Gingercake

And this was supposed to be the year I didn't do as much Handmade...

I decided not to go overboard on handmade this year.  And really, compared to the effort I made in past years, it's not so much!  This post is going to be picture heavy and word light since I am supposed to pick the kids up in half an hour and I can't be listing these pictures while they are home!  Those kids are getting pretty smart about catching me in the act :)

First, Elsie's gift was a special request and is a holiday dress for her American girl doll Kit...

Yack!  Doll clothes!  They are harder than they look and working with cheap velvet from Joanns is not recommended.  But, hey!  It turned out pretty and I know my girl will like it.

Next, Anne requested a purse and wallet AND a credit card that spends.  Hmmmm.  The credit card that spends is not happening as of this point.  Maybe a gift card? 

I had fun making that one.  I used some pinterest inspiration and just made up what to do.  I liked using those kind of handles!  Very cute.

For the wallet I used Noodlehead's Zippy Wallet tutorial which was very fast and easy.  Learned some new skills too!  I love how she does her zipper.  The owl one is for Elsie since I couldn't just make one of those cute little wallets!

Cal's gift was my own idea since he is not really interested in thinking about gifts and what he wants for Christmas.  He has mentioned a haunted house with bats but I am not going to attempt to make that!

I used Wee Wonderful's Space boy and Robot pattern which I have had for several years now.  That yellow t-shirt is a cape that is not my best work but it goes with the robot so I'm sure he'll like it.  I used this tutorial.

For Elsie's class party we made Cake Pops.  They were a challenge!  But I have been wanting to try them for so long!  There were 2 left over that we are saving for some beloved cousins on Christmas Eve.

We decorated our Candy Cottage at the end of last week.  I will NEVER go back to making real gingerbread!  This is so much more fun and less pressure (for me at least!).  All 3 kids helped this time, although Cal did a lot of eating candy and Anne somehow ended up with frosting on her ears! 

I made Caramel Corn for neighbors and relatives.  AWESOME!  EASY!  It tastes really good too.

My husband has a huge family so I also made some everday napkins to gift.  These have a back story and I am excited about sharing how I made these. I hope to make a quick tutorial after all this holidaying has calmed down.  I have the pictures taken and ready to go!

Like everyone who likes to sew, I had plans to do more but I am happy that I am pretty much ready for Christmas now.  Last year on the day after Chritmas I felt like I had been run over by a train!  I had no idea how stressed out the whole thing had made me.  I really wanted to scale back so i wouldn't feel so deflated again and I could enjoy the days after the holiday as much as the days before.

Last are a few more decorations that we are loving!   A playmobil nativity set that a good friend gave us.  I love that the kids are playing with the characters so much.  So sweet.  Playmobil is wonderful!

Also, I found this vintage gem at the thrift stoer for only $.50!  What a steal.  She is adorable!

Happy Christmas to you all!  I am not sure if I will be back next week so Happy New Year too!  Thank you for reading the blog and being part of my crafting life.  It is a real pleasure to share my work with you.  I am truly grateful to have this creative outlet and you to share it with!

 

Clothespin Girls

About a month ago my nieces came over for a visit.  The weather was cold so we stayed inside and Anne and I showed them how we make our clothespin dolls.  Clothespin dolls have been around forever so it's fun to show the girls these toys and think about people making them long ago too.  My sister in law, who is an awesome photographer, took pictures of the event.  

We are going to make some more as gifts for girlfriends and other cousins over Christmas break.  These turn out really cute with fun fabric scraps and yarn hair. 

Here are a few that I made the other day.  (The lovely Jenny did not take these photos below!)

My girls said "WHERE ARE THE ARMS??" You can easily drill a small hole through the middle and stick a pipe cleaner in there to make arms.  Like them?  Here's how we do it~

Gather your supplies.  I think it's great just to use what you have around the house.  The clothespins would be the only thing you may have to shop for.  Whenever I see these old fashioned kind at an estate sale, I scoop them up.  If you don't have any of those, you can buy new ones from Michaels.  Before I started, I painted the tops "skin" color and then sprayed them with a clear shiny glaze.  I didn't bother with this when I did it with the girls a few weeks ago.  It looks a little nicer, But no big deal if you skip that.  

Get you smallest scraps.  You can even cut a bunch to size (the size is how much it take to wrap around the clothespin!) before you start with the kids to be more organized.  Use glue sticks, yarn, rick rack, ribbon, tiny buttons, fringe, and whatever else you can think of.  I use a glue gun to attach the hair and other bits.  

Let's begin~ Cut your fabric to size and put glue all over the back of the fabric.  

  Wrap it around the doll and overlap a bit in the back.  I just tied that fabric strip on for a belt.

Next comes the yarn hair.  Make loop on your hand, tie it in the middle with some yarn, cut it open & hot glue it to the top of her head. CUTE!  Give her a hair cut if you choose. I used a sharpie to draw her face.

Here is how I did the one with the red dress.  I gathered a piece of fabric on the sewing machine.  Used my glue gun to put the skirt around her waist.  Then, using the same fabric I made a shirt and I pasted it on with the glue stick.

For this one, I left her hair long and then gave her a pony tail in the back.

That girl was really cute until I gave her that face!  The girls don't seem to notice so we'll just pretend she doesn't look like a zombie and they will never know.

Here is one last girl I took pictures of and she is pretty funky!  This one is my favorite but my daughters decided this one could be for their brother which may clue you in to her popularity among the kids.  I'll have to just keep her for myself and make her into a magnet for the fridge...

 I I really had to glob on the hot glue to make sure the fringe stayed on.

And finally ( after a whole 5 minutes of work) my funky girl is complete.  

Hope you are feeling inspired! MANY people do beautiful and fancy clothespin dolls but these are fun and quick.  The girls use them in their doll houses & sometimes we tie them on gifts as part of the gift wrap.  I first made these when I saw Amy Karol of Angry Chicken do it a few years ago.  Her's look so pretty.

  What do you think?  Let me know your ideas about these girls and what fun you can think of with them.  Crafty birthday party activity?  Make a shoebox doll house for them to live in?  My girls get a big kick out of designing their outfits and I'm sure yours would too!

If you make some of these, I would love to see them!  You can post them in my gingercake flickr group.



 

 

 

 

Doll Delima & Give Away

 

This is Kitteredge.  AKA Kit Kitteridge, American Girl Doll brought by Santa.  I think it's hillarious the nickname is Kitteredge.  This doll was the subject of much debate before Santa brought her on Christmas morning.  This is one expensive dolly for a 5 year old!  But I was worn down and I had just sold lots of owls at the handmade arcade so I gave in.  I know it's commercial and not handmade but I did like the whole historic story behind these dolls and I thought I could make some cute outfits.  Here is the first one and I like how it turned out.  I used some vintage fabric that I got from an estate sale (i think it's probably from the 30s or 40s).  We looked in the paperback book together to get an idea of what girls would have worn back during the Depression and considered this in the design of the dress.   I admit Elsie thinks I am nuts when I try to tell her what the great depression was (huh?  that sounds nice if daddy could stay home and not go to work!  We could just get food from the refrigerator!).   

 

 Since I am snowed in and can't work on my new house AGAIN!  I thought I could do a little give away for anyone else who might have a Kitteredge in thier life.  I am going to whip up another one of these dresses and I will give it away to a person who comments on the blog.  I am going to do some posts on flickr and try to get some people to link to me.  What fun!  A challenge to see if anyone is out there!  If no one comments in the next 2 days though my sweet niece is going to get this dress.  

Another thing here- if you want to swap for some of this darling vintage fabric, let me know and we can set something up.