Happy Halloween!

The family spent all weekend cleaning up the mess from last week's storm. I feel like Hercules after cleaning the Augean stables. My back hurts and I am soooo sore from all the lifting, chopping, and dragging of dead tree limbs. Supposedly the city will pick up the pile of brush we put out by the street. It's "only" a pile about 5 feet tall and 20 feet wide...

The kids had fun playing on the pile. I couldn't help but smile though my heart was heavy looking at my dead Italian plum tree. No more plum cakes. Sniffle.

Hope all those Trick-or-Treaters  are careful tonight. It's going to be difficult maneuvering around the brush piles on our street. I swear ours is the highest and longest in the neighborhood.

Can you find the second child in this picture?

Happy Halloween! And be safe out there!

NaturalKids Team Giveaway on SouleMama

Don't miss out on this great Giveaway by the NaturalkKids Team on Soule Mama's blog. You could win a number of cool Natural toys to give away as presents for Christmas!

Images from the Big Snow Storm

I don't think this post requires too many words. The images speak for themselves...
You can see what we woke up to on Wednesday morning. From a perfectly golden mild October we went to Winterwonderland in the blink of an eye.

I am just really sad to think about all the trees that got destroyed in this massive snowstorm. This is what happens when one foot of snow falls on trees that are still in their fall attire.

The destruction is epic. Our backyard looks like a bomb hit. Fruit trees that we nursed for years fell victim to large branches from the neighbor's old trees that fell on top of them.

On the positive side: My husband put the car in the garage. The truck only lost one of the side mirrors. Nobody in our neighborhood got hit by a falling branch. The power is working again and I can make coffee on the kitchen stove instead of the wood stove. I have the Internet and my computer back...
I am glad to be back to relatively normal!

From my phone

 we had a massive snowstorm in colorado. took out our phone and powerline yesterday. luckily I have this nifty phone that keeps me connected to the world as we huddle by a fire. pretty weird how we are reduced to living like cavemen while having modern touchphones. I'll share my pictures snd story once I get my computer back. The distruction in our yard is totally depressing!

Nightcap...

nightcap 4, originally uploaded by germandolls.

I think we should go back to using nightcaps. I mean the hats - not the drinks. LOL. I made this cute little set for a customer. It turned out so adorable I decided to make a couple more for my etsyshop. The shoes now - take a while to make. If you'd to order some for Christmas you better hurry quick!

Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

We finally made it to the pumpkin patch this weekend. Only my husband, daughter, and I went. A certain teenage boy thinks he is too old for that kind of stuff now. Sniff! I am pretty sure he would have enjoyed it anyways. They even sold snacks such as homemade hot pickles. Delicious!

It was so much fun picking out the perfect pumpkin. The haunted house that came with it was not my cup of tea...There was a maze inside a wooden shack that was so dark, I needed help finding my way out. I am glad I didn't go in alone. Kind of freaked me out.

Other than that just orange as far as the eye could see. We got a pretty good deal on our pumpkins too: 10 bucks for 4 pumpkins? Can't beat that!

Yellow Day

When my kids went to preschool they learned colors with these cute little rhymes. I think the rhyme for the color yellow went like this:

Yellow yellow sat in Jello.

Not sure how the little cartoon character got in such a pickle.

I love the color yellow. But then again I love all colors...

Meet Sweet Pea

Sweet pea 3, originally uploaded by germandolls.

In the wee morning hours, yesterday, I put the final touches on dear, Sweet Pea. She is so cute and cuddly. I think I just want to keep her for myself.
Alas, I listed her in my shop...

Sweet Doll Mugs are Hard to Make!

You may think a Waldorf style doll face is easy to do. They look so simple. After all they are just two dots and a line. But if you think that you are deadwrong!

Even after making hundreds of dolls I still get very nervous whenever I get ready to embroider the face of a doll. If you make a mistake on the sweet doll face it may not look so sweet after all...

I think the eyes of a doll especially are very important. Like a person's eyes they are the "windows to the soul". So if you are striving to make a good doll, don't forget about the fact that each stitch counts!

The perfect mug takes time and patience! I never do the faces when the kids or husband are around. I am afraid I may yell at them if things don't go smoothly.

Here is a list of common mistakes people make (in my opinion)

1. Not having the doll's face centered on the head.
2. Making the eyes too far apart. If you do that the doll has more of a frog like expression. Not flattering in my opinion...
3. Making the mouth too low or too high.
4. Not putting the mouth centered.
5. Making messy uneven stitches.
6. Putting on a nose that is far too big. (I hardly ever do noses on my dolls. But I think big noses look really bad on a doll)

Hope this list of mine helps you if you are an aspiring doll artist. I think any homemade doll is better than the plastic stuff made in China. So don't be sad if a doll doesn't quite turn out. I am sure somebody will adopt a baby whose face is not perfect. My daughter was always happy to add a doll gone south to her collection...

Mermaid Finished!

I just finished this adorable redhead Waldorf style mermaid doll. What do you think?

She will move to Great Britain in the near future. Hope she finds a good place to swim and collect some seashells...Farewell little redhead gal!

Fall Impressions

Fall is fun. Leaves inspire us to do crafts...and write cool poems.

Leaves are all we need for entertainment on a balmy fall day. Now how do we get everyone coordinated so the leaves end up in a pile? 3 busy little girls worked hard to make a pile big enough to jump in.

Finally they decided to wait another week until all the leaves are down. They left in frustration to return another day. Kids...

Purple Day/ Lila Tag

purple day, originally uploaded by germandolls.

Yesterday I was having a purple day. I made a lot of things in different shades of purple. I love lavender, mauve, deep purple, violet or as we say in German: LILA. When my daughter was really little and knew just a few words she liked to yell "LILA" at moths that invaded our house in the summer. I am not certain why she did that. Maybe she thought it was the German word for "attack the bug"? LOL.

I like having color theme days.
The mood in my studio was very purplicious. =)

What Kind of a day did you have?

Waldorf Doll Underwear Indicator

Ever heard of Alan Greenspan's Underwear Indicator theory? I was listening to NPR marketplace the other day, where, for the umptieth time, it was discussed whether the economy is improving or not.

I had never heard of Mr. Greenspan's (Chairmen of the Federal Bank) interesting theory about male underwear buying patterns and how they explain what is going on with the economy. It made me laugh when I looked it up:

Mr. Greenspan argues that:" if you think about all the garments in the household, the garment that is most private is the male underpant, because nobody sees it except people in the locker room, but who cares," Krulwich told NPR. "Your children need clothes, your wife needs clothes that have to change, your children grow, you need clothes on the outside. But the last purchase that you don't have to make is underpants.... [men wear them until they are in] total tatters."

Sorry, Mr. Greenspan! But I think you are wrong. At least when taking into account my guy's buying pattern for underwear. He just doesn't buy any undies. Ever!

But then I started thinking about my dolly underwear sales and how this theory made perfect sense. Yes, I have actual proof that Mr. Greenspan is right. Sales of doll underwear have been down dramatically this past year. I sold only very few pairs of shorts and bloomers over the last 12 months. Despite the fact that doll bloomers and shorts are one of the cheapest items in my Etsyshop they don't sell much at all. It seems that in these hard economic times people don't want to spend money on an item you don't see much anyways. Not that dolls ever destroy their undies and manage to turn them into these unmentionable tatters guys call underwear. Is that why the are called unmentionables?

Well, I decided to be optimistic about the whole thing anyways. I recently sold a set of shorts, and I am working on some new sets for Christmas. Hope your dolls will find some underwear under the Christmas tree this year!

My husband will for sure. Pst! Don't tell him! LOL

Blank Canvas

I think my favorite stage in making a doll is when I have finished the body. I like to look at the sweet figure that has no face, hair, or any clothes. It's like a big blank canvas before the artist gets to paint it.

I like to imagine what the doll will look like finished. Will she be a redhead? Brunette or blonde baby? What eye color shall I put? What clothes will this little one wear?

I guess I miss having little babies around so through the process of making dolls I get to be a "new mommy" over and over. Giving birth to a new doll is oodles of fun.

Today I got this little brown haired fuzzy baby on my workbench. She will go to a little girl's house this Christmas...Fun!

Friends and Fairy Tales

Being German I grew up around fairy tales. My mother read them to us all the time. I get a little frustrated when the family drags me to the movies and I have to watch the Disney versions of my old time faves. What happened to the Rapunzel story? They changed the plot so much it made me sick to the stomach. I really hated it. Sorry, Disney people, but next time could you please consult with a German?

Are you excited about seeing Puss in Boots? Well, at least it's bound to be very funny. I have two good friends who make the most amazing fairy tale creatures out of wool and bits of fabric. First there is Kelley. She is also known as Elfie or little Elf. How befitting.
She recently created this amazing Puss in boots you see in this picture. Now that is exactly how I remember the Puss in Boots. Feisty and cute.

Next there is my friend Cynthia. Another dollmaker whose name is just perfect. Did I mention that her last name is "Toy". It really is. My German heart sings when I look at her delightful fairy tale characters. They are too amazing for words. But see for yourself and visit my friends dreamy shops, sites, FB pages. They are really creators of little miracles not just toymakers...

Yes, it IS!

Fall that is. Or did we skip fall and went straight to Winter? It's snowing in the mountains in Colorado. There wasn't much of a transition it seems. We went from temperatures in the 90s straight to the 40s in the blink of an eye.

Where is my winter coat? Got to go look for it in the basement today.

With the cold came much needed rain. Now it really looks like Germany outside. I feel like basking in the rain. Is that weird or what? I love watching the rain come down in sheets. Jumping in the puddles.

I brought in all the tomatoes. Must have picked 20 pounds of them...
The basil is drying in the oven.

What next? Waiting for the husband to turn the heat on. You know he says it's too early. Not until November 1. Used to be October 1. Since it's been so hot lately that seemed fine. But really pushing it back by a whole month? Better find that coat, a hat, and my mittens. Now that should make for a good picture...Sewing with mittens on? LOL

Cutest little pumpkin Dress for Bambolettas

beige pumpkin dress 2 copy, originally uploaded by germandolls.

Just finished this cute little doll and dress. I love the dark orange and beige together. I wish I could find more of this cute fabric. I'll cry when I run out of this one...

Is it really Fall?

As I am bringing in red tomatoes from the garden every day I am wondering where fall is. Sure the leaves are falling off that big old oaktree in front of the house. But really, we are well into the first week of October and sweating in Colorado. Every day temperatures have been in high 80s I believe there even was a day when my car thermostat claimed 90s.

How can people still deny that global warming is a fact? It boggles the mind.

I really miss fall in Germany. The rain, the foggy cold days, and picking grapes.
I think I have shared some pictures of childhood fall memories from Germany with you.

We have a grape arbor in our backyard. The children love to go outside and sneak some of the delicious grapes. Very different childhood memories...

Now I have to close my eyes and leave it up to the imagination. Maybe if I keep sewing fall dollclothes fall will actually come? Longing for the cold I put together this cute set for my shop.

Like it?

My new postcards arrived!

GermanDolls postcards 2, originally uploaded by germandolls.

I just received my new postcards in the mail yesterday. They will be available in my shop for sale. They come as a set of 6 different images of my dolls and doll clothing.

Hope you enjoy them!