Meet Moby

Meet Moby

I just finished a custom doll for a sweet four year old boy who loves to be outside.  I know that Moby can't wait to play outside as much as possible, climbing trees, watching clouds, and singing and dancing under the stars with his new daddy.  Unfortunately, Moby is going to live in Canada, so for the next few months Moby and his new daddy will dream about the long summer months outside, play with cars and trucks, and figure out how to trick Mom into giving them more cookies! 

 

The Great Outdoors

When I was a kid many of our famiy vacations involved sleeping in a tent.  My husband and I have yet to brave camping with our little ones yet.  As soon as sleep patterns are a little more normal in our house, I hope we have the chance to head out and introduce our girls to the joy of early morning frost breath, long johns, jumping off rocks, cold creek water, the smell of camp fire, cooking on a coleman stove, rolling up a sleeping bag, and signing under the stars.  Until we are ready, I will live vicariuously through the little set of dolls I am making for an upload in July.  

Playing Around

Over the past few weeks I have been participating in a "just for fun" contest on the Gals and Dolls FB page called Project Dolly Play.  Every couple of weeks we are given a theme and we can create a doll or accessory.   All the entries are amazing - you should definitely head over to check it out.   It has felt like high school art class and I love it.  Creating with no boundaries can be liberating but sometimes my creativity sparks more when I have some constraints within which to work.  Major experimenting with my patterns, creating new patterns, adding noses, etc. I have had the chance to really play around and it is so fun.  This week's theme is "On the Farm." This is my Sofie - she has been in my head for awhile now, begging to be made, so I made her for me.   This way when my girls beg me to play babies with them I have a baby to play with too.  

Hockey

Today I sent off a this little guy to Canada for a boy who loves sports...espcially hockey.  To be perfectly honest, we don't watch a lot of hockey in Los Angeles but with some coaching from his mom, I think we came up with a appropriate outfit for a hockey fan.  

I hope these two are great friends...playing games together, building train tracks, and helping mom in the kitchen.  Bon Voyage little guy! 

Hansel and Gretel

For round two of the little contest in which I am participating, I made the protaganists from one of my favorite stories.  As I made these two little dolls, I spent a large amount of time contemplating the story itself and why I am so drawn to it.  I love how corageous the children are in the face of such adverse circumstances and how the siblings draw together and care for one another.   As a mom to two small girls, one of my biggest hopes for them (as I am sure is true for most parents) is that they will form an unbreakable bond with one another, that they will protect one another during hard times and rejoice together during times of joy.  

Super Spy Ryan Dylan

Ryan Dylan (named by his new buddy) is a custom doll I finished a little while ago for a very sweet little guys birthday.   He is a super spy and love to slooth around the house, listening and looking for cluse to all the mysteries happening around him. He weats a special spy cape with an inside pocket to hold his Top Secret notebook.  

  

Citrus Toy Swing

While working a little project for a contest in which I am taking part, the girls and I made a tiny swing to hang in our lemon tree.  We cut a lemon in half, removed all the fruit down to the dry rind, punched two holes (using a hold punch) on opposite sides, tied a loop of string through each hole, stuffed the inside with a little wool, and viola a swing for a small doll or toy.  We made ours with a lemon but you could use an orange or even a grapefuit for a larger swing. My girls had a great time swinging this little doll.  

Meet K's Nathan

Meet K's Nathan

On Christmas morning, this cheeky little monkey came to live with us.  As K saw dolls being made and then sent away all fall, she asked for me to make a little boy named Nathan for Christmas.  She specifically requested that he wear green overalls and an orange sweater.  She sure picked the right colors for Nathan because he is loud, loves to laugh, and definitely knows how to get into trouble.  Just the other night, I heard splashing in the kitchen.  I raced in and found K and Nathan splashing happily in a puddle of water on the kitchen floor next to an overturned water glass.  K told me it was all Nathan's idea - he even tipped over the glass.   A few afternoons before that, I came into the living room to find all the books pulled from the shelves.  Guess whose idea that was? Nathan!

Nathan especially does not like being told to sit in his craddle...He stands up and asks to be taken out for a time, then if you don't lift him out, he just swings his leg over the edge and hops down.  

 

He has livened up our quiet house quite a bit, but we love him anyway. 

Our First Doll

A few days ago, I was surfing around on flickr and came across a picture that Graceposted of the first doll she made for her family (isn't she adorable? I am not positive, but I think that Grace may take custom orders if you are interested) and it started me thinking about our first doll, Nico.  

I made Nico for my older daughter, K, when she was about 18 months old.  I felted an old cashmere sweater that my dad passed on to me for sewing because it had a few moth holes in it.  Following the instructions from a Weir kit, I formed the head and made up the patten for the body myself (I knew I wanted to make a soft doll instead of a fully formed doll because she was so young).  I spent a few late nights before Christmas sewing and resewing until the doll seemed right.   

Late at night as I was sewing the doll, I had visions of K running to the doll on Christmas morning, squealing with glee, and never letting the doll go.  Christmas morning came and K was far more interested in the box I packaged the doll in than poor little red doll.  Over the next few weeks, I played with the poor little red doll every once in a while and K showed interest in him when I played with him, but most of the time he sat in the corner.  A few months later, K refused to go to sleep and she kept saying "Nico, Nico."   I was completely baffled...Nico is K's older cousin.  So I explained that Nico was probably getting ready for bed at Nico's house and maybe we could visit tomorrow, etc. K kept looking around the house and finally I had the sense to ask "who is Nico?"   She looked around until she found the little red doll.  Grabbed him, took him to bed with her and snuggled in.  

K slept with Nico on and off until about four months ago.  My younger daughter, T, was having a very difficult time transitioning from our bed to her crib.  One night K told me that Nico was for T to sleep with now.  Now T uses Nico as a pillow every night as she falls asleep.  

Nico has spots all over him (despite giving him a bath a few times a year) and a few holes that I need to mend.  He is so well loved.  Despite the cool welcome he received, he has a very special place in our family.   

Calloused Hands

On December 31, 2009, my hands were so soft, not a callous in sight.  In mid-December 2010, my husband commented that my hands were rough.  He was right.  My finger tips are calloused, I have blisters in the space between my knuckles, and my hands are dry, cracked.  

I am proud of my calloused hands.  They signify to me that this is the year I stopped wishing and started doing.  I spent a lot of time in the last few years picturing and wishing for a certain life but refusing to try to live it.  "If only" was a phrase I used often..."if only we lived somewhere slower..." "if only we had a yard...", etc.  In 2010, I decided to stop sabbotaging myself and just start doing.  I have had to quiet a lot of inner doubt, opened myself up to rejection and spent a fair amount of time "hiding" some of my new creative pursuits from my "real life," but this has been one of the most liberating years of my life.  While we still dream of moving to the country, having a yard, etc., in 2011, I will continue to open my heart and put myself out into the world.  I plan to embrace the life we have, while continuing to make small changes to bring our life closer to how I have been dreaming it could be.  Basically, I am going to just keep doing.        

In 2011, I wish for everyone health, open hearts, a little more quiet, and a year of doing. 

Seasonal Traditions Exchange

I participated in a seasonal traditions exchange this year.  With one partner, we swapped a handmade seasonal decoration, a tradition "tutorial," and a recipe.  My tutorial explained the beginning of advent from my childhood.  I have been trying to figure out how to implement this tradition with my own family now and this week thought it might make a nice winter solstice tradition, so I thought I would share:

First Advent Sunday in the Mountains (or other lovely  outdoor location) Tutorial:

Background: My family and I are Christian so many of our family traditions focus on preparing for Christmas day: buying a Christmas tree, singing Christmas carols, baking cookies, organizing presents for loved ones, reading Christmas books.  Celebrating the entire advent season (the  four Sundays preceding advent) really allows our family to revel in the season and fully prepare for Christmas.  Hands down my favorite days during this season are advent  Sundays.  I grew up in a small suburb of Los Angeles nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains with a very large and active church.  Our family was lucky enough to have a tightly knit group of friends with children  all around the same age as my brother and I.  The children  in this group always felt more like siblings or cousins since  my brother and I had known them for as long as we could remember.  Each Sunday afternoon during Advent, we would gather at someone’s house, a park or some other    place to celebrate advent with Christmas crafts, a picnic lunch, lots of play.  The First Advent Sunday might have been my favorite day of the year.  We always had our advent celebration in the mountains. 

Essential Ingredients:

Lovely outdoor setting

Camp fire

Picnic Food

Warm drinks in thermoses

Marshmallows, chocolate, graham crackers, and sticks for smores

Guitar (and hopefully someone who plays)

Advent ring and candles

Version of the Christmas Story

Song sheets for Christmas carols

Instructions: This is how our family always celebrated the first advent Sunday in the mountains: We all bundled up and drove into the mountains to a camp ground about 40 miles from our town.  We hiked in the afternoon collecting pinecones, jumping off rocks, and just enjoying the surrounding nature.  Occasionally we received snow in the mountains above my parent’s house but generally it was just cold enough to make the tips of our noses rosy (this not being a common phenomenon in Los Angeles).  After our hike, we all settled at the campsite to eat homemade chili warmed on Coleman stoves and roasted marshmallows for dessert.  When we all had our fill, we    gathered around the crackling fire to light the first advent candle, hear the beginning of the Christmas story and then sing Christmas carols.  We would then pack up, usually dead tired, and drive silently through the night to our homes.  I would always stare at the stars and feel the cold air though the window.  It was pure magic.

Why: For me there is a special appeal to starting off the Advent season communing with nature.  Growing up in Los Angeles and living in very urban west Los Angeles now, I find that I forget to stop and admire the beauty of our natural world. There is something truly magical about the quiet of winter.  The time spent in the mountains gave my heart a moment to observe not only the surrounding beauty but also to absorb the stillness of winter.  It allowed me to hold that magical stillness in my heart and carry it back with me to the hustle and bustle as we prepared for Christmas.    It was a family ritual that I will never forget and wish to repeat with my girls.  For now, we light the advent candles and sing songs just the  four of us but someday I hope to have a community of friends with whom to spend the first Sunday of advent in the mountains.