabric and older kids could even help sew.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be making accessories for a plastic dolly, but here I am.
Posted in sewing. 8 Comments »
if you’d like to join the swap my email is
elsiemarleyblog AT gmail DOT com
there was a typo in the swap post and I want to make sure I get everyone’s email!
Posted in swaps. 5 Comments »
Most of the christmas decorations are making their way back to storage and the house is looking pretty empty. Every year after all the lights are packed up and the sad little christmas tree put on the curb I wonder why I don’t have something beautiful to put in their place. We go to all this effort to make our houses glow at christmas time and then January comes around and suddenly they are so bare. There have been some really beautiful mobiles on the internets lately and I think one would look nice hanging above my mantle. So I thought I’d try to organize a little swap: a mobile swap.
If you would like to make and receive a mobile for your home email me at elsiemarleyblog AT gmail DOT com with the following information:
1. name
2. email address
3. website (if you have one)
4. mailing address
5. favorite colors
6. whether the mobile is for a baby’s room or not
That’s it! The mobile can be out of any kind of material using any design you can think up. Sign up by Friday January 18th and I’ll send you your partner’s information the following Monday. I’ll try to arrange it so you send to one person, but receive a package from another–just to mix it up. Packages should be sent out by Wednesday February 20th at the latest. I started a flickr group where you can post pictures of your mobiles before you send them off. And please feel free to copy and paste the mobile swap button onto your blog. So pack up the rest of that holiday paraphernalia and get making.
Posted in swaps. 34 Comments »
I asked my good friend to make these wooden dolls for my daughter this christmas. After seeing the amazing ones she made for her son, I commissioned (!) her to make some that looked like my family. I thought it would be a nice surprise on christmas morning not only for my daughter, but for everyone to see themselves in little wooden doll form. And they were the best present under the tree. From left to right: my husband, me, my daughter, my son, an uncle, grandma, pop pop, and an aunt. Another uncle was left at grandma’s house, but I couldn’t wait for him to get here to show these little works of art. I was going to spend the rest of this post badgering my friend into open her own esty shop, but this morning she told me she is planning on it. You too might have the chance to have some of your very own! So instead I’ll show you the other fantastic present she made for my daughter.
A little felt book that my daughter calls her special book (or my special for short). I had a similar idea after we played with the felt board at the library and had to have a discussion about how we couldn’t take it home. My idea wasn’t as elaborate as this though. There are pockets for all the accessories and the toilet lid even flips open! It’s given me lots of ideas and I’m lucky to have such a generous and talented friend who not only makes beautiful things, but will let me steal her idea and run with it. But best of all is that it kept my daughter busy (and quiet) for most of the christmas traveling.
Posted in craft. 26 Comments »
