Ballerina Clothes - Dance Recital 2010

This weekend was my daughter's 5th dance recital. I can't believe how quickly time is passing. It seems like only yesterday she was a little toddler who was lost on the stage. With every year she is getting more sure of her place on that big stage - and in the world. I am so proud of her, and it is such a joy to watch the children grow and come into their own. I really loved this year's blue and green costume, too.

I have not made any ballerina outfits for my dolls in a while. I think the CPSIA scare is the main reason why I stopped making ballerina doll outfits completely. Lots of the materials used on kids' ballet clothes - tulle, glitter, flowers - are most likely not considered safe for a child. But I have yet to see a dancewear maker stop making dance clothes for kids who are under 12 years of age. I wonder if all the materials used in yesterday's performance had been tested for lead. Frankly, I think by the time the kids have learned their recital piece, they know not to chew and eat their pretty dress and accessories. But I must keep trying to find some natural materials for doll ballerina outfits so they can get in some stage time again!=)

Win a Living Crafts Magazine Subscription!

Come on hurry over to the NaturalKids blog for a fun giveaway of a subscription to Living Crafts! Such a great magazine! http://natural-kids.blogspot.com/2010/06/giveaway-from-living-crafts.html


The NaturalKids team ran an ad in the Magazine two Christmases ago. I was so happy when a picture of one of my items was chosen to be in our ad. My one moment of magazine fame. LOL Maybe some day I'll have enough money to buy ads for my etsyshop...

veggie dress 1

veggie dress 1, originally uploaded by germandolls.

To go with my vegetable garden I made this cute dress. So adorable. Of course, another Kawaii print!

Garden Report: Weeding and Watering

Here are some new pictures of the garden patch. We planted the corn and squash first. Unfortunately about half the squash did not come up. So we had to replant some. The weeds, as usual, sprouted in large multitudes. The race "weeds against gardener" is at full speed. I can tell it's the kids least favorite part. Everybody loves to water and be in charge of the hose. But weeding is definitely the least popular activity. When I took my daughter weeding on Saturday she kept saying:" This is so boring. Can we go home now?" Patience, Dear! Weeding is an important aspect of being a gardener. As much as we detest it, it is necessary or you don't get any crop!

Needlefelting Doll Shoes

Okay, maybe I am bit of a compulsive person. Just a wee bit. I started needle felting in 2007. It's just the thing for me. Stab stab stab. If you have good fine motor skills, good eye-sight, and lots of patience you should try it. If not you may end up with some self inflicted injuries. But who am I to talk? I occasionally step on needles.

I don't think anybody has taken needle felting quite to the level that I have. I like to decorate my doll shoes to match the dresses for my dolls. I will take an element, a small detail, from the dress and felt it onto the shoe. The tiny doll shoes are my canvas.

It's quite tedious work. But aren't the results quite amazing? You can find lots of examples of my shoes on my flickr photostream

Just Finished

202, originally uploaded by germandolls.

I shipped this sweet outfit today. I hope it will make a little girl very happy. The fabric I used was sent to me by a dear customer.

What do you think? I really love it when customers come to me with ideas and suggestions for fabric and new combinations. I fell in love with Jason Yentels Splendor. I already did a search on it and will probably order some more of it to make more outfits like this one. =)

German Music: Stephan Sulke

Do you ever have those days when you have a song stuck in your head? You don't even know how or why that particular song. What triggered this? It may be a song you may not have listened to in years.

Well with me it's been German song lyrics from the 70s. Back then, my oldest sister brought home this tape - remember the time back when people had cassette tapes? - with songs by Stephan Sulke. It was great! One of my favorite songs was called: Die Intellektuellen. So I had to look up the song writer. I found his site. You should check it out. I very much enjoyed reading his autobiographical entry there. I did not know anything about him as a child. I just loved the music. I am glad I took the time to learn more about his life!

http://www.stephansulke.com/main/.

Quite a few of his song titles were girls' names: Uschi, Lotte, and Ulla. The song Uschi supposedly became his biggest hit. Not sure why. They should have asked me. I knew better as a ten-year-old! Since my name is Ulla, the song about "die dicke Ulla" always led to merciless teasing by my sisters. Too bad I couldn't find the song lyrics for "Die Intellektuellen". I still got the melody and parts of the song lyrics stuck in my head: Die Intellektuellen, die hoeren gerne Blues. Bei denen tanzen die Forellen, im selbstgemachten Apfelmus...Or was that whole song? Maybe there wasn't more to it. Simple but really good. I don't have the song recording anywhere. Maybe someone can help me out. What album was it on?

I think I'll have to order me a CD from Germany. I like to use music to teach German to the kids. After all, that's how I learned English as a child. Rocking out to the Beatles.Wow, I am feeling really old now. But some music NEVER goes out of style. If you speak German you should look up Stephan Sulke. Unfortunately youtube.com did not have a version of the song stuck in my head...