My contribution to the doll swap

I thought that I would do something different.

I had been meaning to have a play around with different designs for a while so the doll swap was a perfect opportunity to do it.

Really you've seen the design in my last post with M's friends dolly, but this is the one I made for

Sara.....

Certain parts were a bit fiddly, particularly the hair and the neck joints but I changed things slightly in the second doll to avoid any annoying stitching.

I do have to make a confession though. Not all of the doll is made by me! Shock horror! The little shoes are actually knitted by my dear old Nan. She makes hoards of them and gives them to the great grandchildren, friends and to a charity shop. Even I have some! She made some tiny baby ones and because I had given the doll big mahooosive feet I thought that the bootees would fit perfectly. And they did!

So handmade, yes they are, by me, errrrrrr no. I can't even cast on, so to make something like them would be a miracle.

Back to the swap, there are only a few swappers left now that are to finish. I have opened a Flickr account and uploaded all the finished photos to it. When all the dolls are done I will somehow figure out how to put a little Flickr thing on here.

Note, Mr Flickr if your reading this, can you please make that website easier to use. It doesn't make much sense to me and it leaves me wanting to cry after I have been on it.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to show sneaky pics of my toadstool for the swap. It could still be WIP but I hope it will be complete.

New dolly

Meet the doll with no name.

She is a present for M's friend. This Sunday she is going to her Princess party and her mum informed me that like alot of 4 year old girls, her favourite colours are pink and purple.

Now at the time I was a bit short on fabric so I did a combination of pale blue with flowers and the same fabric for the arms but in pink. I had to add some kind of floaty skirt too and a crown. No princess would be complete without those 2 key items would they.

Yesterday was a lovely day too.

We took the kids to Preston Park at Stockton and took them round Butterfly world (really it was a mini Eden project and I swear I must have a lost a stone when I came out from all the sweating). I stupidly forgot the camera. I could have kicked myself because the colours in there were amazing. There was one particular butterfly which took a fancy to our pushchair, in its defense though its a tandem pushchair and its bright red and green (think christmas elves), but the colours on it were unbeliveable. Inside its wings was a bright aqua colour that seemed pearlesant. It followed us right around which was quite funny.

We then got to see a huge Python, a Chameleon, some hairy spiders and Meerkats.

After the kids had a run about outside in the glorious weather, we had lunch and then I did a bit of shopping.

Later L and I went to see Sex and the City.

L was mortifed as it was full of groups of women. I thought it was hilarious. He did say that it smelt nice in there though!

If you watched the series then you have to go and see this film and even if you didnt, you owe it to yourself to go and see it, although if you are offended by scenes of nudity, DONT GO!

I laughed, I cried and in one particular scene I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach, it was very odd but I guess it was the power of that scene.

Oh and the shoooooooooooes were to die for!

I am sure I felt myself dribbling slightly.

And the winner is...............

Congratulations to Tintocktap (great name by the way).

You have won a little bag of goodies, well actually it will be a biggish bag really.

I used a random number generator which threw out number 12. I was going to save it to put a picture on here just to prove there was no funny business going on but my laptop decided it didnt like it, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

So Mrs TTT can you email me with your details at Meecrafts at googlemail dot com and I will post your prize out on Friday.

I can do it tomorrow because

ITS MY BIRTHDAY!

Although why I'm celebrating being a year older I dont know.

But L is taking me shopping with the kids and then my parents will be babysitting so I can go and see Sex and The City.

Soooooooo excited about this film.

Anyway, have a lovely day everyone.

Giveaway reminder

Just a quick post to remind you all that my giveaway ends tomorrow.

I'll be drawing a name in the afternoon so you have till tomorrow morning.

You've got to be in it to win it!

Panic panic panic, but good panic!

Only the other day I was thinking how nice it is that I have no deadlines to meet and I was looking forward to making a start on the Toadstool swap and making another new doll for M's friends party next Saturday.

I'd finished the doll for the swap and that will be winging its way to Sara at allabouteden tomorrow. I was planning some new projects.

Then last weekend my eldest son E decided to pull the wallpaper off his bedroom wall when he woke from his nap, revealing a nice sized hole with a pipe behind it and also just how much the previous owners enjoyed wallpapering, as we found 4 layers of wallpaper, 2 of them woodchip!

So another task to do, decorate E's bedroom but not before a major stripping session went on (and I dont mean the saucy kind!).

Ok I thought, it needed it and I do enjoy decorating, its just we thought we would have a bit of break from doing up the house for a while. As L says though, all things happen for a reason (insert sceptical look here).

Then yesterday, one of the lovely mums from Mumsnet left me a message saying she had seen one of my dolls and that she would like 2 for her daughters.

Great I thought. Receiving commisions is great. I'm not really bothered about the money side, I just enjoy making the items and its lovely that you get recognition that people like what you do.

So I checked my email last night to get all the details and specifications for the dolls, only to find another email from another mumsnetter who also wants 2 dolls!

My first thought was WOW, how lovely and I got all excited thinking about what fabrics to use and planning in my head what they would look like, as you do.

Then this morning it hit me how much I have to do now!

5 dolls, one of which has to be done by Saturday and the Toadstool swap.

Not to mention my family.

Yikes!

I have to say I feel a little bit overwhelmed but excited and very pleased.

And I have had a little splurge and bought some yummy fabrics for said dolls.

Tomorrow I am going to pick up a bag of fabric from a local ladywho has offered them to me.

I put a wanted post on a great site called Freecycle for any fabric remenants that people didnt want or were surplus to them.

The basic philosophy of Freecycle is basically to keep things out of landfill by recycling them to other people for free. Its a very good site, very popular and helpful.

Anyway, about 2 hours after my post went on, I had an email from this lady who said that she collected fabrics but they were taking over her home so I would be welcome to some.

Result!

I'll soon be drowning in fabric!

I'll post some WIP pictures when I do actaully get started.

Wish me luck!

Tagged again.....

Thanks to Chickadee for this tag.
Its made me get my thinking cap on!

1) What was I doing 10 years ago.
This really shocked me actually. 10 Years ago I was doing my GCSE's. I'd left school so was just going back at certain times and days to do my exams.
The rest of the time was spent with friends shopping, relaxing at a place called the Museum Gardens in York and doing some extra hours at a shoe shop I worked at. Exams aside, it was a great time in my life.

2) 5 things on my to do list for today.
A load of washing
Tidy my bedroom as there are clothes all over
Tidy M's room
Mop the kitchen and family room
School run

3) Snacks I enjoy.
I love little savoury bits, indian snacky things like Samosa's and Bhajis, Chocolate and I have a thing at the minute for little slices of parmesan cheese and pickled Gherkins together.
Yummmmmmmmmmmm.

4) Things I would do if I were a Billionaire.
This is really hard.
Well firstly ensure that all my family were well looked after and secure for the rest of their lives.
Buy a big Yacht and travel.
Buy a place in Canada near the slopes
Buy one of those new Grand Voyager cars with the spinning front passenger seat
Learn how to make shoes and have my own shoe empire
Then give a hefty amount to chairty but I wouldnt have a clue where to start. Probably Macmillan Cancer Research and an animal chairty.

5) Places I have lived
York
Wakefield
Barnsley
Northallerton

6) Bloggers I want to know about
Ooooooh right then

Hana at Hand of light and Creation and Nosh of love
Icods blog
Lucy Locket Recycled her Pocket
The Vintage Magpie
And a bit of a cheat as there are more than one contributer but still, Mumsnet Crafters

Fun days and a giveaway!

Oooh hello!

Thats better.
We are very lucky in that our local park is amoungst lots of fields, a farm and a another field where a family own some Donkeys. This horse comes from the farm though. He was very friendly but I had to insist he didnt eat my camera, or my top!

Then yesterday we took advantage of the lovely weather and went to a little place called Osmotherley. If your ever in North Yorkshire and you want somewhere nice to go for the day but just to chill out, Osmotherley is perfect. It has a little village with mainly just one street lined with very old cottages and a couple of pubs so you can sit out with a nice drink. Then further up you go into the country at the bottom of some hills.

A shallow stream runs through it and there are lots of flat grass patches to set out your picnic and just basically relax. The kids can paddle in and out of the water, which they love and its so open they can run about like looneys.

Father and son inspecting something in the water.

Then a race to get to the top!

Back to the grindstone again today. What joy!

But wait, there is a giveaway!

I'm giving away one of my old style dolls and some other little bits and bobs.

All you need to do is leave a comment but I'd like you to tell me whats been your best day recently. What did you do? I have had such a lovely couple of days so it would be nice to hear what the rest of you have been up to.

I'll draw a name a week today.

Good luck!

And I forgot, I have been tagged!

My little southern pal Hana has tagged me.

Its a page 161 meme. Basically you have to quote a sentance from page 161 of the book you are currently reading.

So at the moment I am reading a light hearted funny book called Can you keep a secret by Sophie Kinsella, which incidently Hana actually gave to me!

So here goes;

"As I walk along the corridors my stomach is churning, and I feel all prickly and self-concious, as though everyone in the building must know what I'm doing. Theres a lift waiting to go up, but I head for the stairs, firstly so I won't have to talk to anyone and secondly because my heart's beating so fast, I feel like I need to use up a bit of nervous energy."

Thats spoilt the whole story now.

;)

Soooooo like all tags I have to choose someone else.

Katy your it!

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside.......

Having a game of catch me with the tide

This is the habour at Cala D'Or.

I would have loved to have got all of it in a picture but it was massive.

There were some unbelieveable boats there. Definately some moneys worth!

Just Chilling on the beach with my mummy

But it sometimes just gets too much.

Happy family full of Tapas

It certainly was!

Its strange how you get pulled back down to earth with an almighty bump when you come back off holiday. You spend a week away in a beautiful place and then all of a sudden your back at home washing, hoovering, cooking and school runs again.

Hey ho!

Now back to crafting. This week I plan to put some finishing touches to Sara's doll for the swap. I thought I had finished it before we went away but as we were coming home I had a few little brainstorms and I think it will finish the doll off well. I'm not giving any clues away though! I cant wait to see everyone elses.

I have an idea for a follow up to this swap but I will have to see pictures of the finished products first to see if it will work.

Intrigued?

You should be!

Home at last

We're back!

This is just a quick post because I have a mountain of washing as one would expect after a beach holiday with 3 children but also we had a bubble bath explosion in one of the cases so I have more than normal!

We had a lovely time. The weather was a bit on and off with a few rainy days but I couldnt complain. I feel very relaxed now and it was great to see the kids enjoying themselves. Give them a beach, a bucket and spade and they are happy.

I'll post some more pictures tomorrow hopefully.

Toadstool

It didnt take that long!

Go on, make one.

Have a look at LucyKate Crafts for the tutorial.

So how are you getting on?

As you may or may not know, I will be away from Tuesday next week and the running up till then is busy busy busy so I may not get chance to get to the laptop.

So all I wanted to know was how you are all getting on with your dolls?

I have one little last finishing touch for Sara's and I was hoping to send it before I went away but it looks unlikely now, so I'm very sorry Sara but I will post it as soon as I return.

Its amazing what new things you learn when you make something a bit different to what you usually do. Yes I like to make dolls but this one I have done for the swap is different to my usual "style" and I have to say I have really enjoyed making it and picking up new things along the way.

Obviously I cant say too much but when Sara recieves it I will tell all.

Today I'm going to have a go at making a Toadstool from this tutorial from LucyKate crafts. Because she posts on Mumsnet she had mentioned that she had done the tutorial and I thought it was very sweet but then thought, why would I make this? What would it do?

Anyway after I was rummaging in my little craft cupboard, also known as under the stairs, I found a whole new sheet of untouched fabric which I bought from Nuno plus weeks and weeks ago and a whole meters worth of felt, again untouched!

How they managed to slip through my fingers I dont know but today they will be hacked to pieces to make a little sweet toadstool and a little something to sit with it.

I am not saying anymore than that!

So if I dont get back, happy doll making and I cant wait to see everyones pieces.

Dont fret though, you have until the end of the month!

x