Toy Hospital

I thought it was adorable last Christmas when I was working wardrobe for the Nutcracker when one of the kids came up and asked if I could mend her Eeyore stuffed animal. I laughed and told her to bring him into the Toy ER. Now recently when my sister’s home from college and going through her room, she’s asked me to help bring some life into her beloved kitty plushie. 

Toys like this aren’t scruffy-they were just loved a lot! All that hugging and tugging does do some damage after a while though. So I decided to breathe a little life back into Kitty, hopefully taking away the ‘run over by a truck’ look to his current state.

This ‘operation’ took more than 5 minutes and was a complete success! Using a seam cutter I simply cut a hole, to poke the toy stuffing through, being sure to evenly place the stuffing. Once satisfied, hand sew the hole closed again. The patient is then released, with a prescription of three or more hugs a day!

July Book Review: 'The Dream Dollhouse: Do-It-Yourself Book' by Julie Shelton

You know that quote from Forest Gump ‘‘sometimes there just ain’t enough rocks’’. For me it’s starting to feel like ‘‘sometimes there just ain’t enough craft books.’’ Desperate for new material to read on a flight, grasping at straws I searched on my kindle for ‘doll house craft books’...and struck absolute gold with this title! And bonus, it was up to borrow on Amazon Prime!!!

There are bloggers and youtube channels on doll crafts, but no published works! The fact that someone took the time to write their ideas down is wonderful.

You can tell Shelton is a true Barbie fan, most the projects done in fuchsia on 1:6 scale. She set out to write her book where the projects were ‘easy and adorable’, that honored the spirit of creating small worlds for ‘tiny people’. 

Shelton and blogger My Froggy Stuff have something in common; The gift of seeing in ordinary objects that can be transformed-for one, crayons being transformed into gorgeous candles! True, she did tend to lean towards picture frames in most of her projects (although her Beatrice Bedhead is stunning! I’m desperately seeking a wired picture frame for this project.) I wouldn’t have minded seeing a little more reinvention in found objects.

I wouldn’t have minded if some of her work wasn’t so geared towards the Barbie collector with the pink themes in the layout. However, she had some amazing ideas for the basics that have given me ideas for things to look out for in the hardware store next time I’m there. So for the budding dollhouse maker, this is a definite must for your bookshelf.

Final Score: 4/5

'Drink Me' Necklace

Summer is upon us, the time of the year when in my heart I pay tribute to my muse of costume design, Alice in Wonderland. That story is so visually rich, filled with such characters and images-the Red Queen, playing cards, keys and bottles...

On pinterest I got some great ideas for accessories inspired by Lewis Carrol’s classic. My favorite part was always the bit after Alice falls down the rabbit hole and takes the various beverages and treats to fit through the doors.  Seeing this project were practically a crafty-calling! This necklace has a small glass bottle as a centre piece with some quirky touches-an acryclic bead, the white rabbit’s watch...

I’ve got some empty mini-perfume bottles that are perfect. There’s a little residue I couldn’t clean out so instead of slipping a paper with ‘Drink Me’ inside, using the sign to hide the contents of the bottle. For the shrinking potion itself I slipped in gold and aqua blue beads into the bottle. 

I’m really into adding these acrylic crystals for some color in necklaces at the moment, not just to zip up the lobster clasp but also details for the centre pieces, so on a jump ring I added some of linked beaded detail.

Project Budget: ￡5...I think...this was a gradual process, I used left overs from precious projects so can’t give an exact figure.