Crafting On {is back!}

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture or two, post it on your blog, on Instagram #craftingon and/or Flickr and then share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.

Hey, hey!! I apologize for that month long hiatus. I didn't mean for it to happen but with the move craziness and having no internet until last week, it was really just out of my hands. However, we finalized our move over the weekend and are now able to settle in just in time for my baby's birthday. Somehow I neglected to make him his own baby doll on his first birthday (like all my other children received) so he is getting his this year. I finished the body and head, now for embroidering his face, giving him hair and then making him clothes.


What are you working on? Happy creating!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Crafting On {is back!}

Crafting On

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture or two, post it on your blog, on Instagram #craftingon and/or Flickr and then share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.

Keeping with my autumn theme, I am finally finishing up that acorn baby I started years ago at Portland Waldorf School. I took a poll on Instagram to decide on what color eyes he should have and the overwhelming response was blue. I'll be embroidering those on tonight.

What are you working on? Happy creating!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Crafting On

Knecht Ruprecht Waldorf Dolls {giveaway!}

Happy Martinmas everyone!! We had a beautiful lantern walk that I hope to share with all of you soon but I first wanted to share a very exciting giveaway!

  My dear friend Marie of Knecht Ruprecht Waldorf Dolls has released a beautiful new Waldorf doll pattern and kit, just in time for holiday gift giving. I have one and can not even begin to describe just how beautiful the materials are in person. I can't wait to make it for our little miracle baby.

In Marie's words:



Often a doll-friend accompanies a child through the whole of childhood as loyal companion and thus it should be carefully chosen. A snuggle dolly is a good choice for a first doll. It has a soft, cuddly body and a pixie hat like the Knecht Ruprecht Snuggle Doll and it can easily be taken along everywhere. It can be wrapped in its own cuddly body fabric and thus be in bed, and it takes on trusted, comforting scents to have nearby where ever one goes.
It is particularly good when this important companion is personally made. This guide book provides a way to make this possible.


Step by step instructions including patterns for the original Knecht Ruprecht Snuggle Doll A first doll with a soft cuddly body and a pixie hat
Richly illustrated.
Step by step instructions.
50 pictures and detailed photos.
Suitable for beginners.
Instant Download Tutorial



This PDF EBook includes a 25 page detailed tutorial for sewing your own Babies First Snuggle Doll. It is designed elaborately and contains more than 50 detaild pictures to follow step by step. It also contains information about the meaning of dollplay in Waldorf Education, about Basic Sewing Techniques for dollmaking, about resources for doll making materials and an illustrated guide to washing cloth dolls.



When I make the Knecht Ruprecht Snuggle Dolls in my own workshop, I use GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified organic velour fabric made from pure cotton and Swiss cotton doll tricot. I fill the head and body base with pure wool fleece. Often it can be hard to come by the kind of high quality, tested organic fabrics one would like to use for such a special task and this can be frustrating. For this reason I have put together DIY Fabric and Material packs of the finest quality materials to match the requirements of the Doll Making Guide for the Knecht Ruprecht Snuggle Doll.

These packs come in the three colours; moss green, sea blue or rose. A piece of GOTS certified organic cotton velour, a piece of GOTS certified cotton doll tricot for the inner head/face and a piece for the outer head, with some pure wool fleece for the filling of the head and body bit. In the packs I have also included the yarn for binding the doll and the cheek blush for the magic last touches. They are packed beautifully in a hand stamped paper bag decorated with a matching picture of a Knecht Ruprecht Snuggle Doll made out of the materials you will find in the pack.



Marie has kindly offered a babies first doll kit featuring her snuggle doll and tutorial to one of you!

For a chance to win, simply leave a comment on this post! If you would like an additional chance to win:
-post this giveaway to Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or your blog
-“like” Knecht Ruprecht Waldorf Dolls on facebook
and please make sure to come back and leave me another comment letting me know you did so!

Please make sure you comment via intense debate and not via blogger on your phone. If you comment using blogger it gets deleted and cancels out all of the other comments in the process. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thanks for understanding!

Comments will close on Tuesday November 17th and I will announce the winners within this post that night.


Comments closed! The winner is:

Mimi@Sweet Sassafras who said -  Oh isn't this sweet! The perfect size for little hands, too.

 

Congrats! Please email me at farmergopi@yahoo.com

Good luck everyone. Thank you Marie!

Knecht Ruprecht Waldorf Dolls {giveaway!}

Knecht Ruprecht Waldorf Dolls giveaway

For today's giveaway, I am thrilled to welcome Marie, one of my favorite doll makers. Marie is the very talented owner of Knecht Ruprecht, a shop dedicated to handcrafted treasures for babies and children made from natural, organic, ecologically friendly and pure materials. I asked Marie if she could share a bit more with us:



Please tell us more about your self:

I grew up in a family of artists, with lots of self-made and handcrafted goods around myself. During my time as a Waldorf student I was educated in all different kinds of arts and craftsmanship. After having finished my studies in Visual Fine Arts at the University of Art and Industrial Design in Linz I started working as an independent artist in the fields of media art, installation art, film and photography and exhibited my work at a number of national and international institutions. Since I am a mother to a little daughter and a little son I started working on dolls and wooden toys for my children like my mother did for me when I was little. Some friends asked if I could create dolls and wooden toys for their children too and so I started to sell my handcrafted treasures for babies and children. I live and work together with my family in the north of Austria's countryside.



What made you decide to start your business?

My first sale on etsy was ordered from Texas which was quite exotic for me living in Austria. I was so thrilled and loved the idea to send my dolls to children all over the world. My dream came true and now there are Knecht Ruprecht Dolls all over the world. I am so pleased and happy to make these dolls and last but not least this kind of work is very compatibly while having little children. It allows me to stay at home with them and work beside them when they play, having my sewing basket at my side.
 


What makes Waldorf dolls so different from mainstream dolls?

The Waldorf Doll has been used in Waldorf education for generations. It is handcrafted with loving care using only natural materials like pure lambs wool and cotton, materials that are soft and warm to the touch. When cuddled, a wool stuffed doll takes on the warmth of the child, a warmth that makes the doll come alive. The origins of this type of doll come from a strong European tradition of doll making. Many dolls were made by mamas at home during long winter months from materials that were at hand, like sheep's wool and cloth scraps, instantly giving life to those simple materials. The appearance of a Waldorf Doll is intentionally simple with minimal facial features in order to allow the child playing with it to improve and strengthen imagination and creativity. The beauty of simplicity is stimulating creative learning by drawing on the child’s imagination. At first glance, it may occur not to be so much effort to create such a simple doll, with few facial features instead of a more detailed doll. But actually, it is a great challenge to put life into a doll's face using only a few stitches. Hand embroidering a dolls face is always something special for me. I do have to center myself to find calmness and serenity for that task. Every stitch has to be in the perfect spot in order to make a dolls face shine. In my opinion the main effort about Waldorf doll or Waldorf toy making in general, is to find what is essential, to limit it to that and to put soul into the creation. Play is the true work of our children, therefore whenever possible we should provide them with the best and highest quality play things. Surrounding our children with handmade and natural toys means that their memories will be full of these natural, important, and handmade things, rather than toys that are unimportant, inexpensive and disposable.

Thanks, Marie! If you would like to learn more about Marie, you can find her at her blog, on flickr  and pinterest and of course at her shop located here and here.



Today Marie is offering one of her wee Waldorf walnut babies to one of you lucky readers. A Walnut Baby is a beautiful ornament for a newborn. It can be used as a dollhouse families baby and it is a beautiful decoration on the nature table. The baby is handmade from the best doll making materials and bedded on organic lambs wool in an organic grown walnut shell. It is the limited edition of twelve babies this year.



The shell comes from our very old Austrian "Klosternuß" walnut tree. This kind of walnut tree is rare to find and known for its large and beautiful shells. The Walnut shells are about 5 cm.

I have to add that my girls have one of Marie's walnut babies and treasure it. That little baby gets carried everywhere! It's the perfect size.

For a chance to win, simply leave a comment on this post! If you would like an additional chance to win:

- like Knecht Ruprecht on Facebook
- post this giveaway to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or your blog
- let me know you are a dear follower of Frontier Dreams

and please make sure to come back and leave me another comment letting me know you did so! I will close comments on Wednesday October 30th and announce the winner within this post.

Comments closed. The winner is:

Christel ·

My grandmother used to make me toys out of walnuts and chestnuts. I used to love this. I imagine she played with the same kind of toys as a child growing up during WWII in Germany with little money to spare for frivolities. Nonetheless, these are very sweet dolls and would love to win this to share with my children.

 

Congrats Christel! Please contact me at farmergopi(at) yahoo (dot) com

Best of luck everyone!

Knecht Ruprecht Waldorf Dolls giveaway

Waldorf mermaids & a backyard water park

Finally, pictures of my ocean themed knitting I had been mentioning over the course of the summer! I finished these awhile back but just wasn't able to find the time to snap pics. The girls special dolls became mermaids via this knitting pattern. I altered the pattern just a bit to make the tails into full outfits. The girls have been playing mermaids with them pretty much non-stop. Such a fun way to incorporate their most treasured friends into our lessons.



As summer was nearing it's end and our ocean learning was coming to a close, the girls decided to make a backyard waterpark. They were inspired, once again, by Martin and Sylvia. They told Kevin and I that they could only use things we already had in our home or garage. They played some water spray bottle tag, water mud kitchen and made their own slip and slide with some garbage bags anchored into the ground with thick sticks. All three of my children seemed to thoroughly enjoy the waterpark, which really had absolutely nothing to do with our ocean studies - that is until a shark appeared in their water fun...



Nara AKA Land Shark. Oh how she loves to attack play in water.



Little L finds her shark antics quite entertaining. I do, too!

Waldorf mermaids & a backyard water park

Not the decision I wanted to come to...

Remember our tooth dilemma with K from a few weeks ago? Well, we finally came to a decision and on Monday she had them pulled. In all honesty, that was really not the decision I wanted to come to. Kevin and I talked it over again and again as well as K and I. She asked us to get them pulled. I tried in vain to help her teeth become wiggly but they just would not budge. In the end what it came down to was K complaining of pain where her adult teeth were coming in.

She was so excited for Monday she could barely sleep the night before. She told anyone that would listen she was getting them pulled and that the tooth fairy would be visiting her that night. She didn't show one bit of nervousness or anxiety. That helped to reassure me that we were doing what was right for her.  I quickly finished up her tooth fairy pillow/doll that had fallen to the bottom of my WIP basket and gave it to her when I picked her up from school. I think that was a sweet surprise for her. She was excited over the doll's cloud pocket for her teeth.

She asked if Daddy could be with her for the procedure while I watched C and Little L. Kevin cleared his schedule to make sure that could happen. I admit I was relieved that she wanted Daddy there. I had a lot of my teeth pulled as a child and have some not-so-fond memories of it all, mostly due to the first time I had to have it done. My dentist, back then, lacked patience and empathy and just didn't seem to like children very much. I don't remember how old I was but I do remember being scared, and as many children do when they are afraid - I cried. The dentist put his hand over my mouth and nose (causing me to be unable to breathe) and told me I could not cry because I would scare the other patients there. Of course that made matters even worse. Needless to say, my Mom found a new dentist after that. I can still smell his cheap cologne when I think about that ordeal...

But back to K. At the last minute she decided she wanted me with her instead. I pushed my own issues aside and agreed. When we got to the room that the procedure would be done in, she was still as happy as could be. They asked her if she wanted to watch a movie. K looked at me to see if it was okay and I nodded my head yes. I figured for something like this we could make that compromise.
K decided on one of their selections (I have no idea what it was, she just saw dogs on the cover and picked it) and they put it on and laid her chair back. They gave her some "happy gas" to try to relax her. About three minutes into the movie and gas she started crying hysterically. I jumped up and ran over to her. She was too upset to speak but she clung onto me like she would never let go. After a few moments she said the movie scared her (she later told me it was because they were sword fighting). The kind dental hygienist had her pick out a new one (this time I helped, and we chose a movie I had actually seen before, Finding Nemo) then set her up again with the gas. Again, poor K started crying. She didn't like the gas (and I can't say I blame her!), as it was having the opposite effect it was meant to have, so we convinced them to just not use it.

K was quite worked up by this point and I almost had us leave, but then the dentist came in. He gave her a soft blanket to cuddle with and then situated his equipment so that I could be with her on the chair and have her legs over my lap. Then he left and gave her a good half hour to relax. She watched her movie while I rubbed her legs. I got her tooth fairy doll from my bag and gave it to her. I told her that her special doll would calm her nerves and keep her safe. She held her tightly in her arms. When the dentist came back in K was ready. The procedure took ten minutes or less,and I got to hold my sweet girl the whole time. K barely blinked an eye during it all but smiled big when the dentist showed her her two teeth. He then showed me why they weren't falling out on their own - whatever it is that naturally dissolves the roots (I have now forgotten what it was called) missed her teeth and only hit a small portion of the back of them. They would have never come out on their own.

My not so little K came out of the dentist's office proudly showing Daddy and her siblings her lost teeth. I could clearly see that she knew just how brave and amazing she was. I'm so proud of her. She spent the rest of the night inspecting her lost teeth, talking about them and sharing her excitement over the tooth fairy visit to come.

But this story does not end here, not by far! I have a little bit more to share about the morning after in my next post. See you then!

Not the decision I wanted to come to...

Sponsored giveaway : Belambolo (Waldorf Doll!)

Happy Friday everyone! I hope to help make it an even happier day for all of you by introducing one of my kind sponsors Belambolo. Shop owner Heike Gielen is a doll artist that sews dolls according to Waldorf pedagogy - with a lot of passion, time and love. In her own words, "I feel that a doll is a soulful preciousness of a child. As a image of the human figure she teaches the child everything that is necessary for a child´s life. In a handcrafted doll incorporates dedication, love and the time of the doll maker, so that the doll is inspired treasure for the whole childhood companion, comforter, protector, secret guardian. A handmade doll is a different from the industrially produced commodity, also because it is - like any child - individual and unique."

I really couldn't agree more. That's why doll play (for both the girls and my boy) is so important in our home.





I'll let Heike continue, "As a doll artist I sew and I sell dolls. You can feel certain that every part of the doll has been made by me. I stuff each of my doll bodies, I crochet every wig. All the clothes are made by me with a lot of love and passion. Each doll is a unique piece of artistic value, I prepare for my ideas or the ideas and wishes of my clients. They are great for kids of all ages, small and large. You can play with them, cuddle them, carry them round, for dressing and undressing - they are companions of childhood and life, and can also be collected by large children."

Not only does she sell the sweet dolls she makes in her shop but she also carries hand dyed yarn, doll making supplies, doll clothes and more! Please go check Belambolo out and support this wonderful small business.

Heike is very generously offering one of you very lucky winners one of her beautiful handmade creations - Betty.





"Betty is a handcrafted doll according to Waldorf pedagogy.

She is 30 cm / 12 inches tall and made with a high quality cotton interlock tricot from the Netherlands, wearing a tunic (white and red stripped from jersey), white flowered pants, red crochet shoes with ties, a hand knitted cardigan in natural colours and a headscarf from green flowered fabrics. She has brown fluffy hair, her brown eyes and her mouth are embroidered.

Betty is completely stitched by hand, her clothes are made from natural materials such as mohair, cotton jersey, wool and her body is filled with sheep wool.

Please visit my shop at belambolo.etsy.com or my blog belambolo.blogspot.com"

Heike is offering this giveaway to readers worldwide! So yes, that means you! (Just not me *pout*)

For a chance to win, simply leave a comment on this post!
If you would like additional chances to win:

-Visit Belambolo and tell us what your favorite item is in her shop
-Post this giveaway to Facebook, Twitter, or your blog
-Follow Heike's blog
-Let me know you are a dear follower of Frontier Dreams

and please make sure to come back and leave separate comments letting me know you've done so!

I will close comments Wednesday June 13th and announce the winner within this post that day. Please be sure to check back to see if you won!

Comments closed

The winner is:
treebee - love the kits to make dolls, I could never afford a completed one but wouldn't know where to start tracking down all the bits and pieces on my own.

Congrats! Please e-mailme at farmergopi (at) yahoo (dot) com.



Thank you Heike for your generosity. Best of luck everyone!

Sponsored giveaway : Belambolo (Waldorf Doll!)

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

Notice the full laundry basket in the background...







The current state of my dining room. C's birthday makings have taken over!
There is sewing, sewing and more sewing going on along with some knitting and baking, too. I really hope to pull off a rainbow cake for her. I found a version (here) using homemade plant dyes that looks really good.

I had a friend ask me the other day if I work better under pressure, since it seems I have been doing that a lot lately - scrambling to get things together at the very last minute. That made me giggle, it would seem that way, wouldn't it?! Kevin is one of those people, he shines when everything is on him. I, on the other hand, fall apart and turn into a weeping mess of a child when under pressure. The truth is that I generally like to have things done well in advance. I am not sure what has been going on with me these past few months but hopefully I can get back on track soon.





C baby - 3 years, lots of love and many dog attacks later. She is in need of help, wouldn't you say?

I have only one more day until C's birthday (I think I need a miracle here), after that things should calm back down here and I can play catch up. Sorry for the fly-by post, again.

What are you working on? Happy creating!

If you would like to link up and share your current works in progress please leave your link below. It can now be either to your specific blog post or Flickr photo. There are no rules, only that your link is current and something about a craft project (of any kind) you are working on. Don't forget that there is now a KCCO Flickr group for you to share your crafting photos at anytime.

Please remember to link back here so that others who may want to join KCCO can find us.

It's as simple as that. Remember your post can be from any day of the week, it doesn't have to be today. We all love feedback so if you have a moment please leave a comment on some of the KCCO posts you may visit. I know your comments really motivate me! Now please share and inspire us all!

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}