Magnetic Playsets for Little Girls

I saw a post about magnetic playsets for boys [check it out at chezbeeperbebe.blogspot.com] with a superhero theme. I do have a boy (two, in fact), but I know a couple of little girls who could use some cheer, so I made these:

"Amy's Animal Adventures"

See, the magnets are stored in a neat little tin (15 cents at the thrift store!) and the "landscapes" are taped to the bottom of the tin and the underside of the lid. Then all the little magnets stick to the landscapes - so cool!
And for Myah, I printed out the original paper dolls out of the McCalls magazines from the 1950's. I found them on the internet. The graphics were not the greatest quality, but I like that they look vintage. Hopefully Myah will, too.

I printed out the animals and the dolls on Avery magnet sheets. The clothes actually stick on to the doll magnets so there are no tabs. Love it!
Too bad my daughter eats everything - I made a set for Spunky (space/aliens theme) but I know they'll end up in Sunshine's mouth. Bummer. Hopefully she'll grow out of the chewing phase soon and then maybe I'll make HER a set, too. :)

Hedgehog Bag

My sister has hedgehogs. Yes, real pygmy hedgehogs. So I made her this bag. All the fabric (houndstooth on the outside, and pandas on red background for the lining) was donated by a friend (who also helped me put it together). The cute little Anne Geddes hedgehog in the picture was a thrift store find (what a find!).

This is the hedgehog applique that I put on the front. Cute, huh?

Doesn't that hedgie look comfy?

Sleepover Pals and a Mermaiden

As I have mentioned several times in previous posts, I got the Wee Wonderfuls book from the library around Christmastime, and have finally finished most of the projects I put my hand to. Today I thought I would share my finished Sleepover Pals and a Mermaiden. The Sleepover Pals are a trio of dolls, complete with a sleeping bag, ready to go to have a sleepover with a special little person. My first trio (not pictured) went to my sweet 5 year old niece. These are the other two sets that I have made - ready to go to their new homes:

One of the down sides of recycling is that if I am making something specific, I often don't have just the right fabric. I like to get the fabric and create from that, instead of going from someone else's design and trying to "make do" with something out of my scrap bag. Take for instance the sleeping bag (shown in front of the dolls on the previous picture). I ended up using a sleep shirt (cats) for the exterior. It wasn't my favorite. I'd rather have picked up a yard or so of a plaid fabric. Oh well - sometimes we don't get exactly what we want when we're working on a $0 budget, right? Right. I'm still digging in my stash for something big enough to make the last sleeping bag with.

I also made this sweet "Mermaiden".

I saw the pattern for it in the book and since I already had these fabric scraps, I thought it would be a great fit. I made her body from a darker pair of khaki pants from my stash.

Speaking of my stash, I have to give a huge THANK YOU to my friend who used to work at a fabric store (I won't mention which one, just hint that it starts with "Jo" and ends with "Ann"). She's supplied me with a ton of scraps, bits and pieces left over from her various projects. I love it. Thanks, chickie!

So here's the whole bundle of dolls (I know, the ladybug on olive green ribbon doesn't match the kitty cat sleeping bag, but it's with what I had. Hopefully the kiddos won't notice.)

I love that I can make something with my hands and give it to encourage someone else. Gifts aren't always purchased, you know? My confession: having something to give makes me feel rich!

Leaping Lizards!

So my big sister commissioned lizards. Ask and you shall receive, says I. I started with this picture from her as a starting place:

Next, I found some tye-dyed T-shirts at the thrift store (of course), ridiculously cheap (of course). Started making sketches, and decided to put a fleece belly gusset on them. Then, with help from the little Sleepover Pals "buns" (from the Wee Wonderfuls book), I made those adorable eyes. The only stipulation my sister made about the chameleons was that their eyes NOT point in the same direction. I put some felt on top of the "buns", and they turned out really fun, I think!

I got really adventurous on the red chameleon and added a bit of daisy "doodles" (embroidery), which didn't turn out too bad. I was thinking of making a great big vine of flowers down the blue chameleon's tail, but I decided not to push my luck.

Next up, an iguana. Again my sister made only one stipulation on this: "make it so I can tell it is an iguana". No problem. Except - have you ever SEEN a real iguana? They are NOT cute creatures - no matter what anyone tells me. U.G.L.Y! Scary, even. So I WAS going to go with a cartoon-ish fabric and make it cartoony, but then I found this great green fabric and decided to give it a whirl. The spikes are made out of wool felt (a gift from my sister - thanks, e!)

Oh, and I'm still learning along the way. I drew these really cool feet on freezer paper and stitched around the paper, but I could NOT NOT NOT turn those dang toes! So I cut off the feet and made them out of the wool felt instead of the cotton - no turning necessary! I also embroidered a "tattoo" on one of the front feet during church. I found out that my mind actually did not wander as much during the sermon when I was stitching - even though I made my very first French knots ever. Yay!

Spunky and Sunshine LOVED playing with the chameleons. I just sent all of them off today - hope my sister likes them as much as the kiddos.

First Attempt at Seam Binding

I have been surfing the 'net looking for information on how to add seam binding to clothing. I've never done it before. I found a bunch of tutorials on making bias tape as well as how to sew it, so I decided it was time to give it a try. I found a pack of "quilt binding" (which I found out is just another name for 1-inch bias tape) at the thrift store for 40 cents, so that's what I used. I made a dress out of a womans skirt (a thrift store find, of course!), then added the binding around the neckline and armholes - I didn't have enough white thread (can you believe I ran out?!!!), so I used red. Then I made a detachable flower from felt, and presto! a cute little dress for Sunshine!

And it was made for $2.49 (plus tax, of course)!











Here's my Sunshine, ready for her day out. Obviously, not ready to have her picture taken, though...

And just so you don't think her face froze in that position...

Unfortunately it's not warm enough in Ohio to wear it yet, but she models pretty, doesn't she? (sorry about the fuzzy photos - my camera doesn't do well with indoor lighting.)

Exploring Dollmaking (part 2)

I shared this doll with you in a previous post, but it had no hair (not that Sunshine noticed).


I finished the doll and wanted to show you what she looks like now:

Pretty amazing what can be done with a bag of stuffing, some leftover yarn, and a thrift store shirt! For her clothes I just put a tunic (size 18m) on her - its a little big, but tailoring is not my forte :)

Rhinocerous

This past week I tried something new. I have been following Abby Glassenberg's Elements of Soft Toy Design series (she's working on a book, too, but it's not finished yet). Her blog (http://whileshenaps.typepad.com) is full of really cool stuff - she's amazingly talented. Anyway, one of the posts I just read was on underbody gussets - the "belly" of a 3D stuffie. I have only made 2D (i.e. a front and a back) stuffies in the past, so I thought I'd try it out.
This is what I came up with.

Yes, folks, it's a rhino. "Why a rhino," you ask? I chose a rhino because my Spunky son loves the show "Wild Kratts" (on PBS), and one of his favorite episodes is about rhinos. Plus, teddy bears are so over-done. I want to be different - and a rhino is definitely different!

OK, so here's my rhino. It's not AMAZING, but it is pretty good for being my very first attempt. I didn't know the hind legs would puff out so much, so he rocks a bit. I do like his face, though. I went with really, really bright blue for the eyes because, well, he's all gray - and gray is quite drab. I was thinking about putting a bowtie or something around his neck to give him some more color, but since I can't tie a decent bow I decided to leave him as-is.
As usual, though, my children don't care - they LOVE him!