Saturday, January 30, 2021

Will you be my Gnomie for Valentines?

 Hi friends!  I can't believe I'm doing this again, but here I am!  After last year life has shown me not to neglect doing the things that I love.  I am absolutely sure 2020 has shown many of us that life is so short but more importantly so precious.  I am blessed to have many hobbies which helped ease the transition of social distancing.  I don't know what I'd have done if I didn't have hobbies to keep me occupied.  Blogging is one those hobbies I have missed, so here I am, once again.

Last year I found myself combing through many blogs I used to follow.  With everything going on in our world I wanted to find things that were pleasing to look at as well as inspirational.  I realized I am very fortunate that I am able to daily create a beautiful environment for myself, my family, and my friends to enjoy.  So it was with that focus that I decided to share my home, my embroidery, my tablescapes, my seasonal decor, crafts, gardening and all the enjoyable things in my world with others once again.   I don't have an endless budget, or a designer home but I do have a desire to create something enjoyable to see.  So with that said, I hope you will enjoy coming here again if you are an old follower or consider following along if your new to my blog. 

 Welcome everyone, to The Decorative Dreamer!


I love seasonal decorating!  Do you?  If you do, will you be my Gnomie?  LOL!  
I made this little dishtowel last year.  I am especially proud of this design as it is one of my very own.  I personally digitized the gnome design with the heart balloons, ect.  Every bit of that is design is my own work, with the exception of the font. The lettering is a purchased font I own.  Digitizing is another one of my favorite passions now as it has allowed me to be creative in a whole new way. 


Have you noticed a trend with decorating with Gnomes for Valentines?  I sure have! 



I got on board with the gnome trend last year when I found the kissing gnomes applique design and knew it would be perfect for a sweet little pillow.  I added the wording to make it even more fun.  This year, I added to my gnomes after finding this design for a stuffed gnome. She was fun to make but not so fun to stuff with those skinny legs.


She is sitting here on the shelves in my kitchen.  I have pretty much limited my Valentines decor to the kitchen.  Its one of those holidays I tend to do more groupings with either one location, or only a few items here and there.  This year I focused on the kitchen sitting area.  It's so fun to see this every morning and brings a smile to my heart. 


When I first set up my shelves I just had the hearts hanging there without anything on them.  One morning I looked at the shelves and thought now wouldn't that be cute to have mine and my husbands initials on them with arrows pointing at each other.  Sooo, I made some decals with my silhouette machine and put them on there.  Isn't that so sweet?  I think so!
 

Can you tell how much I love personalized decorating?  I made sure they were placed centerstage to the rest of the valentines decor on my shelves.   Also centerstage are the cute little Pioneer Woman salt and pepper shakers that remind me of my dogs.  Even though these are meant to be labs they really, really, look like my two Cavachons to me.





Speaking of Pioneer Woman products.  I decided to pull out the first pattern of dishware that I bought of hers and the matching accessories pieces.  I thought they had enough red on them to to work well for Valentines decor.  




Well, I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my kitchen sitting are all decked out for Valentines.  I'm so glad to be back sharing and recording the pretties in my life.  If you enjoyed your visit please feel free to drop me a comment if you wish.  I'd love to hear about what you are doing for Valentines as well. Otherwise, thank you for stopping by, please drop in again sometime.  
Have a beautiful day!
Mary

I am joining these fun and beautiful beautiful blog parties;

Thursday, January 28, 2021

My Very first Homemade Doll

 Hi friends!  This post is to share my very first doll that I made for a very special little girl.   What makes this little girl so special to me is that she is the grand daughter of my late best friend who was born just after my friend passed away in 2019.  I feel very blessed to be able to still connect with her even though it's been far too limited in 2020 due to this horrible pandemic.  I finished this doll just in the nick of time for her very 1st birthday.  What a joy to be able to deliver this little cutie to another adorable cutie!


My doll making began when I found a pattern online that I could use to make the doll on my embroidery machine.  After searching locally I found this material at Hobby Lobby for the skin.  I liked the way it had a texture as well.  


After carefully following the instructions for a doll with sewn in limbs, (arms and legs) the doll was read for stuffing.  I got to choose the face from several designs.  I am in love with this face!  Just look at those adorable eyes!


The pattern I used had the option for a doll joint for the head that I chose to use.  I didn't realize at the time that I should have waited to stuff the body and the head after I had the doll joint in place.  I had to wait for some time for my ordered doll joints to arrive and thought I was being ahead of the game by prestuffing the head and body.  I knew not to sew it together yet so I could insert the joints but I hadn't thought so far ahead to realize I couldn't get the joints in with the stuffing inside.  So I had to unstuff them again.  Ugh, lessons learned right?

Another fun adventure on my first doll was finding different types of fur to use for the hair.  I first purchased a few different fur types from Hobby Lobby but they were shorter lengths.  After seeing how big my doll was I knew I had to get some longer fur.  I found a great little shop on Etsy after reading about them in a Facebook group.  I decided to let Mom and Dad decide the color of the baby dolls hair.  They chose blonde after deciding it might be the closest match to their daughters hair.

At long last the neck joints came in and I was able to complete the doll.  Isn't she just too cute?

I was able to find this adorable little outfit for her at Walmart.  The size of the outfit is for a newborn.  There are different sizes you can use to make the doll.  This was the next to largest size.  It might be a bit big for a one year old but its big enough for her to grow with. 

And finally I was able to deliver the doll just before her first birthday.  I received a photo tag later with these photos of her loving on her new baby.  Isn't that just the sweetest?  I think so!


This makes my heart smile!  What a joy!


I'm not so inclined at this time to start selling homemade dolls as there is so much involved with compliance laws that I would need to sort out even though I was very careful to make sure everything I used for this one was safe.  I can see making a few more gifts though, as this was such a fun and enjoyable project.  This one especially because it was the very first one made with love!
Mary