Little Bunnies♥

These bunnies are tiny at about 5.5 inches high but are ever so sweet.

Like my other bunnies these are made with merino wool felt and stuffed with   Bio Wool .

 I love the tiny bows and the heart shaped tummies!

These bunnies are now available for adoption at my etsy shop:)

This super cute little bunny was designed by Gingermelon. You can find the pattern in her shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/Gingermelon?ref=seller_info

Flora and Laura the Explorers

Laura and Flora are ready to go adventuring!

I really love this pattern! Designed by Gingermelon you can find it in her shop http://www.etsy.com/listing/150210041/flora-the-explorer-pdf-pattern?ref=shop_home_active 

 I have been waiting to use it because I wanted to try it in both a woven and a non woven felt.

Up until now I have only been using the non-woven felt for my plush dolls and I wanted to see the difference, besides price. ( The woven is a bit more).

Laura on the left is made with a hand dyed woven felted wool and Flora on the right is made using the non-woven merino wool blend felt.

 

The non- woven felt is a little stiffer and has more of the look of what I think of when I think "felt doll".

The woven felt conforms nicely to curves and is a little fuzzier. It makes me think "plush" first, "felt" second.

Non-Woven on top------Woven on bottom

I was kind of hoping by making the same pattern with both felts I would really prefer one over the other.

But they really are different enough that I like them both!

Does this mean I will have to make all the patterns out of both felts?

Which do you prefer?

Both Laura and Flora will be available for adoption at my Etsy shop later today.

Happy Easter!

Here are three little chicks I made using another one of Gingermelon's adorable patterns!

You can find the pattern in here etsy shop here http://www.etsy.com/listing/127658145/easter-bunny-and-chick-pdf-pattern?ref=shop_home_feat

But there is something extra special about these chicks!

I made them into pins:)

My daughter and I will get to where these cute little fellas on Easter!

Happy Easter!

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny

                            
         Mr. and Mrs Bunny are all dressed up for Easter.

 They were made using another adorable pattern by Gingermelon. It's the Pocket Bunny pattern and you can find it at her etsy shop here http://www.etsy.com/listing/123577972/pocket-bunny-pdf-pattern?

The bunnies are hand stitched and embroidered by me. I use a merino blend wool  and stuff with eco wool (which means it hasn't been treated with yucky chemicals) The bunnies are about 7.5 inches to the tops of there ears and Mrs. Bunny has her cheeks lightly blushed with bees wax.

These cute little bunnies will be available for adoption tomorrow night 7:00pm Eastern Time at my etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/people/TookensTale?ref=si_pr

Tag Along Owl

As I mentioned in my last post I have started my own little doll shop. For Christmas I took 3 custom doll orders, 2 were 18" dolls which I will showcase in later posts and 1 was a Gingermelon doll.

I had a request to make this Tag Along Owl for a sweet young lady who just loves owls.  I have admit owls are on of my favourites too. The pattern can be found Here at Gingemelon's Etsy shop. He is made from a merino wool blend and stuffed with eco wool from happy sheep:)

He has gone on to his new home where I know he will receive lots of love.

Owl Needle Case

Well, the gift I am working on for my daughter is taking a little longer than expected. I hope to be able to post about it soon. In the meantime I got a little side tracked because I have a bad habit of misplacing my needles :(  So I decided to make a needle case.

On the inside cover I can keep my threaded needles. Which makes it easier when I'm switching between colours.

On the back cover I made a little pocket for my embroidery scissors; the middle sections I use for my unthreaded needles and a pin. I always seem to need a pin for something.

It didn't take long to make, and now I can find my needles and scissors when I need them. Yea!
My daughter wants to make one too, so I'm going to try and draw up a pattern for her.

Trio

Here is the Trio I made for my son's Christmas present. They are about the same size as the girls I made for my daughter and of course they are designed by Gingermelon. You can find the patterns at her Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/listing/109934410/pocket-pets-pdf-pattern-you-choose-two
They are all so cute I will have to eventually make them all.

Even though the Fox and Dog are girls in the pattern it was super easy to make them into boys. I just left off the eyelashes and put them in a shirt and shorts.

Well Gingermelon week has been about 2 weeks and though I will be moving onto some other exciting projects I know I will have to get more Gingermelon patterns in the future.

Things I have learned through this process.

1. I really like using wool blend felt. The felt from Benzie Bazaar is an heirloom quality merino blend that is soft to the touch and holds it's shape. http://www.etsy.com/shop/BenzieBazaar

2. Buy the colour chart. I was never quite sure if I was picking the right colour by looking online and had to email Shelly (Gingermelon) several times to find the right one. She was wonderful at sharing the colours, Thank You !!.If your computer screen is colour balanced this may not be a problem, but I love seeing the actual pieces of felt and am much happier now that I own this.

3. When working with felt you want to make sure your edges are cut very smooth. I found using applique scissors (right side) worked best for me.

4.Since I work at my kitchen table having somewhere to store my projects is essential. The top right corner is the container I use. one side is a large zipper compartment. I like to keep my wool stuffing there. The other zipper compartment has alot of little zippered areas where I keep patterns, notions , needdles ect.

5. Little paper pieces are easy to lose! I now put each set of patterns in it's own snack size ziplock bag.

I love using wool for stuffing.  The wool retains body heat so the dolls are extra warm and cuddly.The wool I use is from Weir Crafts http://www.weirdollsandcrafts.com/waldorf-dollmaking-supplies/wool-stuffing.html
I like that it is sustainably grown wool that's exceptionally clean of chemicals and pesticides.

By the way I don't get compensated by any of the companies I blog about. I just know when I'm reading a blog and there is a project I want to try I want to know the specific materials and resources they use, so  I always try share that info.

                                   This is Peter the Dog,

                                                                                                                                                                               Flash the Cat, (named after our own striped cat)

                                                                                                                                                                   and David the Fox. I so wish we had a fox!

I hope everyone enjoyed Gingermelon week(s)!                          

      My daughter has a birthday coming up in November my next blog will feature something I designed for her :)

Friends

Did anybody guess Cotton Candy Dolls?
My daughter loves dolls that she can hold in her hand and play with. When I saw the Cotton Candy dolls at Gingermelon's Etsy shop I fell in love with these girls and their wool felted hair. I knew instantly that I would have to make one. The pattern can be found here Cotton Candy Doll Pattern

I thought it would be fun if  these three friends had eyes that matched their dresses. So I used the same iridescent safety eyes I used on my crochet dolls. You can read more about the eyes on my post Here.

This is Paige I used Oat coloured felt for her body and Swan colored felt for her dress.
I put her hair up in high pigtails.

Here is a view from the back.

Next I made Allison. Her body is made from Cinnamon coloured felt and her dress is Fern.

I put her hair in low pig tails and I gently needled the ends into little puffs.

Finally I made Maria. Her body is toast coloured felt and her dress lavender.

I gathered her hair back into a low bun and needle felted it firmly in place.



I didn't use woven felt for the clothing. So even though I put snaps under the buttons of the overalls it will be hard to take them on and of several times with out them pulling out of shape.
If that happens I guess I will have to get some woven felt and make her a new dress. :)

Again the patterns and directions from Gingermelon were great. And included how to needle felt hair onto the doll, which I had never done before. The application instructions were wonderful and I had fun playing with different hairstyles.

These are great dolls to make for either beginning or more experienced doll makers.

Since I made presents for my daughter I also needed to make some for my son.
 So which Gingermelon patterns do you think I used? 

Gingermelon Gingermen

 

The first dolls I made using Gingermelon patterns are these adorable little gingermen.

Every year at Christmas time two of my friends and I get together with our children and make gingerbread houses. Last year we decided it would be fun to make ornaments for each other. When I saw these little guys I knew they would be perfect.

The pattern can be found at Gingermelon's Etsy shop

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

She emailed me the pattern in less than 24 hours and has answered all my questions very graciously.

The pattern itself was easy to follow and alot of fun to make.

I do have a hard time with the safety eyes though. If they weren't so cute I would stop using them. It just kills my fingers to squeeze them together. Does anyone know an easier way? Am I doing something wrong?

I used a merino wool blend felt by Benzie Bazaar

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/BenzieBazaar?ref=shop_sugg

I used the colour cinnamon for the outside men and toast for the one in the middle.This was the first time I have used a wool blend, I have used 100% wool felt previously. I really like the feel of this wool it has a smoother touch and holds it shape very nicely. Benzie Bazaar shipped  the felt out right away and I was able to start crafting in a couple of days.Which is great for me, I tend to get antsy when waiting to start a craft project.

The gingermen are trimmed with tiny buttons I found at Jo-Ann Fabrics, pink and white glass seed beads and a pink organza ribbon.

Well I couldn't just stop at one Gingermelon pattern. Guess what I made next?

Mr. Dwarf

I felt Mr. Gnome needed a friend so I made Mr. Dwarf. I knitted him up using Jean Greenhowe's doll pattern http://www.jeangreenhowe.com/patterns.html.  I crocheted a wig cap for him and crocheted the beard the way I did for Mr. Gnome except when I was finished I hooked  long strands of yarn to the top loops across the beard.

I made his clothes out of wool felt. They were both a lot of fun to make. And my son was happy to get them on Christmas.

more boy dolls

My son just loved the first doll I made him and since I wasn't able to wait until Christmas to give it to him, I thought I would try something different.

I had so much fun making Beth's crochet dolls for my daughter I thought I would make on for my son.
Why couldn't I turn a tea cup spirit into a gnome?

Beth is such an extraordinary doll maker, if you haven't made one of her patterns, today is the day to try.
You can fin the Tea Cup Spirit pattern here http://byhookbyhand.blogspot.com/search/label/Teacup%20Spirit at Beth's Blog By Hook By Hand.

I crocheted the wig cap out of an acrylic boucle. After I attached it to the head I crocheted a beard from one side of the cap to the other. Then I added a few long strands under the nose for a mustache.

The mustache is covering up the beard in this picture, if anyone is interested I can take a picture with the mustache lifted up to reveal the beard.

I drew out patterns for his clothes, boots and hat and made them out of wool felt.

I didn't want Mr. Gnome would be lonely without a friend, so I made Mr. Dwarf. He will be my next Post.

Waldorf

Last year my children and I started learning a bit about the Waldorf methods.
I really liked the feel of the natural fibers and materials.
Some  of the things my daughter really liked  were as the birthday crown, the play silks and of course the dolls. So I thought I would try and make a few items.

Here is the birthday crown I made out of wool felt and a purple play silk.
They greeted my daughter when she woke up on her birthday.
She also loved the doll Patience that I made for her (I blogged about her last year) and immediately requested a little sister for Christmas.
My next post will be about her.