Catching up

March 10, 2015 by Summer

It’s been very difficult finding time to blog. I definitely do not want to stop writing in this space. I love the documentation it provides, but it’s getting harder and harder to keep up with all the crafting and day-to-day chores and mothering of a young, active child (who sometimes refuses to nap). So here’s a little catch up post. What we’ve been up to these days, through quick blurbs and photos.

lots of painting going on these days. I dream about painting, I see hills and flowers when we are out and about and want to run home to paint them. It has become my daily happy work, to paint one thing (if not more) every day.

I have had a few custom peg doll orders. A set of seasonal pegs, a bride and groom, angels and more.

I’ve also been working on a project with peg dolls and nature and stories. I’m not so sure I even know where it’s all going, but when I do have time to work on it, I enjoy every minute.

We’ve been receiving lots of swap goodies in the mail lately. I had a few weeks where I joined several Waldorf FB group swaps and went a little crazy with the crafting. Well, we are now receiving all of our wonderful items in return. Ellie has been enjoying setting up new scenarios and playing with all of these wonderfully made, beautiful toys.

We’ve been slowly working on getting our garden back in order. Ellie and I planted seeds a couple of weeks ago, cleared out the raised beds and are making our way back into the garden on a daily basis.

I did a stocking of my Etsy store with little Easter/Spring time softies. Most of these have gone to new homes, but there are still a few more left and I think I may do one more batch before Easter.

I’ve been in the kitchen more these days. I’m sure you all know Jeff is the cook around these parts, but I’m trying some new things out too. I finally made cheese for the first time! Something that’s been on my to do list for years.

It turned out delicious and we even used it in a pasta dish! We’ve also started making pretzels on a weekly basis. It’s been a fun activity to do with Ellie. I’m going to have to do a whole other blog post about them though, they are just too good not to share our process with you!

so there you have it…. a little update. There’s lots more I’d love to share with you, but that will have to do for now. I have more painting and cleaning to do and only a wee bit of time to do it in, before this darling child wakes from her nap.

Christmas Creations

January 9, 2015 by Summer

I’ve been meaning to share all the holiday goodies I created for Ellie and for others. December was a heavy making month. I was making peg dolls late into the night for custom orders and then would get an idea that I needed to make a doll or I needed to paint something RIGHT Then! It was a lot of work, but so much fun. I loved making all the peg dolls I sold this year. The custom family dolls may be my favorite. I even did a whole extended family of peg dolls for a friend of mine.

This is my best friend and her family. So much fun posing these pegs for pictures.
(photo above by WildWhimPhotography)

I made Ellie little tiny Charlotte and Linus peg dolls for Christmas. They are played with a lot. Especially since they fit in her new peg people cars and the airplane she got for her birthday.

I’m not sure if I shared this or not, but something I made and gave to Ellie before Christmas was this Snowman peg doll set. The book was one of her favorite winter reads and I thought it would be fun to make her a set she could use with her winter play mat. She’s still enjoying incorporating these guys into her play.

I also made Ellie a set of nesting dolls. I had bought the blank set here, and thoroughly enjoyed painting them. They were quite the hit on Christmas and are played with regularly even now.

I did a lot of watercolor and ink pieces over the holidays. Here are a few…

And then I finished two more dolls. One baby doll for a friend’s daughter and one for my grandmother.

Made from felt and cotton and all upcycled materials. Her cowl was a thrifted tube scarf and her dress was a thrifted adult skirt.

I had to add a little peg doll pocket too! I love how she turned out. I’m learning a lot about hand sewing with each doll that I make.

The last thing I made before Christmas, was an art doll for my grandmother (Ellie’s Great Grandmother). I had been wanting to create something special for her for Christmas. She’s been such an amazing inspiration to me for many, many years and she’s also been my cheerleader for many, many years. I thought a special art doll would be perfect.

I used denim and linen and wool roving for her hair. Little bits and colors that reminded me of her style.

Because she’s a painter, I made little wooden paintbrushes from popsicle sticks for the doll. I was thrilled with how she turned out and I think it warmed my grandmother’s heart, which is precisely what I wanted to do.

So there’s pretty much everything I wanted to share with you. I can’t believe I got all of this done and more, in less than a month. I don’t think I slept throughout the month of December, but oh, it was worth it. Making things for the people I love and even making things for myself, it’s the creative work for my soul.

Making and making and making…

November 27, 2014 by Summer

I’ve been crafting so much lately that it’s getting harder and harder to keep up with documenting it in this space. I’ve been feeling a lot better these days and I think it’s showing through my art and crafts. I know when I feel low, I tend to not want to do anything creative, but lately, I’ve been doing all sorts of crafty things and it’s certainly uplifting.

I put the word out on Facebook and through friends and family, and have been inundated with custom peg doll orders (which I’m enjoying immensely).

I’ve also been working on stocking my etsy shop with some wintry kindness elves (although it seems I can’t make these little guys fast enough).

I put together a couple little softies for some new babies. This little guy is for a wonderful new mama and her little one who has taken incredible family photographs of us every year since Ellie was born. She’s taking our portraits this week and I finally get to meet her little one (I made the softie a little fabric camera too).

I had my mom make this adorable baby quilt to match the hedgehog softie I made for another friend’s baby. I think the whole thing turned out quite darling and even though, I haven’t gotten to give it to her yet (I’m hoping she’s not reading this right now), I had to share it!
After

This is Cindy. I’ve been trying my best to research how to make Waldorf dolls. I think Santa might just bring Ellie her very own (professionally made) Waldorf doll, but in the meantime, I’ve been piecing this doll together. Her arms and body came out a bit wonky, but what fun she was to make. I even made her overalls out of an old pair of shorts I used to wear. I’m going to keep trying because I’m beginning to really fall in love with these dolls. (I had a slight doll obsession as a child and it already looks like Ellie may be following in my footsteps), so I don’t think she will be upset if more dolls (mama made or otherwise) make their way into this house.

And the biggest crafting completion… Jeff’s quilt! I think I may have talked about this before. But this quilt was a long time coming. I had made Jeff a quilt a long time ago for his birthday, but it has been slowly falling apart and he’s mentioned several times that he’s love another one. Well, we stumbled upon this math and science fabric one day and he loved it so much, I decided I’d finally make him his new blanket. I took me quite awhile to finish, but I did it. And it turned out wonderfully. He loves it. Loves the length, and it’s better made than the last one (I’ve since improved with my sewing skills). It’s his big, early Christmas gift this year. And I’m thrilled to be done with it!

So there you have it. I’ve been crafting away any chance I get. Ellie naps. I craft. Ellie is playing with Gramma and Grandpa, I craft. Ellie is at the park with Dada, I craft. Ellie sleeps, I stay up way too late and craft. I’m back in business and it feels good.

Weekending!

November 17, 2014 by Summer

This weekend started out a bit wet. So of course we went out in search of puddles to stomp in. We collected leaves and brought them home to make a leaf collage. We read leaf books and made leaf rubbings. We’re soaking in the Autumn weather before California gets the better of it and warms up again (as is always the case). We went to a good friend’s birthday party and brought her a peg doll family. Saturday we went to my parents and took a nice long walk with my brother and his girlfriend. Ellie ran off some energy and climbed trees. We even saw a coyote skitter down the wash.
Halfway through Sunday, Ellie all of a sudden came down with a miserable cold. So we’ve been laying low ever since. Lots of good reading, building train depots, wrapping up baby dolls and some quiet time watching Frozen. Hoping this cold is a quick one so we can enjoy our days a little more again.

How was your weekend?

-joining Pumpkin Sunrise for “Weekends”

Farm mats and Superheroes and Felt boards oh my!

July 14, 2014 by Summer

I’ve been busy in my craft room. After a tough couple days of resting from oral surgery last week, I jumped right back in to the craft room, eager to start making again.

I finished a whole bunch of machine-made travel felt mats for some fabulous mama friends.

And I sent off these lovely Little Women to a book loving friend.

And I finished and fell in love with this darling custom order for a “Farm” play mat and farmer peg doll.

It was so much fun dressing the mat up with Ellie’s wooden toys while she napped. I think if she would have seen the set up, the play mats would never reach their intended owners.

Everything was completely handsewn on this mat. I had to figure out how to make the vegetable garden piece by piece. I think it turned out pretty cute.

I loved how the farm mat turned out so much, I ended up making Ellie one for her birthday.

I’m still working on making a bee hive (in the back there). I bought those bees awhile back after falling in love with them on Etsy and now I have a mat to add them to.

And last but not least, the latest mat I finished for a friend…
A superhero mat!
When a friend asked if I could make her son a few super hero peg dolls, she also thought it would be fun to have some type of play mat to go with them. I wanted to make something simple and very open-ended. Something fun and bright, like the dolls themselves and something you could add other toys too to create a full playscape. This was surprisingly (since I’m more the “farm play mat” type), a lot of fun to come up with and I’m hoping will be perfect for an active little boy to play with. Heck, Ellie saw a little bit of the mat and was pawing at it herself. I may be making a little superhero mat for her as well. 😉

It’s been so much fun making these custom mats and peg doll sets as well as putting together the felt boards (even though my machine stitching skills are in need of a lot of work versus my hand stitching skills). I love having this kind of creative outlet. Plus, it makes me happy to create things for children, especially my own.

Ana meet Ellie

June 19, 2014 by Summer

So Ellie got this adorable blue sweater from her Gramma a few weekends ago while we were in Santa Barbara for the Ocean Festival. Ellie hasn’t taken this sweater off in weeks. She wants to constantly wear her “Gramma sweater”, for naps, on walks in 70 degree weather. Ellie’s lucky we live so close to the beach breeze that’s been coming in every afternoon. Her sweater is getting lots of wear. Well, the other night it occurred to me that I hadn’t yet made an Ellie peg doll. The first thought that came to mind was how sweet a little Ellie peg doll with a blue sweater would be. And when I get ideas like this in my head, it’s hard to stop my hands from going to work.

Meet Ellie Peg Doll. She’s outfitted in the panda sleep shirt I made her months ago and her new bee pants she was handed down by her little buddy Summer (another piece of clothing she is coveting lately).

And here she is adorned in her turquoise sweater. I used little scraps of wool felt to create the sweater, even including the white pockets she loves so much.

I added a little tiny button that I secured onto the sweater as well, for the finishing touch. I am rather taken with the whole thing myself.

Ellie seemed to be pretty impressed with the whole thing. She looked it over. She smiled at it and chatted with Ellie Peg doll and then when she tried to pull her hood over her head and realized I had sewn it down, she threw poor Ellie Peg Doll across the room and then proceeded to throw herself on the floor. (Note to self: when making replicas of my daughter in peg form, it is pertinent to replicate EVERY single detail, including a working hood. Thankfully, I only got the happy photos on camera). After we talked about her being upset because Ellie peg doll had no hood, I asked her if she would like to introduce Ellie Peg Doll to the rest of her wooden collection. And in cuteness overload, she marched right over to her table, picked up her good friend Ana (from Frozen of course) and the best of friends were made.