Nutcracker 2012 - Nutcracker Clothespin Dolls

My darling daughter attends the Clytie Adams School of Ballet. She has since she was three. She LOVES it. She tried out for Nutcracker this year, and made it! She had tried out two times previously, and didn't make it before. This time before tryouts, I told her, "Smile as big as you can. No matter what, just smile!" She was like, "Mom, I didn't smile the last times I tried out and I was fine." She wasn't fine, she didn't make it. She figured that out, and smiled as big as she could, and she made it! I was so happy that she learned such a great lesson to not give up! Way to go girlie! I love you!

As a parent, you are assigned to work on a committee. I was assigned the boutique committee, and got to design and make some clothespin dolls to sell. A big shout out to Holly for helping wrap all the arms! Thanks my friend!

I am thrilled to share them with you, and  this is my favorite! The Arabian... I love her, especially her pants!

I made 56 dolls in all. It was a lot of work, but they turned out super cute!

 

 

Candy canes!

 Snow

Soldiers

 

Gingerbread

 

Blue Ballerina

 

Tiny Mouse

 

Pink Ballerina

 

Purple Ballerina

 

I didn't get a close up photo of the Oriental, but they were darling, and look just like my kokeshi dolls that I make.

The performances run Thursday through Saturday at the Browning Center in Ogden, UT. I am so excited to see her dance her little heart out! If you are coming, stop by and say hello, and pick up a clothespin doll, or anything else you fancy!

Have a Happy and Creative Day, and thanks for stopping by!

Risa

Indian / Bollywood Party, part 2 {Indian Doll Favor}

For Sophie's party, I decided to make each girl an Indian princess. I searched high and low for ideas online, and didn't find what I had in mind, although there are some cute ones out there. This is what I came up with.


Do you remember my kokeshi tutorial from the Japanese birthday party last year? You can see it HERE. I was wanting the girls to be able to dress their own dolls or something for the party, but couldn't figure out a fast and easy way to do it, so I decided to just make them.

Here are the doll heads all painted.

You will need:

 HEAD - Dowel Caps 1 1/4"; (not ball knobs - dowel have a bigger opening, and the clothespin will fit inside) $2.99 for 12 at Hobby Lobby

BUNS - Wooden Ball Knobs 3/4" with a 3/16" hole - Hobby Lobby, $1.47 for 6


I cut a skin tone pipe cleaner in half, and wrapped it around the body. I know you can wrap these with embroidery floss, to make the arms look better, and not so fuzzy, but I wasn't about to take the time to do that ;)

next, I cut circles out of fabric that I already had. I got a bunch of it from DI. I LOVE it, and can't find it on stores anymore ;(


I folded each piece in 4ths, and snipped the corner off for the head hole.


Then snipped one side, which cut two sides at the same time for the arm holes.


You will want to dress the little ladies before you attach the heads, or the dress won't go on ;)


I cut out strips of fabric for the belt.


Then, tied them in a knot in back.


After that, I put the sari on each doll. I just used ribbon from Hobby Lobby. I had to play with it to get it to work. I just stapled it in the back.


I tried to glue the heads on with craft glue, and this was not a good idea!!! It didn't dry fast enough, and the heads were really heavy, so they ended up looking like they were nodding, or the glue started to drip. So, I just ended up using hot glue. It worked great, and I stood them in cups to get the proper posture.


Here's a pile of them all finished. I did this weeks before the party, and it was so nice to just have them finished and out of the way.

They were so cute, that I just had to keep one for myself!


Here is a little peak of how they were displayed at the party. More about that later ;)

You might also want to look at:

 Indian / Bollywood Party - Part 1 {Invitation}
Indian / Bollywood Party - Part 2 { Indian Princess Doll Favor}
Indian / Bollywood Party - Part 3 {Princess Beds and Taj Mahal}
Indian / Bollywood Party - Part 4 {Indian photo shoot}
Indian / Bollywood Party - Part 5 { Decor and Dress}
Indian / Bollywood Party, Part 6 {Diwali Lanterns and Rama Sita}
Indian / Bollywood Party - Part 7 {Footless (barefoot) Sandals}
Indian Bollywood Party - Part 8 {Mehndi (henna tattoo)}
Indian / Bollywood Party - Part 9 {Bollywood Dancing}

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

GNOME PARTY perparation and tutorial

I decided couple months ago that I wanted to have a gnome party for my baby boy on his first birthday. We are having his party this Friday, and I am a bit ahead of schedule, so I thought I would share what I have ready so far. This is the main inspiration for the party. I have made all these toys by hand... yup, trees, cave, gnomes... all of it. I bought the knobs and painted them as mushrooms, and bought pegs for the dad and son, and the pieces to make the mom daughter and baby, as I couldn't find any in stores around here, and didn't take the time to order online before Christmas. I didn't even think about pulling this out until a few days ago.

I did design, cut out, sand, and paint the trees bushes, lake, cave and ground. I will post about that later.

I found the most adorable parties on line, and took inspiration from them. You can check out my pinterest board for more inspiration, but the main party that inspired me is found here.

Like I mentioned before... I couldn't find any lady, girl, or baby peg people in any craft stores, so I had to come up with a design of my own. I actually like it better than anything I could have bought. I got the men and boys at Hobby Lobby.

Here is a little tutorial

For the mom peg person, you will need:

Finial Dowel Cap 1 1/16"; 1/2" hole
Circle 1" x 1/8"
Furniture Plug 1/2"
Round Ball 3/4"
Glue that works with wood

Glue the circle to the dowel cap to cover the hole.

Glue the furniture plug to the circle. Make sure this is in the middle, as these will be the feet, and the mama gnome will stand on it.

Turn the whole thing over, and glue the ball to the top of the finial dowel cap.

Paint whatever color you want. Cut a circle out of felt, and glue it to either side of the neck with the top of the triangle pointing towards the back.

Paint the eyes on using a toothpick you have dipped in paint.

You can see in the photo above, how the triangle works for the sister gnome's head dress. I stitched triangles together for the male gnomes.

The sister gnome is made using a 3/4" round ball, and a 1"3/8"hold acorn dowel cap.

The baby gnome is made using 1/2" round ball and a 1/2" x 5/8"; 1/4"hole Candle Cup.

They are both made by gluing the ball on top, with the hole on the bottom.

I think they are more cute than you can buy on line. (If I do say so myself;)


I am not letting my baby play with these yet, as he could bite part off, and choke. But, they will be fun for display, and the older kids like them. Did I mention I made a gnome family for each older cousin to take home from the party. I made it into gnome bowling, and have included a large wooden ball in the gift bag. I will take a picture of the bags once they are complete. The families are all bagged and ready to go. I just need to tie up the bags, and hook the wooden labels on after I wood burn the words. Now if I can only find a wood burning tool... Mom?

Come back to see what each baby cousin is getting.
They are almost finished, and so soft and sweet!

Have a Happy and Creative Day!

Risa

Kokeshi Doll Tutorial

For my daughter's
Japanese Themed Birthday Party,
I knew I wanted each girl to have a kokeshi doll. I searched online, and in local Asian markets for a cute doll at a good price. The cheapest I found before shipping, was $6 per doll. These dolls were small, and not very cute. I knew I could make one. I used the the printables I found for the party as my guide for how I wanted the hair, body, faces, and basic proportions. You can see the printable source by clicking the link above.

This is what I started with:

SUPPLIES:

HEAD - Ball Knobs 1 1/4"; 3/16 hole
(I tried it with the 1 1/4 " dowel caps. This doesn't work, as you need to screw the head to the body. The dowel hole is too big.)
BUNS - 1/4" dowel caps, and 3/8" round balls
BODY - 1 1/4" 5/8" hole candle cups
E600 Craft Glue
Craft Paint
Screws
Floral Foam, Craft Paint, Paint Brushes, Dowels, and Toothpicks

*UPDATE*

It has come to my attention, that some of you may not have be able to find these supplies. So, if you need to order them online, I have tried to make it easy for you, and here is the link. You can just click on each one to take you to the item on their website:

Heads:

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=158112

Bodies:

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=158114

Buns:

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=158175

http://shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=158294

DIRECTIONS:

Place the ball knobs on dowels, and stick the dowels on foam (from the dollar store.)

Paint the faces first. That way if you mess up, you can paint the hair over the messed up face. I did many times! I bought paint pens, thinking that would work, but it didn't. The paint pen ran, and it looked like a mess. My friend Tiffany told me to paint the faces with a toothpick dipped in craft paint. That was a great tip! You can visit Tiffany's etsy shop here. She has darling, darling things, and is very talented!

Paint the Hair. I used the toothpick the make the basic hair lines, and then a paint brush to fill in the rest.

Glue the buns on wherever you want them. I thought it was fun to put them in different places on the head. It added nice variety. You may need to hold them in place as the glue dries. I glued the buns on after painting, to insure that all you see when you look at the doll is black hair, and not unfinished wood under the glue. I didn't know if the glue would be very paintable.

Paint the Buns after the glue is completely dry. I also filled in the empty glue spots with a toothpick full of glue, so the glue would take up the empty space. I even added more glue after painting, then painted again. I just used a brush to paint the buns.

Here are all the doll heads.

I didn't paint mouths. I did a few with mouths to begin with, and I thought it distracted from the overall look and cuteness.

Screw the head and body together. My husband used his vice when he did this for me, but it left little marks on some of the dolls faces even thought he put a towel between the doll and the vice. You know how husbands are :) I think he really was excited about using his vice. I don't think it would be necessary. He was nice to do it for me though.

Here is one with a mouth. The mouth is cute on this one, but wasn't cute on all of them, and I ended up having to paint over it enough, that is wasn't even worth it.

Here are some of the finished dolls:
(Like I said in my Japanese Party Post, I wish I would have sprayed them with spray varnish after the girls painted them, but I got too busy at the party, and didn't remember :(

You can see the eyes are all different, and not perfect. The girls had a great time choosing the doll and hairstyle they liked best.

I loved the metallic paint they painted the bodies with - so cute! The girls were great little painters, and I think... the messier the better.

If you like this post, PLEASE leave a comment!
I love and appreciate comments, and read every one.

Have a Happy and Creative Day!!

Risa

I am linking!