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

Easter is coming!

 

It's about 7 weeks till Easter and time to start thinking about bunnies!

This years Mr. and Mrs. Bunny are looking quite springish in daffodil yellow and lime green.

  

These darling bunnies are hand stitched and embroidered by me. I use a merino blend wool  and stuff them with Bio 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.

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny are now available for adoption at my Etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/TookensTale

 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?

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!

Julie

Julie is so happy her clothes are finally ready! 

I remember when she had trouble choosing her hair colour but everything else has been an easy choice for her. She is full of life, and just can't wait for Spring weather!

We tried to go outside for her photo shoot but being typical Upstate New York weather it was very grey and dreary. I was going to put it off for another day but Julie was just too excited and I didn't want to disappoint her.  My husband was very sweet and let me take over the kitchen and turn it into a photo studio. With the white walls and three windows it seemed like the best place. I grabbed some extra lights and we were ready to go.

 

Julie is 18" tall and is made from a double thick organic cotton interlock and sewn with 100% cotton thread which I use for both the doll and her clothes. She is stuffed full of eco wool from happy wandering sheep with no yucky chemicals. 

Her waist length hair is made from an Ultra Alpaca yarn that I first crochet into a wig cap and then hand sew each individual strand to the cap.

 Her features are hand embroidered with cotton embroidery floss and her cheeks are blushed with bees wax.

She is wearing a sleeveless dress with a full skirt and a peter pan collar. I found(correction, my daughter found) this beautiful Japanese floral print cotton at a local fabric store.( I like to purchase my fabrics and yarns from local, independently owned shops). It is fastened in back with two buttons and hand smocked at the waistline.

Here is a close up of the smocking.

 

Julie is modeling her sweater which I knit from a Worsted Merino Superwash yarn. I crocheted her Mary Janes and headband to match. 

The headband ties in the back and can also be used to put her hair in a pony tail.

She is also wearing a pair of white cotton bloomers with a little blue bow.

I used a pair of vintage buttons to fasten her shoes, and a matching one in a slightly larger size for her sweater.

Julie is looking forward to finding her forever home. She has been a delight to make and has lots of love to share. 

She will be available for adoption through my etsy shop tomorrow morning 3/26 at 9:00 am eastern standard time♥

Mr. and Mrs. Bunny on their way Home!

I'm so excited to say that Mr. and Mrs. Bunny will get to go to their new home together!

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

Julie

Here is Julie. She was all made up and it was time to start work on her hair. She was very excited to be able to go out and choose her own hair colour. The whole way there she was asking should I be a blonde or a brunette. I guess I should have realized then that she was going to have a hard time making decisions. 

After about 45 minutes at the store she narrowed down her choices.  She chose to be a blonde but then couldn't decide on the shade.

It was getting late so I told her we could bring both of them home and decide which was her favourite later.

She was quite happy. But when we got home she just couldn't sit still. She looked at the yarn in different rooms to see if the lighting made a difference. Then she preceded to put the yarn on her head and ask everyone in the house what they thought.

First the light one.

Then the darker shade.

Then she remembered something.

 She had seen pictures of Angelina's hair and thought maybe combining the two shades would work.

While she was in the dolly workshop she stumbled across a third shade of yarn and tried all three together.

What a dilemma!

Julie would like to know what you think.

You can leave your comments here or on the facebook page.

Thank You for your help!

Angelina

Angelina is the other 18" doll I made as a custom order at Christmas. It was requested that she have blue eyes, sunset coloured hair and freckles.  She is made from organic cotton interlock and stuffed with warm and cozy wool. Her face is hand embroidered with cotton embroidery floss and her cheeks have been blushed with a bit of bees wax.

Origianally I had planned on using Malbrigo's Rios in Sunset for her hair. The same yarn I used for Ella (who is at the top of my blog). But when I went to buy it they were all out. I went around to the other yarn stores in my area and they were all out to. One shop said that they have had it on back order for 3 months.  So I figured I would have to come up with a different idea.

I'm actually glad they were out because it made me try something I haven't done before. I blended 3 different yarns to make her hair.

The medium colour and the highlights are Cascade's Super Wash and the low lights are what I had left of the Malbrigo's Rios. I really love how it turned out and I will do more blending in the future.

Angelina is modeling the dress I designed for her. It is 100% cotton with a full skirt and a Peter Pan collar. The back is closed with a hook and eye and has a satin tie at the waist to make a bow in the back. I wish I would have taken a picture of her from the back.

 

I have always wanted to try smocking and she really seemed like she needed a smocked dress.  I hand gathered the fabric before I started the smocking. It was a nice process, kind of soothing like knitting. I liked it so much I did more smocking on the dress for my next doll Anna.  And I have a feeling there will be more smocking coming up!

Angelina's sweater is knit from Cascade's 220 Superwash. I had the yarn for the sweater before I bought the material for the dress and when I saw the little dots of the same aqua blue I knew it would be perfect.

Marie

I recieved a request for an 18" doll with brown hair, brown eyes and scattered freckles. And so Marie was born. I used and organic cotton interlock in peach(which is fair but warm)for her skin and Aslan Trends Royal Alpaca in Chocolate for her hair.

Her sweater is made from a felted tweed by Rowan. I really like how it turned out but the yarn had lots of little hairs that seemed to trigger my allergies:(

I made a cable down the front of each side of the sweater.

  

I had put a bow in her hair but she didn't like it very much. She said she wanted something to match her sweater. So I crocheted a headband with a flower and a little button in the middle. She likes it very much.

Marie's dress is made of purple cotton with white rickrack around the collar, sleeves and hem. There are four pleats down the front and the collar is finished with an antique mother of pearl button that I have had in my collection. She also has on little white bloomers trimmed with a purple bow(not pictured) and a pair of black crocethed Mary Janes made from Berroco's Ultra Alpaca.

 

Marie is adopted and very happy at her new home.

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.

Amelia

I think it's time for me to introduce Amelia. I created her by modifying the pattern I made for Ella in order to make an 18" doll.  I used Aslan Trends Royal Alpaca in chocolate for her hair. It is so soft and silky I hope I can get it in other colours as well.

 Amelia is my very own doll (you can never be too old or young to have a doll) ,but she is also my business partner :) I do so love making the dolls and have had requests for some, so with the encouragement and support of friends and family especially my husband I decided to start my own hobby business.

I have named my business Tooken's Tale after some stories my children and I have made up.  Basically, Tookens come from the Land of Brung. They are sometimes seen in our land but are very shy so they often turn themselves into small creatures like butterflies and ladybugs when they are spotted.

 My goal is to be able to release a small collection of dolls and coordinating outfits seasonally on Etsy and offer custom dolls 2-3 times a year.  But for now I think I will make one doll at a time. I will try to post images as I create each one and announce when she will be ready for adoption on Etsy.

Each doll is an individual and though I may have a basic idea of what I will make she really takes shape through the process. I think there is something very special about handmade items. I take a lot of time and care choosing high quality materials for each part of the doll and her wardrobe. It is a joy to create them and think about their future homes and families.

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We got to spend a lot of time with our family and had a great time.
My children were so surprised to see the presents I made them. You can see the little Trio I made for my son and  the Friends I made for my daughter.  As they get older it keeps getting harder to make gifts on the sly!

My daughter had also requested another 18" doll that could play with Ella (I named her Patience while I was working on her but my daughter named her Ella after recieving her). So I made Anna, pictured above.

I used the same methods as with my other Waldorf style dolls. For her hair I used Eco Alpaca by Cascade Yarn. It is a wonderfully soft undyed Baby Alpaca.   I love the fact that it hasn't been dyed. It gives it a very nice natural looking hair colour.

 For her dress I found a beautiful white cotton at a local fabric shop. I like the weight and body and thought it would work well with the full skirt. The bodice is lined with the same material as the dress and the hem is hand stitched.

This is the second dress I have used smocking on. It's really a lot of fun and I can't wait to do more. I like the way this dress pattern turned out. I'm thinking of using it for some Easter dresses.

After making the dress I thought a little cape would look cute. I had never made one before and my first attempt was way to small. I'm glad I had time to redo it before Christmas. It is a basic stockinette stitch with a garter stitch border. I crocheted ties and added the little candy button. I attached it with a safety pin so it can be removed.
She also is wearing a pair of cotton bloomers and little crocheted Mary Janes.

My New Years Goal is to post more than once a month!