Boden - Waldorf Fairy Doll

This is Boden.  He is a night fairy like his twin sister, Nyxy.  But, he prefers the stars.  You’ll often find him in the canopy of the tallest tree he can find trying to touch all the stars.  He’s tried flying to them, but pixie dust can only get you so far. So for now, he just wishes on the first falling star he sees every night that one day he will be among them. 

He was a custom order waldorf doll fairy I made for a customer. He has a twin sister I showed previously, Nyxy.He has wrap pants and a vest.  His hair is this wonderful wool roving yarn from Martha Stewart.  He has a full head of hair that can be brushed.
 
I have never seen any tutorials on how I make my waldorf doll hair.  I do not crochet a cap and then sew it in.  I crochet the entire cap and hair all together as one.  It goes very quickly and when you're done, you have brushable hair. For girl hair on an average 15 inch doll, it takes almost an entire skein.  For boy hair of the same size, it takes about half a skein. 

Very soon, I hope to get my husband, the youtube video maker, to help me make a video tutorial to show exactly how I do it. 

Look for my Wee Santa ornament tutorial tomorrow!

Wee Santa Ornaments

I make these little pocket dolls, sometimes I call them "wee" dolls.  They are waldorf inspired.  Sometimes I sew wool batting onto their faces to make them into gnomes.  Looking at a red one I had, it dawned on me to turn these into little Santas for an adorable ornament for the Xmas tree.  I love how they came out.

I used real wool batting for the beard and around the hat.  I had to felt it a bit by rolling it in my hands to get it to be a bit denser than it comes.  I also added a little jingle bell on the end of the hat. Then to finish him off, I added a little blush on his cheeks.  I originally wasn't going to add a face, but after I made them, I felt he needed eyes and a mouth.  I was able to sew the mouth threw the beard, but for the eyes I just added them with a fine point Sharpie. 

I made some of these for ornament exchanges and gifts, and I had a few extra I put in my Etsy store.  I've sold out of the darker burgundy ones, but I have some of the red ones still in my Etsy store.  

Fairies and Mermaids, oh my!

I haven't been blogging regularly because I've been getting my house in order since the craft fair. I sewed a lot for 2 weeks before the fair, and my house just went downhill since all I did was sew, feed people, and do laundry.  I don't think my dear husband or my sweet children realized how much I do around here until I stopped doing it.

Today's post is in two parts.  Part 1 - my recent creative endeavors.  Part 2 - drama at the craft fair. 

Part 1 - Here are some new waldorf dolls I've recently made.  They are currently on Etsy, if you are interested in purchasing them.  Click on the individual pictures and it will take you to their listing.  I just love how they came out!  They are all about 10 inches in length, all stuffed with wonderful wool I purchase from an Amish farm, and all have wool hair.  

This first one is Nyxy, the night fairy.  She has a dark navy body made of super soft cotton velour.  Her hair is a pale green wool roving. Her petal skirt is an embroidered pieced batik, and her wings are blue sparkly print. 

The second one is Ivy, the forest fairy.  I love her lavender hair.  It's a soft wool roving as well. Her body is a bright green cotton velour.   She has purple wings to go with her purple hair.  She also has a petal skirt made from an aqua batik with lavender moons and stars.  I think that is my favorite batik fabric I've ever owned.

Lastly, I have two mermaids.  I'll have pictures of the other one soon.  But for now, this is Tallulah, which means leaping waters.  I love the meaning of that name!  My husband says this one most looks like me of all the dolls I've recently made.  She has a green velour tail with hot pink top and blonde hair.

I am also slowly adding things on Etsy.  In addition to these dolls, I have some of my super soft knotty style dolls, and I'm happy to take custom orders, just send me a conversation over there. I just recently had a custom order for knotty dolls that were other colors than I had offered. 

I'm also open to trades for my dolls for things for my children for Xmas/Yule.  My youngest dd is 2 and loves pretend play and babies.  My oldest dd is 13 (going on 30), and loves mustache stuff.  My middle ds is 8 and loves pretend play when it comes to swords and things like that.  Send me a convo at Etsy, and we can work something out.

Part 2 - The craft fair was fun, and we made about triple what we paid for the booth, so that was nice. I really want to do another one before Christmas, so we are looking for a good one that isn't too expensive for booths.  If you know of a good one in the DFW area, please post in the comments!

My dear sweet wonderful adoring husband never left my side, so I wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I would be, except for one incident. Fairly close to the opening, we are standing there smiling, answering questions, when he gives me this look and is vigorously pointing with his head (as best as one can point with their head, lol).  All I see is this man standing there, and I'm thinking WTH is he trying to tell me.  I was partially blocked by this wire bookshelf on our table.  Then as I move around it, I see it....his ex-wife and her mother are oohing and awing over MY things.  They have yet to look up and see whose table this belongs to.  So my dear husband, as hilarious as he is, smiles the biggest smile he ever had and says rather excitedly, "Good Morning!"  At this point, I am in a fit of giggles.  His ex looks up and I swear she actually ran, physically ran, about 3 booths away, funniest thing ever.  Her mother then completely oblivious to what has just occurred, then proceeds to have a conversation with me about what I make.  My husband thinks his former mother-in-law didn't realize he was even there.

After that, the ex kept circling around the entire craft fair, trying to pretend we didn't exist, except I kept seeing her peek over at us.  The weird thing is I'm starting to wondering if she's facebook stalking me or something.  Three days after she's practically at our house for trick or treating (she's not a parent, nor does she live anywhere near our town), she ends up at the craft fair?  Both of which I blog about, which also shows up on my facebook page? This is not a tiny small town either, and there were at least three other craft fairs going on in the same town on that same day.  Weird. 

Swaddled Waldorf Babies

These are some of my newest Waldorf inspired dolls, just for toddlers. My 2 year old loves to hold wrapped up babies, and I thought I'd give this idea a try and see how she liked it. She absolutely loved her new baby, so I made a few up for my microboutique.

This is also a tutorial I have mostly completed, but put on the back burner when I got so sick last week and then while I finished up my most recent restocking at my store the last few days. Look for it in a few days.

Babies and Babies and More Babies

Here is my current project -- a basket of babies.  These are tiny pocket-sized Waldorf dolls perfect for toddlers who love to carry tiny things around with them.

A tutorial for these will be up very soon. I don't have the time to put the finishing touches on it just yet because I'm in a frenzy mode for 2 reasons:

#1  My oldest dd's birthday is the first day of school (oh how fun!), and she's having a sleepover Friday night with her two best friends.  I plan to have my awesome jumbo rainbow cupcakes ready for them to frost and my house is currently a mess because my children are part of the best demolition crew known to man.

 #2 I have to finish a few different projects to take to my microboutique this week, and I'm already 1 day late doing it.  I am not a procrastinator, and I hate when I fall past a deadline, even if it's a stupid deadline I set myself.
 

Stomach bugs and waldorf dolls

Don't those just go together? Unfortunately, I have been sick as a dog with some kind of stomach bug. It's not fun, so that's why I've been MIA for a few days. I had grand plans to get up a new tutorial on Thursday, but I just felt horrible. And, I haven't felt much better since. So the tutorials are piling up around here. I have 3 or 4 tutorials worth of pictures. I just need to feel good enough to write them up and post. They are all Waldorf doll inspired, and the first one will be up in the next few days.

I've been on a Waldorf doll kick for the past few couple weeks. I've decided to offer custom dolls available for order in my little microboutique with my mom. Hmm, "little microboutique" is rather redundant, dontcha think? :)

I made up a sample doll to place in my store and for sample pictures on Etsy. Here she is. She told me her name was Lorelei. I was going to name her after my yougest, but she informed me her name was definitely Lorelei. She's apparently has some spunkiness to her much like my darling youngest daughter, who is so sure of herself and she's not even 3 years old yet.

This is Lorelei. She has a mixture of wool yarns for her hair, mainly in fuschia. She has green eyes and a little bright pink mouth. I love her outfit, especially the colors. They just screamed at me to be her outfit. She has a layered skirt with coordinating peasant top.  She also has a wool felted messenger bag upcycled from a black sweater vest because Lorelei loves nothing more than to go thrifting and repurpose what she finds.  And lastly, she is wearing brown felted shoes that tie around her ankles with ribbon. 

Pixie Cone Puppets! Our newest design...

Here it is! This newest design from Sewing Chick Studio and The TipToe Fairy.  It's Walforf-inspired cone puppets.

They are so much fun to make!  My kids have loved to play with these puppets for years.  

This pattern is less daunting than making a full complete Waldorf doll.  And, once you're done, embellishing your puppet is a great way to use up small amounts of leftover trims or scrapbook embellishments.  

Need an amazing kid's gift for birthdays, Hanukkah, or Christmas? These are always a treat! I have yet to meet a child who doesn't light up the minute they see these puppets.

 Included in this pattern is a 22-page PDF with step by step instructions with full color pictures as well as printable pattern pieces. 

The pattern is now up at Craftsy.com.  Shortly, it will be available on my website and Etsy. 

Intended for ages 4 and over.

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Waldorf Doll Tutorial

I know my waldorf doll tutorial is much loved, and I often get emails about it.  I've spent the last few hours updating it to a printable PDF. I've also updated it in the side bar of tutorials. 

You can download it here.

If you are new to my blog, I have a jointed waldorf doll sew along tutorial that is fairly easy.  It has lots of pictures for each step, and it includes a printable pattern for the body, arms, and legs as well.  I will warn you that these are time consuming little creatures, but it's such a satisfying feeling to finish one. 

I'm in the midsts of making a couple waldorf dolls for my microboutique, and in doing so, I will soon have a waldorf doll wig tutorial as well available for download in the very near future.

I'll keep you posted!

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