Felt Dolls

Weekly Round-Up for the 4th Week of August 2022

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This week feels like it moved quite quickly.

I kept forgetting my schedule and was uploading things a bit off calendar but in the end I got there. So in case you are just stopping by today I wish you a beautiful weekend and here are some things you might enjoy along with some iced tea and swing in the hammock.

Making Collage Papers: On Monday I shared a little “Create with Me Session” where we had fun with paints and making papers for collage. You can read the blog post (and watch the video) right here if you like.

The Week in Flowers: For the love of Zinnias, and Asters, and FeverFew and well… all the flowers really. You can see some photos of my cut flowers right here.

Dilletante TV Has New Episodes: If you love watching a creative video (I know I do!) you can jump to all the videos and just the videos right here on the site. No chatty blog posts just the videos for your viewing pleasure. I realized I missed a few so it is now all current and up to date with all that’s visual here on The Dreaming Dilettante.

Creative Podcast Episode #8: Recorded, although not actually recorded (I explain in the podcast) and then re-recorded and uploaded a bit later than normal this podcast does get there in the end. We are chatting all about creative resistance and sharing the journey not just the results. You can listen right here to Episode #8 or check out all the creative podcast on the podcast page

So that is what has been going on here this week. I hope you had a lovely week and are looking forward to nice weekend. What do you have planned? I would love to hear!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

 

This Week in Flowers: The 3rd Week of August

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“My Faith is larger than the Hills-So when the Hills decay-My Faith must take the Purple Wheel To show the Sun the way-‘Tis first He steps upon the Vane-And then-upon the Hill-And then abroad the World He go To do His Golden Will-And if His Yellow feet should miss-The Bird would not arise-The Flowers would slumber on their Stems-No Bells have Paradise-How dare I, therefore, stint a faith On which so vast depends-Lest Firmament should fail for me-The Rivet in the Bands”

-Emily Dickinson

My flowers are wanting for water so I gave them a drink today. Some are slowing down in production and I am thinking of sowing some more zinnias-if I think they can bloom before the frost. Still, they make such a beautiful bouquet

 

The sunflowers are still growing wild and have even been attracting a beautiful yellow bird who has been enjoying the seeds. I am hoping he leaves me so that I can save them for next year.

 

I think these sunflowers are one of my favorites. This bloom is technically from last week’s bouquet but I am sharing it here because I am pressing it in my flower press to see how it turns out.

 

Wishing you a week of flowers.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Handmade Holidays 2021

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How were your holidays? We had a quiet holiday this year staying home just our little family of 5. To be honest this year I wasn’t really in the holiday spirit. I had so much fun making gifts for everyone (and I’ll share what I made in this post) you would have thought I was but it just never really felt like Christmas.

Maybe it was because it had been fairly warm the past 2 months-warm for the Northeastern USA anyway. Being able to go outside in just a sweater in winter feels like spring to me and Christmas should feel cold. Really cold. Like bundle up in layers with hats, gloves and scarves cold. Of course things are how they are but Christmas this year just felt a little less magical for me or rather I wasn’t as connected to the magic inside me as much as I would have liked.

Still I did the best to simply enjoy the day including a little solo walk to clear my head. My oldest turned eleven and Christmas has a different look to her if you understand my meaning. If you are struggling with this as much as my daughter is and I was you may benefit from the lovely Karen Fullerton’s post here. (Be mindful of who is around you before clicking the link though 😉

So, what did I make this year? Well I made our standard Christmas recipes but to be honest it’s the second year in a row that I really haven’t enjoyed the traditional ham for Christmas and I am thinking we will simply donate our free one next year (and for Easter). I am not sure what will replace it but I will be sure to let you know. Also, comment below if you would like me to write a post about our family traditions and our menu I would be happy to!

Now, on to the fun things-all the makes I made! I found this great pattern from Half Yard Sewing Club (it’s a membership site I’m part of) to make a reindeer and I planned to make one for each of the families on my husband’s side. Sadly the first one I made, well, she was a bit wonky lol (not a result of the pattern-a result of the maker 🙂 I still need to finish her but decided (after realizing I made a mistake cutting out the pattern pieces) that perhaps I might just want to find a different pattern as Christmas was quickly approaching. So I did! I found this adorable (and I do mean adorable) reindeer pattern that went together very easily and was perfect for making the bunch of reindeer I had planned. One even went over seas to a friend in the UK!

I will still finish our little Rosie the reindeer and she will be a much loved member of our family-wonky and all. For now though-she’s in an almost done state 🙂

The next item I made is another pattern from the Half Yard Sewing Club and it’s the adorable Maddie doll. I am so proud with how I embroidered her eyes! I was inspired by one of the member shares in the site who made the eyes a little different than the pattern. I did a bit of combining of the two along with my own little tweaks and think she came out super cute.

I am still not a master at doll hair and was going to leave her hair loose but decided to tie them back in the hopes that it will keep everything looking nicer longer. Maddie was a present for my 3 year-old who loved her and gave her a big hug when she opened her. The clothing was a bit harder for me-I didn’t pick the best fabric trying to use what I had in my stash-but for a first ever try at making doll clothing I am pretty happy. I skipped the shoes knowing they would just be forever on the floor but may make some down the road. I also plan on making some extra outfits for Maddie-and maybe even a Maddie for myself.

Another item I made was for my oldest daughter. She’s a felt doll that’s a unicorn so really, what’s not to love right? She came out super cute and my daughter really seemed to love her and I think she’ll make a nice addition to her collection. I also made her this cute Happy Cat which is free pattern from Ann Wood Handmade. I added a little story to her as well and I think she came out adorable! I will be making more of these for sure. I found some really cute fat quarters from a local fabric store and think they will be very sweet cats.

 

 

The other present I made was for my son who loves puppets and may even want to be a puppeteer when he is older. If he is a puppeteer on Sesame Street (like he said he would like to be) I think I would about scream with joy right before asking if he could actually tell me how to get to Sesame Street. I need to meet Snuffy-I mean, I really need to meet him.

I could not be happier with how this puppet came out and think he might just be my favorite handmade holiday gift this year although it’s hard to choose between the puppet (named, “Grouchy” by my son) and the reindeer.

One last item I made for the holidays was a little tea cup coaster for my friend Michael Nobbs. I am not sure if he received it yet so hopefully he doesn’t read this before he has 🙂 Still I think he will like it and I used some of the fat quarters I mentioned before to make it. I think I am going to make a few more of these for my desk and next to my chair in the living room.

So that is what I made for Handmade Holiday 2021.

I would love to hear about any handmade items you made this Christmas so please feel free to comment below with a link to your own blog post I would love to hear!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Wishing you a beautiful day!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Link Parties are a lot of fun! I submitted this post as part of:

If you liked this post be sure to check out the link party for other handmade fun!

Hermione, Journal Making, Moving Rooms and What I’m Working on Wednesday

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Welcome to another WIWOW! I have really been enjoying this series. It’s nice to look back and be reminded of some of the projects I am working on.

You may remember my little felt Harry Potter doll I made for my daughter’s friend. Well, I had an idea on how to improve him a bit so I thought I would make a second doll for the gift. In the end we all decided the original was the best one and so he is still going off to his new home this weekend. The second Harry went to my son who had been admiring it. He was quite happy when I offered it to him.

I also started Hermione and finished her up today. she really came out cute and I am so happy I was able to get her all done and I have Mr. Ron Weasel all cut out waiting to be stitched. So these 3 cuties will be off to their new home soon and I will definitely be making another set one of these days for my own collection. And I imagine for my kids as well.

I finished the anniversary journal for my husband’s parents that I mentioned in an earlier post. I am really happy with how the cover turned out and I did something different with the inside. I covered 2 pieces of cardboard in coordinating fabric to match the spine and then adhered them on the inside. I love how it looks and it adds some nice weight to the book. I also tried out a new binding technique I found on The Paper Outpost’s channel. It worked great and I think it’s going to be my new go-to binding technique.

If you remember we decided that instead of filling the album with photos from the last 50 years we are going to make it a bit of a challenge journal. My husband came up with the idea inspired by my daughter’s love for her Wreck this Journal by Kerri Smith. His idea was to add challenges for his parents to complete such as taking a photo in front of a mountain or a photo with a stranger.

I love the idea since any of the photos we would be adding to the album they already have and have seen a million times. We are going to include some photos of them and the family but only about 6 or so and then let them enjoy filling it up. They love to travel so I think it will be fun for them. Plus I thought we could have all the guests at their anniversary party add a photo prompt for them. So now it’s a photo album but also a memory book.

Another project I am working on is a cardinal sculpture. I have made it out of Paper Clay and I love the shape and the color but I am not as in love with the eyes. I am may try some dimensional eyes instead of painting them on to give it a bit more interest. I was able to sculpt some feet and I decided I really wanted him to be whimsical like my Self-Care doll so I added some decoupaged old book pages. I am also on the hunt for some fallen branch that I can use to attach him to. I am  enjoying sculptures specifically whimsical mixed media type pieces and they give me a lot of joy when I see them in my home.

Last week I finished painting our bedroom and we moved in over the weekend. We have quite a bit of stuff moved in (my creative corner is almost completely set up and I am already using it) but still have some things to move down or decide to let go of completely. I like how contained everything feels now and I am finding having my creative space on the first floor is working so well. I can come in and work for little snippets of time throughout the day. It’s also turned into everyone’s favorite hangout which makes getting in some creative time that much easier. With any luck we will be completely moved out of the old room and ready to paint it for my youngest daughter next week.

I did have a play on Monday with my acrylic inks-the first project I worked on in my new creative corner. It was for last week’s challenge (you can see it here) and I had so much fun! Initially I didn’t think much of the piece-just something fun I made that had a nice childlike quality but the more I see it the more I really like it and I think I will be working more with black and white inks.

The last little item on my desk is a mixed media piece I started Thursday during my Artist Date in My Mobile Art Studio.  I have been doing and re-doing this piece a lot over the past week and a half. I just can’t seem to get the face right and I am thinking of leaving it off completely. I originally was thinking of her as a bit of a self-portrait so I made her blonde but I decided today to change her hair color and it seems to work better. For now I’m going to call her done and make her the first piece for my new cardboard journal.

If you are interested in learning more about My Mobile Art Studio and my cardboard journal I am going to be blogging about them over on my other site The Creative Spiritualist. That site is also going to hold all my art journaling, journal making and energy art so if you are interested please stop by and say hello.

Well that’s about everything I have going on now. I hope this post finds you well and able to get in some creative time. I will see you all again on Monday with our weekly challenge. Are you taking part? You can join in all the challenge fun here.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Resource Section

The Paper Outpost: This is where I learned the hidden spine binding technique for the journal.

Baul de la Malinka: This is the Etsy shop where I purchased my Harry Potter felt doll patterns. There is a 3 pack that includes Harry, Ron & Hermione that I opted for.

*Note: All of the items listed above are being shared for your convenience. I purchased any and all materials with my own money and have not be paid or sponsored in any way for sharing these items. I share them because I like them and I love supporting small business. I hope you find them useful!

Mobile Art Studio: The Journey Begins

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Happy Tuesday to you. I hope you are finding your week is going along well and that you have maybe even managed to get in some creative time. Even if it’s not a lot-a quick sketch on a napkin or a doodle is all you need to show your creativity how important it is to you. I hope you can do that for yourself this week. This post is planning to be a long one so you may want to make yourself a cuppa sit back, relax and enjoy. Or, if you just click here because the idea of a Mobile Art Studio is really appealing and you want to learn what that is exactly, click here and you can jump to the video where I attempt to tell it all in a more concise manner all from the inside of my mobile studio. As for you daring folks, drink in hand, who have decided to read on-I hope you enjoy! A few weeks ago I was taking part in an online class and the topic of Artist Dates came up (if you are unfamiliar with the concept an artist date comes from Julia Cameron’s book “The Artist Way” and the idea is that once a week you venture out solo to refill your creative well.) I shared in this class that I was being called to make my minivan into a mobile art studio and venture out once a week on a little solo adventure. I also mentioned that I really want to gather with a group of fellow creatives and have creative camping weekends but until I found such a group I thought it was a great idea to start this solo adventure. A way to call in the energy of what I was seeking so to speak. The group loved the idea and the woman leading the class said that she totally could see me sharing the whole series on my blog with photos of my mobile studio and that I need to run these creative camping weekends! She went on to say that she saw me appearing in a Stampington magazine with my van. It was so sweet and genuine and totally scary because I had already been called to all this by my lovely spirit guides/muses. In fact as she was saying this, sitting beside me was an image I had just 2 days before cut out from a Stampington magazine. The image was for my New Moon page and was of a bus that had been converted into a backyard art studio. I had taken the image out because I had wanted to call in the energy I needed to start my little minivan mobile studio. I have to say I do love synchronicity and I believe wholeheartedly that The Universe loves to speak with us in fun and unique ways. For me, this felt like The Universe giving a physical voice to the calling they had been whispering to me the past few weeks. Telling me that I was on the right track and this was where my creative work needed to start. So what can I do with a such an idea but run with it? I am a big picture person. I can instantly jump 5 years into the future and see the amazing thing that can be created. I see what this site can be and do and what my other sites can be and do and to be honest? Seeing things that way is awesome however it can make it hard to actually get anything done. Having ideas like I want to make a zine and do podcasts and videos and road trips and share them here-wow it’s so cool and it fills me with a kind of energy where I feel like I am bouncing around inside a pin ball machine. Grounding that energy? Finding a starting point? Doing something small like write a blog post for this huge idea?! This idea is huge it needs so much! Only, it’s just an idea right now. It’s not the big picture awesomeness that I see in my mind. Not yet. So, I am learning to ground the energy and start where I am instead of leaping to the finish line. I am learning to do one thing. Like learn to camp. Yea, my whole life I have been on one camping trip. Ever. So perhaps, learning to camp would be a cool thing to do before say, hosting a camping group? Probably 🙂 Of course, I don’t have to learn to camp today. I don’t need to camp to start. And that’s where the mobile studio idea came to me. I have been watching a lot of minivan home tours on YouTube. These awesome people have turned their mini vans or regular vans into a home on wheels. I mean, that is freakin’ cool. A home on wheels? That is my retirement plan. Well, actually, my retirement plan is to not retire because I am doing all this really cool creative work and why would I ever want to retire from that? Living in a van though? Traveling the country? Traveling the continent? Yea, definitely doing that. Right now however there are 5 people in my family, 2 dogs, 5 cats, a rabbit named Frank and 2 guinea pigs. So living in a van now? Well, it would have to be a really, really amazing van. Still, I love watching the van tours. It is also what sparked the idea to make my mini van into a mobile studio. I don’t have plans to camp in my van just yet but I did think it would be a lot of fun on the weekends to convert my minivan into a mobile studio. I have claimed my weekend mornings for my work so being able to hit the road, be in my own space for a while, find some pretty spots to pull over, open up the hatch and create sounds pretty cool. It’s a lot cheaper than rent for a studio space, I can move it wherever I want if I find I have some noisy neighbors plus I can hit the Starbucks drive-thru so really it’ a win all around! Now, I am someone who when I throw myself into things I go full on. Fortunately my amazingly supportive husband is my grounding wire and is totally supportive (and even a little excited) for my idea but is helping me take those needed baby steps without going overboard, head first into shark infested waters. “You keep me safe and I’ll keep you wild.” Pretty much could have been our marriage vows. So, here is my mini plan. I am going to start planning out little minivan adventures. I am going to have an art bag and I will be adding some cute items to make the van feel cozy and homey and inspiring to work in. I am going to plan (hopefully) at least 1 mini adventure (or as my friend Michael Nobbs would say, “tiny adventure”) a month. I will have a destination point that I can drive to and from in one day but the real destination is the drive. I want to explore, follow where the wind takes me and see where I stop, where I end up and what I do with the time I am exploring. I might pull into a parking lot because a song lyric spoke to me and now I have to write/paint/draw. I might drive to a Starbucks 45 minutes away just because it’s a prettier drive than the one 10 minutes from my house. (Not might, I actually do this regularly. Love it.) What I hope this will be is fun, inspiring and a neat adventure to chronicle. Want to join in? That would be lots of fun and really cool! What I hope is that you will be inspired to start where you are with what you have. I never, ever, ever want to promote the idea that any of us need anything other than what we currently hold in our possession to get anywhere we want to go. So while I love to look at the neat things people buy and awesome craft supplies and goodies the whole point of what I am doing here is to start here. I don’t need to go out and buy things-no one does. The point is to begin right where I am and let this be an evolution. I want this to be a journey where I am focusing on the journey and never on an end destination. (As cool as those creative camping workshops I am going to host are going to be it’s still not about that-yet). So maybe you don’t have a mini van maybe you have compact car. Awesome-start there. Maybe you don’t drive or don’t have a car. Great-start there. You just need an adventurous heart you don’t need wheels. If all you can do is sit on the balcony of your apartment and watch the world under your feet-let that be your mobile studio. If you can wander to a park bench or an outdoor cafe let that be your mobile studio. If you aren’t able to leave your bed or chair make a bag of goodies that you love and inspire you and let that be your mobile studio. You need to buy nothing, you don’t need to be anything more than you are right now. Let’s adventure together meeting up where we are and as we are right this moment! So what am I planning to do? Well, during the week Mary Margaret is still the vehicle we use to adventure in as a family. However, because of the genius that came up with the idea of stow-and-go seats, my plan is to easily convert her into my mobile studio in less than 10 minutes and then back again to the awesome grocery-getter that she is during the week. She’s kind of like a creative super hero going from Mom Car to Awesome Creative Mobile Studio Star in a single fold. Next week I am going to share my first creative play in my mobile studio. I had just over an hour to play with some creative supplies and try out of my set up. If you would like to see that post be sure to subscribe to my newsletter and I will send it out to you when it’s live next week. I hope you will join me in forming your own version of a mobile studio and if you are please comment below. I want this site to have it’s own little community. A place where we can all start to recognize one another and share our creative journeys as we go. So please comment below and let me know what you think and what your plans are for your own mini-adventures. If you would like to watch my little welcome video to this new series you can check it out below.  I originally created this post and video with the intention of sharing it on a separate blog I have called The Creative Spiritualist. Having been journeying with all this for a bit now I have decided to just keep all my creative work here on The Dreaming Dilettante. I am forever trying to separate out aspects of myself and I think my life is showing me that we are meant to show up wholly ourselves-not just in little pieces so I am joining the two blogs together here. I wanted to mention that so when you see the intro of the video you aren’t confused 🙂 I do have a site that I have dedicated to my spiritual journey that I will be keeping separate for now. I think of it as my ministry page and it is still in it’s early stages but I would love for you to visit it here if you feel called. Until next time… Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

What I’m Working on Wednesday Updates #1

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I hope this post finds you well. This week had me getting back into my handmade felt dolls and I managed to finish 2 for this week’s challenge along with one that I shared with you in last week’s What I’m Working on Wednesday.

If you saw last week’s post you know that I was making a little felt Harry Potter doll. My daughter was invited to a birthday party that is Harry Potter themed and I thought it might be fun to make a little add-on present. I purchased this digital pattern as part of a 3 pack that includes Ron & Hermione. If I have time I’ll try and make Ron & Hermione for the party and I also plan to make a complete set for my own collection and I’ll be sure to share them when they are done.

As of the writing of this post I haven’t shared much about my love for felt doll making. It started about 2 years ago when I made a really sweet doll for my oldest daughter. She had been reading about Sacagawea and really loved her story so I found this sweet pattern on Etsy (my favorite and really only source for these amazing patterns). I was so happy with how she came out (so was my daughter when she received it at Christmas). And from there the love grew! I have made quite a few of these little felt dolls along with 3 larger ones and a large felt monkey for my youngest daughter for this past Christmas.

I am planning a little video to share all my collection with you. With any luck I will get that up this month.

I am still working on finishing my crystal box from last week although I did finish up my cardboard buttons. I am still working on editing my video process for how I made these. I modified this video from Jennibellie where she makes the coolest cardboard buttons. I wasn’t as happy with mine when I made them this way so I adjusted a bit and I love how they come out and how much fun they are. My oldest has even started making them-they really are fun and a great way to use up scraps.

I am really happy that I finished up my self-care angel doll too! She was sitting very patiently waiting for me to finally see her face and clothes and I am so happy with how she turned out! Right now I have her on my decorative shelf in the kitchen and I just love the brightness and color she brings to the room. If you are interested in making one of these beautiful creations be sure to check out Tam’s course over on Willowing it’s so much fun!

Outside of the crafting world as I mentioned Monday we are working on re-arranging rooms in our home. I am in the process of painting what was our homeschool room. The trim desperately needed touching up and the walls a nice refresh although we are keeping the same color. It’s a really pretty yellow and since we still have some of the paint left I plan to keep it. This room is going from homeschool room to my and my husband’s bedroom/offices. I am really excited about this change. Initially when this room became our homeschool room everyone had a desk and I thought it would give us some really useful creative space but in many ways it became a catch all and the kids still used the kitchen table. So moving our homeschool supplies to a counter and cabinet in the kitchen wasn’t that hard and now we can make better use of this space as our bedroom/offices.

Right now I have a little creative corner in our current bedroom that I am going to give you a little tour of. It’s a great space and super cozy and I really do love it. I am excited however to be going back to my old spot in the homeschool room which is a little bit larger and more separated from the sleeping space.

So that’s my little update. I am happy I made time to play with all my creative supplies and get my hands covered in paint. I have tons of projects left so no worries about me running out. For each one I complete I find 10 more to start but this series is a really fun way for me to share my projects and to keep the ones I’m working on in the foreground of my mind.

Maybe you would like to join in?

Are you someone who has lots of creative projects going at the same time?

Do you work on one thing until it’s done and the go to the next?

Do you like to share your work on your blog?

I would love to visit your space and see the fun projects you are working on so I created a What I’m Working on Wednesday link party. Pop by on Wednesdays, share what you are working on and have a look at what your fellow creatives are doing. It’s a great way to find blogs to follow and inspiration for your next endeavor. Simply visit the link below and be sure to grab a graphic from my side bar to display on your site. Let’s spread the inspiration!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter


Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante