Archive for ‘Creative Linking’

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May 21, 2013

Links to Coloring Sheets of Dolls

I will continue to add links here as I find them.

Color Your Doll:

Color Your Teddy Bear:

Color Your Stuffed Animals:

Color Your Toys:

Color Pages of Paper Dolls:

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December 1, 2012

How To Dress A Spoon Doll or Puppet

spoonheadsad

Spend an afternoon dressing these funny little spoonheads with your young child. Teach them basic sewing skills and then, why not put on a little performance in a homemade theater? Spoonheads also make charming stocking stuffers for children ages 5-8.

Grimm Spoonheads are sold separately at local St. Louis craft fair events.

Links To Dressing Spoon Dolls:

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November 30, 2012

A New Chrismon for Christmas

PearlOfGreatPricebyGrimm2012

I have included a link here for those of you who may craft Chrismons at your church during the Christmas Season. I am posting several new Chrismon craft ideas at my Christmas blog within the next few weeks. I will list these links here as I upload the new craft projects on my Christmas blog.

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July 1, 2012

Old Quilted Bears In Our Home

Our family’s old patchwork bears are so old that they needed patches on their patchwork!

I spent just an hour or so fixing them up before displaying them downstairs in our newly remodeled space.

Even though they are considered ‘unfashionable’ these days, old quilted bears carry many happy

childhood memories with them and those will never go out of style in my opinion.

My oldest girl grabbed this vintage red patchwork bear in a flee market when she was small.

I made the old white patchwork bear from a ripped and discarded quilt. It was formerly a

“wedding ring” pattern quilt. Although there was little of it remaining I hadn’t the heart

just to toss the scraps out without trying to salvage something from them!

More Old Quilted Bears To Look At:

Quilts of Bears:

Free Teddy Bear Patterns:

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June 26, 2012

My Little Quiet Book

“All By Herself,” a quiet book from the 1950s by Kay Clark was manufactured by Plankie Toys in Younstown, Ohio.

The first page introduces little ones to a charming rhyme about a little girl who dresses herself.

Each page has a special attachment that challenges little people to learn “how” to button, lace, zip, snap, fold and tie.

The original illustrations printed on this fabric quiet book were drawn by “The Twins.”

This little book is perfect for distracting a small child during a long sermon!

Dozens of Ideas for Making Quiet Books:

  1. How to Make A Quiet Book
  2. My “Star Trek” Quiet Book
  3. Quiet books by sweetdreams
  4. The quiet book from Empty Bobbin Sewing Studio
  5. My Children’s Diary quiet book
  6. Quiet Book from Serving Pink Lemonade
  7. Busy Quiet Books
  8. Baby’s felt quiet book
  9. Quiet Book from the crafting chicks
  10. Quiet books by Shelley Wallace
  11. Quiet book patterns by copycrafts
  12. The Quiet Book Makes Its Debut!
  13. On the Go Activity Book
  14. My Finished Quiet Book
  15. Velveteen capes…on the inside
  16. Tiffany’s Quiet Book
  17. Fun Felt Stories
  18. Quiet Activity Book from Place Mats
  19. Close Your Clothes!
  20. The Quiet Encyclopedia
  21. Felt Board Mr. and Mrs Potato Heads
  22. Beth’s Adorable Felt Book for Baby
  23. Tutorial and Pattern: Felt Egg Design Book
  24. Quiet Book Feature
  25. Quiet Book Tutorial: Binding the Edges
  26. Baby Girl Texture Book  and Baby Boy Texture Book
  27. Toot Toot Tuesday-Quiet Book Tutorial
  28. My ABC Book!
  29. Quiet books by Jill
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June 14, 2012

A Redwork Doll Blanket

I made this doll blanket, by hand, for a child who loves turtles and all sorts of little forest creatures. The redwork designs come from a wonderful coloring book by Diane Gaspas called “Forest Animals.”  Dover publishes many coloring books for children that may be used for a wide variety of personal projects/gifts. However, because these coloring pages are copyrighted and are not in the public domain, they should never be used for profit or be misrepresented as belonging to another company or individual other than Dover or Diane Gaspas. I specifically chose these designs by Dover because the company is sponsoring a craft contest in 2012 based upon the development of handmade crafts/personal art projects using their products. You may read more about the contest rules here if you wish.

You can see here that I traced the design in pencil and then stretched the muslin between a wooden hoop before working the threads into the design.

I decided to introduce just a bit of applique into the turtle’s shell.

Here I have worked a few red seed beads into the wild fruits hanging above my turtle’s head.

I trimmed the doll blanket in a red rick-rack. I thought it would add to the old-fashioned look of the blanket. I also rotated my muslin squares with plaid and printed squares. These had no red touches originally so I stitched some red threads into the plaid designs in order to blend my bold red colors with the neutral creams, tans, and whites of my overall color palette.

This sweet little mouse may also be found in the pages of the same coloring book along with the bees, moth and snail that are stitched into the redwork designs.

Above is the final project ready for someone very special that I have in mind.

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April 10, 2012

Embroidery Links

A traditional Kazakh rug I bought when I lived...

Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. Embroidery is most often recommended for caps, hats, coats, blankets, dress shirts, denim, stockings, and golf shirts. Embroidery is available with a wide variety of thread or yarn color.

A characteristic of embroidery is that the basic techniques or stitches of the earliest work—chain stitch, buttonhole or blanket stitch, running stitch, satin stitch, cross stitch—remain the fundamental techniques of hand embroidery today.

Embroidery Links: 2smock * Armenian Embroidery * BellaOnline: Embroidery *Berlin Embroidery * Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery * Celtic Cross Stitch * Chatelaine Designs * Clara Fitzgerald’s Needlecraft Notes * Crazy Quilt Embroidery * Embroidery * Embroidery Methods Guide * Embroidery articles *Ethnic Fiber Art , LLC *Flickr: Embroidered Art * Flickr: Embroidered Motifs * Flickr: Embroidery * Flickr: Embroidery and Science * Flickr: Seam / Couture – Embroidery * Island Ireland: Mountmellick Embroidery *JMD Designs * Jacqui McDonald Hand Embroidery Jean Fletcher’s Stumpwork * Johanna’s Needlework Stitches * Jos Hendriks Embroidery * Kalocsa Embroidery * Mary Corbet’s Needle ‘N Thread * Needlecrafter.com * Pin Tangle * Pretty Impressive Stuff: Rissa’s Pieces * Russian Punch Embroidery * Sew in Love * The Embroidery Site * Vera Stoll Hardanger Design * Victorian Embroidery and Crafts * Vinciolo’s Les Singvliers Et Novveaux Povrtraicts (1587) * Waterrose Handcrafted Obsession * XQ Silk Hand Embroidery * Young Embroiderers *

Embroidered Dolls: Shino Suzuki * Pocket Dolls * the littlest things * Saints * Bette Kelly * Narrative Symbols * Jacque Davis * Seams Possible * Dolls from Kyrgyzstan * My Little Sweat Shop * Easter Stuffies * mixed media art dolls * Mimi Kirchner * Shy little doll – redwork * not voo-doo * Traditional Palestinian Doll * Neta Amir * Lesley of Leilalou * Not Grandmother’s Embroidery *

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March 22, 2012

Doll Repair Links

This is perhaps the oldest doll that I own personally other than the little half doll pincushion that was given to my by my great aunt. I found her for a few dollars in a flee market. She also has an old “cry box” that no longer works.

A composition doll is a doll made partially or wholly out of composition, a composite material composed of sawdust, glue, and other materials such as cornstarch, resin and wood flour. Composition dolls were marketed as unbreakable and hailed as an improvement in doll making from the fragile bisque and china material previously used. There are two types of composition manufacturing processes: cold-press and hot press. The cold-press composition manufacturing process was invented by Solomon D. Horsman in 1890s. Hot-Press composition began around 1920 and was an improvement in the processing. Composition doll manufacturing lasted until the late 1940s, when plastic began to be used for dolls.

Many antique German and French bisque dolls from the 19th century combine a bisque head with a ball-jointed body made of composition. In 1877 French dollmaker Jumeau introduced the Bébé Incassable, with a bisque head portraying a young girl and a fully articulated composition body. With realistic glass eyes and contemporary fashion styles, thousands of Bébé dolls were produced for an international market. The French Bleuette doll from S.F.B.J. has a jointed composition body with a bisque or composition head. The composition Bleuette was produced from 1905 to 1958.

Some early celebrity dolls were made of composition, like the Baby Peggy doll from Louis Amberg & Sons, which was a success in 1923. The American Ideal Toy Company began making composition dolls in 1907. They produced over 200 variations of dolls throughout the composition era. Their Shirley Temple doll was one of the most successful celebrity dolls. First produced in 1934, millions of the composition Shirley dolls were produced.

See the cracked paint down her arm and the fingers are wearing away! The fingers are made from a wood pulp/composite mix.

Early Baby-Walker Dolls: had entire bodies, including their cloths were made from composition

Kathe Kruse: Boy and Girl Dolls – pressed felt dolls had composition socket heads

Shirley Temple Doll: Ideal Toy and Novelty Company in New York City negotiated a license for dolls with the company’s first doll wearing the polka-dot dress from Stand Up and Cheer!. Shirley Temple dolls realized $45 million in sales before 1941.

Baby Peggy Doll – Diana Serra Cary (born October 26, 1918), best known as Baby Peggy, was one of the three major American child stars of the Hollywood silent movie era along with Jackie Coogan and Baby Marie.

More American Ideal Toy Company Dolls

Repairing Composition Dolls: Nancy’s Doll Restoration * Care of Composition Dolls by Louise * Amazing restoration to a fire damaged Kestner doll! *The Art of Doll Repair * 1920 Shoulder Plate Composition Baby * Papier Mache Rediscovered *

The top of her head is cracked and the layer of Gesso exposed.

Doll Repairs/Hospitals: Doll Repair Home *A Doll’s Dressmaker & Doll Hospital *AAA Doll Hospital * All Dolled Up, Inc *All for a Doll *All-Dolled-Up by Shelley *Anderson’s Dollworks *Andrea Salkowe Doll Restoration *Antique Child *Attic Antiquity Dolls *Audrey’s Doll Gallery *BG’s Doll House & Hospital *Billings Doll Hospital/Legacy Doll Museum *Cathie Lee Doll Hospital *Chili Doll Hospital *China Doll, Inc. *Dana’s Antique Doll Studio *Dancing Dolls and the Doll Nursery *Dawn’s Dolls *Dear Dolly Friends *Deborah’s Doll Shoppe *Debra’s Dolls – Doll Hospital & Shop *Dee’s Place of Dolls *Diane’s Doll Hospital *Doctor Toni’s Doll Repair *Doll Cottage *Doll Doctor Kathleen *Doll EE Hospital *Doll Haven *Doll Hospital Inc *Doll Parts & Supplies *Doll Repair by Karen O’Shea *Doll Restorations *Dollightful Things *Dolls 4U *Dolls to Make *Donna’s Children *Dr Re’s Doll Clinic *Dr. Toni’s Doll Repair *Elaine’s Dolls & Restoration *Garrett House Antiques & Doll Hospital *Heirloom Doll Costumes & Restoration *Intensive Care Doll Hospital and Shop *Klein’s Dolls & Restoration *Linda Lee Sutton Original Dolls *Louise’s Little Ladies Doll & Toy Repair *Loved To Pieces Doll Hospital *Luel Restoration Studio *Mel’s Belles *Modern Doll Repair Parts *Mommies Doll & Stuffed Animal Hospital *ole babes *Patti Ann’s Teddy Bears & Dollies *Porcelain Classics *RaggedyLou’s Dolls *Rose Apple Acres Dolls *Royale Affair Dolls *Santa Maker *Secaucus Doll & Teddy Bear Hospital *ShenValley Doll Hospital *Sherman’s Antiques and Doll Hospital *Sherman’s Antiques and Doll Hospital *Southside Doll Workshop *Sowatzka’s Dolls *Suzanne’s Doll Hospital *T & D Porcelain Dolls and Supplies *Taggerty Doll Clinic *Tender Mercies Doll & Toy Repair *The Doll Company *The Doll Hospital *The Doll Hospital *The Doll Hospital & Toy Soldier Shop *The Doll Shop *TLC Doll Hospital/ Shoppe *Treasured Collectibles & Doll Hospital *Valarie Moyer’s Dolls *We’re Makin’ Dolls *


The backside of my composition baby doll. Note the doll has painted red shoes on her feet.

My composition baby with her eyes shut.

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March 21, 2012

Pincushion Projects

Above is an antique “hooked” pin cushion that belonged to my mother-in-law.

A pincushion is a small cushion, typically 3-5 cm across, which is used in sewing to store pins or needles with their heads protruding so as to take hold of them easily, collect them, and keep them tidy. Pincushions are typically filled tightly with stuffing, so as to hold pins rigidly once placed. The stereotypical design – a tomato with a strawberry attached – seems to have been around forever but, most likely, was introduced during the Victorian Era.Typically, the tomato is filled with wool roving to prevent rust, and the strawberry is filled with an abrasive to clean the pins and keep them sharp.

Below are some links to a variety of antique pincushions:

Pincushions come in all shapes, sizes and forms:

  1. Martha Stewart’s Homegrown Tomato Pincushions
  2. Fantabulous Pincushion Tutorial
  3. Bitty Dog by Bunny Hill Designs
  4. Square Wrist Pincushion
  5. Baby Food Jar Pincushion
  6. Martha Stewart’s Wool Sweater Tea Cup Pincushions
  7. Folk Art Pincushions from the stitching post
  8. African Violet Pincushion How-to
  9. Ladybug Pincushion How-To
  10. Mushroom Pincushion How-To
  11. Handmade Kitty Cat Pincushion
  12. Small Wonder Pin Blossom
  13. Soda Bottle Cap Pincushion
  14. Square Pincushion Tutorial
  15. Owly Pincushion
  16. Tin Can Pincushion
  17. Pincushion/Thread Catcher Tutorial
  18. Homespun Hearts Pincushions
  19. Busy Bees Pincushion
  20. Dress Form Pincushion
  21. Softie Owl Pincushion
  22. Free Hedgie Pincushion
  23. Wild Flower Pincushion Pattern
  24. Make A Mini-Basket Pincushion – Tutorial
  25. Tiny Pin Cushion Inside a Walnut Shell
  26. Monkeyroom’s Pincushion Tutorial
  27. Pincushion Jar Tutorial
  28. Wooly Brown Owl Pincushion
  29. Pincushion Hangup
  30. Pincushion Wristlet
  31. Flowerpot Pincushion
  32. Thumb Pincushion
  33. Sunny Wrist Pincushion Tutorial
  34. Pincushion Cuff Tutorial
  35. Patchwork Pincushion
  36. Pear Pincushion
  37. Make Do Pincushion
  38. Mouse Pincushion
  39. Bari J Pincushion
  40. Blue Owl Pincushion
  41. Abyquilt Pincushion Tutorial
  42. Wristlet Pincushion
  43. Patchwork Pincushion Tutorial
  44. Vintage Pincushion Sachet
  45. Blossom Pincushion
  46. Felt Spring Hat Pincushion
  47. Crazy Daisly Pin Cushion Pattern
  48. How To Make A Simple Square Pincushion
  49. Amazing Mae’s Simple Pincushion Tutorial
  50. Granny Square Pincushion
  51. Amish Puzzle Ball Pincushion
  52. Teacup Pincushion
  53. Tick Tock Watch Wrist Pincushion
  54. Toadstool Cottage & Mushroom House Pincushion
  55. Bitty Bug Pincushion
  56. Crochet Cupcake Pincushion
  57. Magnetic Wrist Pincushion
  58. Log Cabin Pincushion
  59. Tiny little teacup pinchusion
  60. Pretty Hex Pincushions
  61. Scrappy Armrest Pincushion Tutorial
  62. Strawberry Pincushion Tutorial

My favorite pincushion is a half doll (above) that was given to me by my great aunt. I’ll include links of these prickly beauties below. Some of them have been dismantled. With the price of needles these days, it’s no wonder. One must, from time to time, retrieve the lost and buried just to pinch a few pennies!

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March 15, 2012

I’ve Been Nominated For The “Kreative Blogger Award”

“Sweet Art Diva” nominated me for the “Kreative Blogger Award.”  I like to thank her for her kind attention to my doll blog .

She sells handmade felt creations at her Etsy shop. These little appliqués are perfect for decorating Easter baskets, Christmas stockings,  kid’s crafts or even cards and scrapbooks!

As with every nomination, there are some rules that are as follows:

  1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.
  2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
  3. Link the person who has nominated you for the award.
  4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
  5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.
  6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
  7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated.

Seven Things About Myself:

  1. I can never determine if I should blog about quilting or doll making together or on alternative web journals.
  2. I write lesson plans for fun and that is very strange. This is a genetic distinction, my two daughters both suffer from the same affliction.
  3. I almost never purchase Nacho Cheese Doritos because I can’t prevent myself from eating the entire quantity all at once. This is very bad for my figure, however, I am getting older and my figure has gone somewhere . . .  I don’t know where . . . but somewhere.
  4. I keep thinking that I should live somewhere warmer or cooler depending upon the temperature at the time that I am thinking about where I should be living.
  5. I collect lots and lots of stuff and then make something small before giving all the stuff away to other people. This is because I always think I will need more stuff than I actually do for a project.
  6. I have a tendency to use words that are no longer in spell check! I keep looking them up in my old dictionary, and these words do exist!
  7. If a baby is sitting in the pew in front of or behind me, within ten feet of me, in church, I will not hear a sermon; all I will think about is how adorable the baby is. Satan uses this to tempt me.

The following are web journals I admire:

1. Coletterie – Sewing tips, ideas and peeks in the Colette patterns studio. I love this blog because the directions are very clear and easy to follow. Well, I am a schoolteacher after all. The photographs are also excellent.

http://www.coletterie.com/

2. How Joyful -  is written by an industrial design graduate of the Universidad de Chile, “living and blogging creatively in the California mountains.” Because my husband and I used to live in San Francisco and often vacationed in the Sierra Nevada, I find the atmosphere in her photos very appealing. She is so studious and creative, she reminds me of my two college girls.

http://www.howjoyful.com/about/

3. fluffyland, craft & sewing blog – This blog has an irresistible name. Samantha is a mechanical engineering student from Case Western Reserve University. Her dolls are perfect for little ones; check them out.

http://fluffyland.com/blog/

4. The Sewing Space – This professional journal is maintained by a Master Seamstress. Lena lives and works out of Australia ; her blog is about drafting and manipulating patterns, sewing and fashion.

http://thesewingspace.com

5. Beyond the Kids – Is by a very lively and creative blogger named Susanne. She has duel citizenship and lives in Great Britain. Her quilts are very contemporary and her home remodeling adventurous!

http://beyondthekids.com

6. Raspberry – A web journal by textile designer, Alice, from the U.K. She “sets the stage” so to speak, for those of you interested in participating in arts and crafts shows. Her textile photography is also quite inspiring.

http://www.raspberry.co.uk

7. Get Self Sufficient! – is a blog started by three friends from across the globe: Rick from the US, Julie from the UK and Catherine from Australia. I love the concept of relying upon one’s self for sustainable behaviors/alternative lifestyles.  Maybe this is because my husband is a green architect and it is a common topic of discussion around our household. I look forward to reading their entries.

http://www.getselfsufficient.org/

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