Craftiness!

Watching my sisters work on their clay projects and other Christmas pressies has put me in the mood to be crafty.

So I was. 

And this is what happened:

I love these little dollies. :) They're awesome as gifts. 

Wanna make one? Wanna?

You will need:

~About a square foot of material

~A small wooden bead-- about the size of a marble-- You can find them at almost any craft store for a pretty good price.

~Pipe cleaners

~Embroidery floss (one hair coloured, and one any colour you feel like. The latter is optional. *wink*)

~Elmer's Glue (wood glue words well too, but leaves more of a mark)

~Scissors

~Thread- doesn't matter which colour. 

~An HB pencil (my, doesn't that sound professional? Actually it doesn't matter as long as it has an eraser.)

~coloured pencils (optional)

~A cup of tea 

Yep, I'm a nerd.

~Adoring siblings or nieces. (Also optional. They're a morale booster if you start to feel your doll with look miserable.)

OKAY! 

1.) So, you're going to start out with your pipe cleaner and wooden bead. Measure about how tall the doll should be, and fold the pipe cleaner at that length. Thread the bead on it, and chop of the excess pipe cleaner on that one side. (DO NOT throw that extra piece away! You'll need it later.)

2.) Get your embroidery floss (aka, hair) and wrap it around the Elmer's glue bottle until it looks like it can cover most of the bead without showing baldness. It should amount to about as wide as the bead on both sides. :) 

3.) Slide the floss off and cut it, so that you have loads of equally lengthed strands. Slide the bead down on the pipe cleaner and open the hole. Thread the hair through the eye. Push the bead up enough that the pipe cleaner disappears from the crown of the head. 

4.) Remember that extra piece of pipe cleaner I told you not to throw away? Get it. Wrap it once around the body for the arms. 

5.) Fold your material in half and put the doll on it as a guideline. Cut a fairly largish half-circle. 

6.) Cut little neck and arm holes. (Make them smaller than you think you ought to be, they expand.)

Mine were just a touch too big.

7.) Fold the dolls arms flat down and slide the whole doll through the neck hole, then thread the arms through their delegated sleeves. 

8.) Wrap the thread a few time around the middle to make a waistband. {tell adoring little nieces/siblings to leave the dolly alone because she's not done yet.) You can leave the dress alone from there if you want... it looks complete. But if you want to continue..... there's more!

9.) This is where the optional, colourful embroidery floss comes in. Wrap it around the torso to make a bodice. (round, and round, round, and round, round, and round, round, and round, round, and round, round, and round, round, and round, round, and round.) You can also use thread for this part, but it takes longer.

10.) Slather the back and a tiny bit of the sides of the bead with glue. 

11.) Press the hair down so that it covers completely the glue covered parts of the bead. Style while the glue is still wet. 

12.) Since you don't want to lay her on her back while her hair is drying, make her do push-ups for about five minutes while you make yourself a refresher cup of tea and tell your adoring fans not to touch while you're gone.

13.) Use the pencil and sketch a face on. ( I like pencils. You can erase if you mess up. Which I did. Several times.*grin*)

14.) If you opted for the colored pencils, trace over the face with the eye and lip color you want. (I like watercolor pencils for that, because they're soft and draw on wood well.)

15.) With the extra material, cut a long triangle for a shawl. 

YOU'RE DONE!

16.) Pose her in multiple ways and take pictures. Realize that you'll probably have to make one both your adoring fans.

Our poinsettia

REMEMBER THE DOLLHOUSE?? SHE'S THE PERFECT SIZE!

These dollies are awesome as presents for kids (or adults, if you're like me and my older sisters. We still love looking through the doll aisles at stores.) And they're quick and easy to do. I might need to go make a lot more.

I'll make some fairies. Fairies are cool. *adjusts bowtie* I have special spot in my heart for fairies. (More on that sometime later.) Also, I happen to know from experience that these dolls can get away with any hair color, provided that it goes with the outfit. If all you have is.... say..... blue embroidery floss.... it works, no sweat.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH I FORGOTTED!!!!!!! (yes, I meant to spell it like that)

JOSH GROBAN RELEASED HIS NEW SINGLE FROM HIS UPCOMING ALBUM!!!!!!!!!!! IT. IS. AWESOME.

And now for the Christmas songs:

You need to skip into it to reach the singer,

but it's worth it, because her voice is so lovely. :)

The Clancy Brothers singing Sing We the Virgin Mary

They were Irish. 

God bless and Merry Christmas, people!

Treskie