a bed on the bench

An unusually warm December day.  A few hours to myself in the barn.  A few lengths of lumber, my saw, sander, and drill.  Some instructions and a naughty dog who likes to steal from my scrap bin.  He was sassy and ran off with one of my pieces of 1 x 3.  I made do.

Eventually a doll bed stood on my workbench, heavy and sturdy, and ready to be puttied and painted and outfitted with linens.

This will be my goal for today.  I'll need the little girl to nap so I can work and I need a chance to clear my head anyway, so I think a nice long walk in the woods is in order.

It's unlikely I'll finish everything on my holiday to-do list, but I'm going to have to be okay with that. 

Have a good and peaceful start to the week, everybody. 

Almost Christmas

This morning found me finishing two wool dolls for my nieces.  I've never made a doll before and the project was more fun than I expected.  Not too unlike mushrooms I guess.  I hope they like them.

This one has gathered the tiniest acorns you've ever seen.

I realized last night that I wouldn't likely finish the last project on my list in time so I headed to town for some last-minute shopping.  I'll tell you, stores at Christmas-time = ughhhhh.  (It's probably not very Christmas spirit-y to imagine myself crane-kicking people out of my way, is it?  Don't tell Santa.)

Tomorrow is my daughter's birthday and then of course we have Christmas.  We'll be snuggled in celebrating and eating.  And eating.  Did I mention eating?  Cookies and a cake will be baked today.  The boys are on winter break so I'll have all 4 little ones to help me.  Always a good time.  (messy, but good)

Posting will be infrequent until after the new year so I'd like to take a moment to wish all of you a wonderful season and a new year filled with creativity and happiness. 

Thank you sincerely for stopping in and sharing your worlds with me.  I appreciate it so much.

Best Wishes,

Lisa

Princes and Princesses

I did some holiday crafting this weekend and whipped up some presents for my nieces and nephews and my two youngest sons.  Last year I made them all superhero capes, but this year I decided they should get wool crowns.  I didn't have a pattern to work from, just a vague idea of what I wanted them to look like so I drew a template on a piece of paper, grabbed a pile of felted coat wool, and started winging it. 

I handsewed the details, but machine sewed the crown together.  Let me tell ya, me and the machine...we don't see eye to eye...  but I managed to get everything sewn together anyway.  I added a few different button holes so the crowns are adjustable.   Elastic would work perfectly, but I didn't have any on hand so I dove into my button stash instead.

My 3 year old requested a yellow bird on his, and I still have to make one for my 4 year old who has very stringent directions for me....ocean, blue, beach, 1 palm tree, a starfish, green fish only, and sparkles.  Alrighty... 

I'm hoping the kiddies like them as much as I do.   What handmade goodies are you giving this year?