When I received the book Kyuuto I decided to try to make an amigurumi from a pattern. My previous ones I’ve made free hand. I didn’t think I would need the book except for great visual inspiration, but I’m so glad I did try one of the patterns! It was easy, fun and my first little amigurumi-from-a-pattern friend is so cute! I made the duckling in yellow wool and I love how both the head and body are so much rounder than other bodies I’ve made! I finished the parts rather fast but since then I’ve been looking for the plastic eyes I know I had somewhere! Now I’ve finally found those eyes and little duckling has been introduced to the world outside and met some new friends. I want to make more animals from this book that’s for sure.

I recommend the book Kyuuto to anyone who wants to try an easy and fun craft!

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This is the Easter table I prefer, filled with paint, fabric, glue, feathers and other craft supplies.

I bought some wooden sculptures in a plastic bag at a thrift shop last year, thinking I would do something fun with them. I’ve been wanting to sit down and paint and dress them for a while now and this week I finally did when my cousin came to craft. This was pre dinner and egg session (se post below). I didn’t finish any of my dolls, but my cousin finished both of hers!

On the first day of Easter Maundy Thursday (Skärtorsdag) the Swedish Easter Witches goes on their broomstick to Blåkulla to party and have fun together with the devil! It’s their annual meeting day I guess.

This belife comes from a time (1600) when everyone in Europe belived that witches existed. Many women were haunted and even burned alive if someone suspected that they were a witch in any way. Scarry times huh?

Today children dress up like Easter Witches on this day and goes from house to house to wish Happy Easter and get candy. So, that’s the explanation on why we created our Easter Hags this week!

My cousin made the pink and the green one. Aren’t they pretty? I painted faces for too long and only half finished the dress for my yellow hag, the other two will get dresses another time when I’m bored and feel like playing with my dolls.

I’ve eaten too much candy and that’s the reason I prefer a craft table set for Easter right now. No more cookies, candy, deserts or eggs for me. :-)

I hope you’re enjoying your holiday and creating something fun!?

As soon as I got an invitation to Michelle Geller’s Mermaid swap I had the vision that I wanted to create a little mermaid doll. I kind of saw her in my head, and I think she turned out very well. Her painted face is difficult to photograph because it looks streaked, but in reality she is very cute. In my head I call her Andrea, because she is now sailing with a lot of fishes, a dolphin pen and a pack of ocean images to this girl who will have the ultimate say about The Little Mermaids name of course.

What I love about her is her hair and its wet look. Isn’t it cool? Want to know what it is made of? A trashed curtain tuft! Or a twined tuft string I think. I just cut of a piece and there she was, with curly wet looking locks and cute fringe!

Isn’t she a sweet heart?

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My second sockmonkey is very huge, made from a red heal sock XXL!!! She is like a thin baby and I adore her ugly cute look. But she didn’t want to stay naked so I made her some clothes that she was really pleased with - and me too. Plus a matching bag in orange!

Look:

Cute huh?

She is called Wendela Hebbe and she is interested in writing novels and reading books, just like me! She was born during NanoWriMo and her favorite color is banana yellow.

We had a indoor photo session the other day but all of those photos, though they were cute, turned out to dark or blurry. I turn of the flash but the light is not enough for taking photos inside the house. It is that time of the year now, when taking photos is a bit more difficult than during summer. It’s dark most of the day. And I don’t like the flash images - they turn out so bright it hurts my eyes.

I made Wendela a long sleeved yellow t-shirt with a red heart. I also whipped up a cute orange skirt that she adores just like the little girl she is. The blue shawl I found at a sale at the weave market this weekend. I could tell right away it was Wendela’s size and would fit her perfectly. So I got it for her, it was only 10 SEK and home knitted by unknown lady. It looks so cozy and warm, but…

…she still got cold during the photoshoot and we had to go inside again. She’s the boss as you can see!

I made a couple of little personalities this summer, but I never got around to finish them. Or at least, feel that they were finished. Charlotta is a white cloth doll with stripy hair and embroidered eyes. I love how she looks, but the balett skirt I made her looks realy cold now in the winter. You can see the skirt in my header picture on my blog.

I decided that Charlotta needed some warmer clothes, because it was obvious to me she wanted to play in the snow:

I crocheted a pink sweater for her, the smallest garment I’ve ever made. I made her a wooly little tartan skirt, left over fabric scrap. And small shoes in brown felt.

She loves her new clothes.

I also made another doll from a online pattern, about a palm size big and with beautiful protruding ears. She was left bald, clotheless and with no face until just recently when I sat down with my acrylic paints and made her a little nose, two green eyes and a pink mouth. She is not a very happy girl, this one, but I still love her and I’m very proud that her face turned out so nice! I have been fearing painting on fabric - I thought I would just mess it up. But I didn’t! She is fine!

Now she also has a red stretchy t-shirt with flowers, but it did not fit very well, so I’ll redo her some other clothes another time. I think she needs a cute pink dress instead, and then a name!

I’ve been wanting to do more dolls this whole year, but only one has been completed, and that is because I had a deadline. Deadlines are great for people like me, that likes to procrastinate. This was for a contest/exhibition of angels that started the first of Advent.

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After I finished Emelie, the art doll with an ironed on face, I made another one since I printed a couple of faces on fabric from one sheet of paper.

This art doll is called Linnéa, and she is very lady like, with a button as a hat on her head, and lots of gold and brown trim and lace.

Here the two dolls sits together on the Easter table at my parents house:

Am I the only one that have missed that Design Sponge has a podcast? I just saw the post about an interview with swedish artist Karin Eriksson at the site! Can’t wait to listen to this. And there is lots of more interesting showes over at D*S podcasts! Hurray for fun new stuff on the internet!

At Easter I printed some different faces on fabric (my parents has a great printer) to use for my art dolls. But the art dolls turned to be totally different than the previous ones…

This is Emelie, she doesn’t really have an iron face, right? I think she looks very happy and sweet. Like candy! But she do have a “ironed on” face. I would really like to know what your opinion is about her?! Thanks.

Thanks for all your nice comments about the ATC’s yesterday. I’m thrilled, didn’t expect that.

I made another art doll when I was at home during Christmas. If you remember, I had a crazy creative phase at that time. Made lots of different stuff; knitted, sewed, printed for fabric and crocheted. I hope it will be like that during the Easter holiday too!

This art doll is my fifth art doll, and her name is Ella, decorated with roses and pearls in her green yarn hair. She is also a creative muse that will in her own way help you fight your inner devils of procrastination and fears…

She is for sale.

Materials are beads, fabric, wonderfull fun green yarn, lace and magazine clippings for eyes and the big mouth, that will tell any fears to f**k of! ;-)

This weekend we are going to fjällen, last weekend we went there too. This is how I spent Sunday (after skiing with my little brother on Saturday):

What I did this weekend:
• Skiing with my brother
• Took some portraits of my little bro who will soon be 14 years old
• Finished a pair of socks for P (pictures will come)
• Read Kaffe’s book Welcome home, cover to cover. I totally love it, even though the text is mostly very silly, describing on each page how glorius his mind and choises and collections are. I can see that from the pictures, tell me something new! The book ends with a couple of patterns on some quilts, rug rags and tips on how to make mosaic. I knew I wanted to try mosaic beofore (and I’ve added this to my wish list) but now I have decided that I have to make a rug rag! I’m in love with the rose design in this book. Links? Tips?
• I’ve also finished reading The complete book of dollmaking, wich was very neat. Lots of great tips on modelling clay, sewing, adding hair and painting faces. I liked the simplest designs the best, and will try to make one of the Simple Starter Dolls some day. A fun book to read even if you are not the typical doll maker yourself.
• Drawing in my art journal, using my micron pens and watercolours. I’ve scanned the pages (we’ve borrowed a scanner!), but they are on another computor so I’ll have to post them later. I was inspired by Danny Gregorys The Creative License that I’ve been glansing in when visiting a friend who resently bought it. I think I need to get it too… I felt lots of inspiration just holding it in my hands.
• Eating good food and lots of candy, enjoying sunshine and snow, life and love.

How was your weekend?