Thursday, December 20, 2012

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



20 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, those dolls bring back so many memories. When I was younger, my older sister and I would make a lot of these dolls, only we would also put wings on them and call them fairies.

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    1. Oh my gosh, I did that too. :D I got the beads for my birthday one time and I think I made about 6 in one sitting... Mine had wings too, but I didn't bother with a doll house, I just took them outside and made a fairy land in our lilac bushes. :D

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  2. Oh, I've made these before! I've made thousands (well, not thousands, and Cait made most of them.) We played dollhouse for a very long time, and these were our favourites, surpasing the real, shop-boughten ones. :) I even made one with curly hair, once. We put on the hair a little differently, just glued it straight on, and once I got toothpicks and glued pieces of embroidery thread around in spirals, then pulled it off--in perfect springs--and glued it to her head. It looked marvelous. :) Ah! The fun of making dolls!

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    1. When I want them to have bangs (or a fringe, if you're like the British and refer to them as such)I glue the hair on that way too.

      OH I KNOW~!!!! They are SO MUCH more fun than dolls from the store! More bendable, more hair that doesn't get tangled and ruined, more cuteness.... They were my favorite to play with when I was little. Also, I use yarn for curly hair. Just pull it into four strands and you have curls pre-made. :D

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    2. Good thought. Never thought of that. Of course, it would be more fiddly to glue on in the smaller strands, but that's clever. :)

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  3. Nice tuTORial! And of course, the Captain America mug made it ever so much more enjoyable. Nothing like drinking tea from that to make you feel noble and heroic.

    Oh, and I'd like my doll with red hair, please. :)

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    1. Thanks, Kit Kat! :) I know, I thought the CA mug just MAD the post.

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  4. The doll is amazing!! Very well done!!! I like how she turned out. If I get time I may try one.

    Isn't Josh Groban's new song amazing! I've been listening to it all day. I didn't think I'd like it when I first heard it, but it grew on me the second time. It is more up beat then his others, so it caught me off guard, but it is just as amazing and his voice is just as wonderful!

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    1. Thanks! You should, they're quick and easy, and and fun.

      Me too! Kat and I sat there going *replay* over and over again. Oh, I liked it right off.... it is a bit more 'drummy' than is others but... it's JOsh!! So I loved it. :)

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  5. oh, CUTE!! I gotta make some of these for my nieces and my little sister. I love them. :D
    dude, I'm terribly jealous of your Captain America mug. ^_^ It kinda made my day. lol.
    Fairies are cool. for sure.
    OMW!!! I *so* bad want to listen to that Groban song!! :o Our internet is garbage though and to keep up the crappy speed we have we have to stay under a certain usage so I can't listen to it this week. Next time I have wi-fi somwhere I'm coming to this post and listening to that song.....
    xx

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    1. Giggle! I think I'm the only one who drinks out of that mug. I think it's awesome. Everyone else says it's just the comic so it's not as epic as it could be.

      Ooooooh, it would stink to have the kind of internet!!!! You MUST let me know what you think.... cause it's AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

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  6. Oh, I love Sing We The Virgin Mary. That is one of my absolute favourite Christmas Carols!

    I'm sorry I am so behind on all my commenting. The picture you did of Our Lady and the Baby Jesus was beautiful. There is a lot of feeling to it.

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    1. It has such Bee-U-tiful lyrics, doesn't it!?

      Don't worry about the commenting... you haz been busy... and d'awwww fanks, dear. :)

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  7. Oh. My. Goodness. Do you think if I like, bit your arm or something, I'd be able to suck your blood and somehow leech your artistic talent from you and into me? Or we could take the pacifist option and you could work out a way to extract it yourself and then give it to me as a Christmas gift...

    Seriously amazing, Treskie. This is why Occasional Randomness is one of my, say, top 3 favourite blogs.

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    1. Eeeeeeek! NO BITES! NO BITES!! *Wink* Haha, I don't think I'm that talented... looking at other people's work tends to make me a little self-conscious and shy about my own stuffs. I'd share with you if I could, but as it is, I can't think of a way to do so. Sorry! lol...

      Thank you so much, Emily! That last bit made my day! :D

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  8. There should be a law against Hobbits being cute...but then there wouldn't be Hobbits and that would be tragic, so let's toss that law. (It isn't like the actors are necessarily cute. But when they put on those big feet, pointy ears, and curly hair...their cuteness just spikes. I wonder if that would work for everyone...if so, all I would need was the curly hair.)

    I'm scared to ask...which of the other Dwarves die? I know Thorin does...doesn't Orin too? I plan to re-read the book soon, but then I will know WHEN and WHO dies...and I'll start crying BEFORE the movie.
    Maybe we can save Kili and Fili before they die. We could hide them in my garage and feed them stew. I think I could manage to make stew...are you a good cook? Or maybe they could cook, Dwarves are good cooks, are they not?

    THE ENDING SCENE WAS SO COOL!!! That alone was worth putting the Pale Orc in for!! I was inwardly shouting, "WAY TO GO, BILBO!" And then when Thorin asked where the halfling was I wanted to hug him. "You do like him.!!"

    I think if I lived in Middle Earth though, I'd ask the eagles to give me a ride on my quest...at least over the spider forest.

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    1. Haha, oh I agree. I think Hobbits are dreadfully rude for all be so attractive. It twists my emotions until I'm like, "I WANT ALLLLLLL OF THEM!!!!! (which is a creepy thing to say, so we're going to move one)

      Ooh, it has been a while for me too, I know Kili and Fili do, but I don't know who else besides Thorin. Ohh, I think maybe Bifur? hmmm. I AM actually a fairly adept cook! We must do that. Because I will SOB SO MUCH when they die in the movie.

      Hahaha! Mahri wasn't too fond of them adding anything. She's a slightly overboard Tolkien purist. lol... but I was more the type who thought, "BILBO DESERVES TO HAVE THAT EPIC MOMENT! AND THORIN WAS SO COOL! AND I WAS SO HAPPY WHEN HE PROVED THAT HE DOESN'T HATE BILBO! lalalalalal!"

      I would ask the eagles too, but I'm too scared of heights. I can't even climb a ladder. :D


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  9. Looks like your craftiness went well :)

    That singer is fantastic. Her notes make me shiver every time. Christmas songs are the best!

    JOSH!!!!!!!!! CAN. NOT. WAIT!

    Merry Christmas and God Bless!
    Bella

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