September Back to School Giveaway!

When, I was a kid, a long, long, long, long....................time ago!  School started after Labor Day, it was the last holiday weekend, people went camping and had their last summer fling.  Now I know a lot of areas that go back early August, I feel lucky my children don't go back until after Labor Day!  I love summer break with them, it would be the time of year I would preserve and live over and over!

Without much further ado, here is sweet Lark, for a Back to School, September giveaway.  Lark was sent graciously to me from Jean of TigerLilys Dolls. 

 Here she is of course first thing we did was run and visit the gardens, before the fall weather takes over

Tigerlily dolls are a wonderful family production, this is one of the things I find truly endearing about them and it shines right through Miss Lark in her personality.

Jean makes the dolls, for her mother to dress, they both have excellent sewing skills!   Grandma TigerLily, used to make wedding dress, this was something my own dear grandmother use to do.  Jean started making the dolls, so her mother could make clothes as health issues have slowed her down from the Wedding industry.

Jeans husband crochets, the little parts like the booties that Lark is wearing, they are very nicely crocheted, very sturdy little boots.

Lark, is dressed in a very cute Navy Blue summer dress, that is accented with fun palm trees, and trimmed in  a soft light green, the dress features, top stitching detail on the hem and the halter tie at the tip and is finished up with a Sun button medallion.

 Having a rest in the Lavender before we move on!

 Lark didn't have the answer but I am a little worried the pumpkin plants are not going to get gourds on them, being we are past September and still just big yellow blooms?

 

Well even if no Pumpkins, the leaves sure got big!  Lark is a petite 9 inches next to that leaf!

Lark is definitely adventuresome she took right off and climbed the swing set.

As well as trying out one of the inner tubes that hasn't gotten put away yet.

We are mostly certainly lark was able to pop by for a visit and we do very truly like her! Ah but a giveaway she is, so let's get on with how Lark could come to live with you!

Lark is very well sewn, she has the cutest little plump tummy and belly button ever.  Her gorgeous hair is from Luxfish.  I believe she would be fine for any age child, do keep in mind if you intend her for a younger child, supervise play time to keep pretty wool from going to down little ones throat and also to keep an eye on her button accent in case it came loose.  Lark will be a great friend and lots of fun to play dress up with.

How to enter, just leave a comment below and make sure you check out Tigerlily's on Facebook!  And keep an eye on their Etsy Shop!

https://www.facebook.com/update_security_info.php?wizard=1#!/pages/TigerLilys/219643704714613

http://www.etsy.com/shop/GrandmasTigerLilys?ref=pr_shop

Don't forget to visit Waldorf Doll and Cloth Doll Shopper on FB too!  
https://www.facebook.com/update_security_info.php?wizard=1#!/pages/Waldorf-Doll-Cloth-Doll-Shopper/205621946135909

I will draw a winner through RNG, Friday shortly after I pick my kiddos up from school.

Please enter only if you would like Lark to become a cherished member of your family.

Final Giveaway for Facebook Fan Page!!!!!

Just to say thank you to all my fans that enjoy my fan page on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/update_security_info.php?wizard=1#!/ for Waldorf inspired dolls and other types of cloth dolls.


I am very happy to share this beautiful doll. I had never gotten one for the few times I have tried in uploads, and then a few months ago, I thought "I think I will get one to share with other Waldorf enthusiast".  So one night luck had it and I turned in my newbie card, to share the joy with a lucky winner of this giveaway.

Immediately after purchasing I contacted, Christina Mattiello the talented creator of Bamboletta Dolls, to let her know I wished to use this doll in a fan appreciation giveaway, and wanted to make sure that would be okay with her.  She was graciously accepting of my desire to share this doll with a lucky winner.  So with much thank you to Christina and her talented team her she is................................!

Here she is!

Isn't she lovely?  Yes I know, you can't see her, I love suspense!


Meet sweet Evangeline, a 15 inch Bambo, from the June 8 upload, she is a very gorgeous girl, with the loveliest hair <3

 

 And a group pic with the other giveaway girls, that have all ready left for their new homes!

How to enter, first I ask that you only enter for this giveaway if you truly would love this doll, please do not enter if you would ever rehome. If you have a friend you would like to enter for on their behalf you may also do that, just let me know who you think she would be perfect for, and if your number is drawn I will ship right to the recipient.  Last do keep in mind even though she is fine for little children, under the age of 3 you should always be watchfully supervising your little one, sometimes my little dear gets a handful of yarn fuzz and gives it a taste, so something to mindful of.

How to enter

1.  Please enter a comment below with your Facebook name (make sure you are a fan on Facebook)

2. Please post a fun doll picture on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/update_security_info.php?wizard=1#!/pages/Waldorf-Doll-Cloth-Doll-Shopper/205621946135909

 If you would like more information on Bamboletta Dolls here is a link to the website 

https://bamboletta.com/

Thank You Fan's Give Away #2!

Here she is, a very cute GooseBeary Mermaid all ready to move in with your little one and have some Summer fun!

This fun Mermaid Girl straight out of the Ocean was handcrafted by Joy of the Goosebeary Shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheGooseBearyShop?ref=seller_info and Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/#!/TheGooseBearyShop 

Joy crafts a wonderfully charming doll inspired by the Waldorf style.  I have to admit to having a few of Joy's dolls!  And having given 3 mini mermaids as gifts this summer!

The first mermaid on the left is my daughters, the middle doll is Joy a 10 inch girl, and the mermaid on the right is the Give Away girl.

What I love about Joy's dolls is the Rustic Country American Charm feeling she puts into them.  They feel like a doll crafted in the Heart of America, which they are!  Joy's dolls are very much made with children in mind and they come ready to jump into adventure with your child.  I also have come to feel that she makes a perfect mermaid in this size, they are like Mermaid children, toddler sized, not full grown mermaids, just sweet young ones!

Here the girls are enjoying a few days before the Mermaid on the Left in this picture departs to her new home.

I nearly do think these girls might be able to swim like fish!

But don't worry we didn't push it and no GooseBeary's were harmed in this photoshoot!

One last look at her, if you win the giveaway this mermaid will be off to live with your family!

How to enter, first I ask that you only enter for this giveaway if you truely would love this doll.  She is very much a doll made to play with children so I hope she will join a little girl or boy for much play and adventure time.  She is made out of all natural materials, and stuffed with wool, as well as her hair being wool, a very soft squishy wool, great for little fingers to explore.  Last do keep in mind even though she is fine for little children, under the age of 3 you should always be watchfully supervising your little one, sometimes my little dear gets a handfull of yarn fuzz and gives it a taste, so something to mindful of.

How to enter

1.  Please enter a comment below with your Facebook name (make sure you are a fan on Facebook)

2. Please post a fun doll picture on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/update_security_info.php?wizard=1#!/pages/Waldorf-Doll-Cloth-Doll-Shopper/205621946135909

And that is it, I will pick the winner on Sunday, August 7, 2011

Good luck everyone!

Thank you Fan's Giveaway!

I have always loved, Handcrafted items, so the love of Waldorf and other Handmade toys didn't take long for me to become quite immersed and fascinated!

Which led to the Facebook Page Waldorf Doll and Cloth Doll Shopper, which of course needed to have a blog attached to it!

With over 200 fans, who must like many of the same things I like, I am very appreciative that you are all out there and take time to read and see what I have to share, thank you.  So with no further delay......................except those silly dots...............................I offer up my first giveaway item.................

Here she is a hand crocheted Tinkerbell doll!

Here is Tinkerbell hanging out with the summer flowers.  She is Handcrotched by a dear friend, if I we had waited for me to do one, it would be a very long time until she would be ready for a giveaway, lucky for me, I have a friend who is a whip at this sort of thing.

The Pattern for this super cute Tinkerbell was bought from Crochet Faery, off of Etsy,

http://www.etsy.com/shop/CrochetFaery?ref=seller_info

Here, is I hope a nice close up picture of her.  She is made from your regular craft store, type yarns, so nothing fancy, and I do believe they are all blends.  As well as she is classically stuffed with Poly fiber fill as this type of doll usually is.  Her wings are the lightest whisper of pink with a wee bit of shimmer and her shoes have a little shimmer yarn tied the the top of them.  Please use your discretion as for age of child she is appropriate for.  I feel all children under the age of 3 should be supervised with all their toys, my 1 year old has a duplicate of this doll and with in a few weeks, she did manage to pull the foot yarn off!  But everything else has stayed just as it should.

Her little Fairy wings!

To enter this giveaway, if you would enjoy having Tinkerbell come live with you,

(1) please just post a comment below and mention your Facebook name that you have liked the Facebook Page with (go like the page if you haven't!)

(2) and add any type of handmade doll or toy picture to the Facbook Page!https://www.facebook.com/update_security_info.php?wizard=1#!/pages/Waldorf-Doll-Cloth-Doll-Shopper/205621946135909?sk=wall with.  Please only enter the giveaway if you are truly interested in this doll, thank you. 

Penelope

So I must admit after much hard work and sore hands I went through a period of almost, totally not liking my own doll.  Disappointment.  Looking at her and thinking, "oh you are so not cute"  all right I will say it "ugly"  And feeling badly about it.  She is my creation how could I not like her?

So yesterday when I picked her up, suddenly she had a name, Penelope!  With a name she became real, and feeling real I suddenly realized I did like her.  She is mentoring me through this doll making process.  She is teaching me.  And I am learning so much from her!  I know she will always be here, my first doll and she will be prized for all her lessons.  She is beautiful in her own way and she is mine!

She will be like her predecessor

Isn't he cute?  I made him some 25 years ago or so.  Not sure what he really is.  I found some scraps left over from my mothers mom.  And I created this bug?  Spider?  Dog?  Well that is what my husband thought he was, when I asked him "what do you think this is?"  Pretty sure he is not a dog!

Hmmmmmmm posing like a dog, well maybe.

My own mother not a sewer, but both my grandmothers were.  I remember how much I loved finding the long forgotten scraps and what nots and wanting to turn them into things.  I was probably about 9 or 10 when I made this "Bug" , rounded up what I could find, scraps, buttons, blue thread, orange thread, and wowla!

I have kept him with me every since!  On my nightstand back then, packed in a box and not seen for years when I was a young adult, a box that moved with me many times, once, twice.................six times.  I attribute this Bug creation to my beginings of my desire to create.

Penelope, a Dollar Store Waldorf Style Doll

Children keep us so busy, amazing how much I don't get too! 

But I really want to finish my Dollar Store Waldorf Doll, she is my challange!  What a way to start any attempt at making a doll than with a challange!  Turns out cotton balls are very hard to sew threw.  I am really hoping wool gives to the needle a wee bit better.  My husband keeps looking at me weirdly and wondering if I am every going to crack into the box of lovely supplies I have waiting! 

But at last, I have to finish Penelope first.  Yes she got a name tonight, I picked her up and looked at her this evening and sure enough, she said Penelope!

So here she is, she has her face on!  Technical note, I liked the shape of my head in the begining but it seems to have squashed  flat some how during the embroidery of her face.  Characterisctic of rolled cotton balls, maybe?  Compacted and rolled cotton seems to be incredibly hard, she has the hardest doll head I have felt!

Her hair is started, it is certainly pretty hair.  A girl has a lot going for her if her hair is pretty!  This is only layer one, so I got some sewing to do, tonight?

But ummmmmm oh what am I going to do about this?

Yikes!  Girlfriend needs some legs!  I know, I know.  I have probably gone about her creation all wrong!  But is there a right way?  The first night I sat down and rolled a head and then I figured out how to cover it in socks (skin), and made up some arms, didn't think it would take to long to give her a little torso.  But I got totally stopped up, tired and frustrated of cutting parts from socks and that is where her body ended that night and has stayed! 

Thought if I got some pretty hair going, I would get inspired to get the legs going, but she has been just hanging out legless!  Right so legs, will give her legs before the end of next week, promis.





A Dolls Outfit

                                                     

A Dolls Outfit!

So back in the fall I was really getting the itch to sew something, anything!  I got my good old 1974 Viking Husquavarna machine out that I had inherited from my grandmother, a very good seamstress.  I had been lucky enough as a teenager to sew a few items with her before she passed on.



Well sadly she (the machine) had sat for quite a few years, I got busy in life.  So that night I got her out and started her out, it wasn't good.  A slow start, thread getting all caught up.........................I left it to sit while I went and combed through it's user manual.  DH kept saying "bet it needs oiling, I can do that."  I said stay away from it"  Well he got sassy and sat down and pushed the foot peddle to the floor and weeeeeee off the machine flew and then ohhhhhhhhhhhh, all that burning smell and it came to a jammed up halt.  Right well then that is not good.  I am emotionally attached to this machine, my grandmother left it to me, out of 9 grandchildren, she left it to me!  And this was the good old kind of machine I learned to sew on in school, real work horses, all metal parts, no cheap plastic.  I couldn't even fathom where to begin a search for a new one.

Okay long story short, my father is also emotionally attached to this machine, grandma was his mother.  He has many fond memories of her sewing and creating.  So Dad took it upon himself to take the machine back to the shop that it was originally purchased at and get it repaired.  He called me up and said "what is the machine worth to you", I said "it was grandma's"  So he said ""how much would you be looking to spend on a new machine.  So I told him what I thought the price bracket would be that I would be looking in and he said well that is roughly the same to fix this machine.  I said I liked that machine the best good old quality, he agreed and bless him he paid for the repairs.

But while my dear machine was away I wanted to sew something so badly, so I took to hand, needle, and thread, ironing board and pins and lots of patience.  My tidy little stitches amazed me.  My time consuming method of folding all the raw edges over twice and pressing them flat and then sewing the down so there would be no ugly raw edges was NUTS.  But it all turned out so nice after pressing and sewing for a week in between taking care of all 4 kiddos.

 



And here it is on a very pretty girl by Gopita, a beautiful christmas gift from  my sister.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/gopita?ref=seller_info

                        

 

an inside look at the seams                   everything folded, hidden and pressed                 

Inside of the top, all raw edges pressed under and sewn down and I made a cute little hand made by Tag.

She does look very nice in this simple pant suit.  I think the super cute print of the fabric makes the outfit!  I spent a long time sketching tops and bottom and then turning them into pattern pieces before I had it mostly right!

The back has ribbon detailing to match the waist band of the pants.

I actually like how using ribbon makes a pretty waistband, don't tell anyone I did it because I found my pants were running a little short in the inseam and this was the best way I could figure out how to add length!  And it is pretty!

End result a comfy, pretty outfit that dolly could wear to a festive occasion or just go out in the fall leaves and do cartwheels!

A Dollar Store Waldorf

When this link was shared with me by my sister it seemed like a great challange!  http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2008/11/make-a-waldorf-doll-dollar-store-style/  And yes indeed challenging!  So I ran right over to the nearest dollar store and spent maybe $10.  I got extra socks and bags of cotton Balls.

So here is the stuff I picked up for this experiment.

In the link that gave me this idea I could not find actual directions on how they did it. So other than the materials list and the idea I am winging it!

First up rolling the head.  I have never rolled a Waldorf head even out of wool, so with cotton balls and no idea, this is what I came up with. I unrolled the cottong balls and twisted the first ones to roll a tight ball.  After I had a decent ball started I just unrolled them flat and then rolled them on.  I also ended up dampening the cotton, which seemed to make it stick to itself and form better.

When I couldn't stand to roll on another cotton ball, I decided the size was good.  I tied it into a nylon stocking.  Then I rolled a tiny little nose and tied it into a little piece of stocking and sewed it on to the face.

I wrapped twine around to mark the eye line, and then covered the whole base in another nylon stocking 
Dollar store socks are awfully thin so
I used a white sock first and then
the tan sock

Afer wrapping the thread around

the inner sock I brought it out on the side

Wrapped it around the neck and tied it up, looks all right at

at this point

Next up I cut open the socks so I could visualize where to go next



I think I am seeing a body and an arms

Body arms, legs, I think I can see them

1 arm created!

I traced that one on paper and made the 2nd arm

rip up the cotton balls to do the stuffing

Here we go Head, body, arms, have to figure out something with the neckline, but I am sure it will come to me.

Went and grabbed some yarn, and embroidery floss, so these are going to be her colors, not sure if it is going to be brown eyes or blue eyes.