Shouting out!!

As a crafter and creator, I am constantly inspired by the amazing items created by others.  I can seriously get "lost" on Etsy for long periods of time admiring the work of some very, very talented people.  When possible, I plan to support other crafters by purchasing their products and writing about them here on the blog.  Thus, today's "shout out" post.

Before Christmas, I "treated" Talia (my Blythe doll) to some amazing handmade goodies from some overseas crafters.  It was so exciting to get mail from Sweden and Great Britain on the same day!!  Since my knitting skills, especially for very tiny knitted things, are still quite limited, I decided to buy a couple of lovely knitted items for dear little Talia.

I purchased this adorable Christmas hat from Gene P Doll Shop.  The shop owner is from Sweden and in addition to the truly amazing hat, she sent some fun little extras in the package including a Swedish Christmas greeting card.  So fun!!  The photo below shows the hat as listed in Gene P's shop.  It really shows all the great details including the pom-pom, button embellishments, and white eyelash yarn trim.

Here's a photo of Talia in her new hat.  I got it right when we had our first snowstorm and was able to practice my outdoor photography a little bit to show off her new duds.

I also purchased her a green sweater from Cannonbelle.  Green is my favorite color, and I also thought it would be Christmasy and would look great with her new Christmas hat.  This really makes me wish I could knit better.  Maybe that should be a resolution for 2013. 

New clothes for Ellyn

In the new year, I'm planning to expand Walnut Hill Handmade's offerings by sewing doll clothes for American Girl dolls and Blythe dolls.  To that end, I purchased an American Girl doll in December to use as a model.  I wrote about her on my doll blog, HERE.  She is beautiful and her name is Ellyn.

Over Christmas break, I started stitching some clothes for her.  I will most likely list these in my Etsy shop once I have a larger supply of clothes made up.  For both the top and the pants, I used fabric from Hobby Lobby.  The patterns I used are from Liberty Jane Clothing.  They were SUPER easy to follow and turned out great.  I only have one kind of bad photo to show her new outfit, but I'm really happy with it.  The hot pink pants are corduroy.  A girl's gotta love her some hot pink cords!!

NOTE:  I am going to go ahead and post this with the one photo I have, but gosh, I apologize for the poor lighting.  I'll have to work on getting better photos for the shop.  SORRY!!

Edited:  The morning after I prepared this post, I took a bunch more photos of Ellyn in her new clothes.  I'm going to do a separate post on that in a day or so to give some tips on product photography.  A few little changes can make a HUGE difference.  For now, I'll just post one of the "better" photos below the following photo, then I'll do a separate post about how I got better results.

UPDATE:  This outfit has been listed and is available for purchase in my Etsy shop.  See sidebar for the link to the shop.

More knitting..........for Talia this time (and Ellyn too, I guess!)

Another quick little knitting project I've completed recently is a hat for my Blythe doll, Talia.  I am still VERY far from being a skilled knitter and I actively avoid patterns which call for tools I don't have and/or stitches that I don't know how to do yet.  This rules out a lot of the free patterns I come across.  I used THIS PATTERN from Ravelry to make Talia a knitted hat.  However, instead of using a garter stitch, I knitted it all in stockinette so the bottom would naturally roll up.  I think it turned out well.  It fits her well, certainly.  I also think the little tufts that stick up on the top look like owl "ears", and I've thought about stitching some owl eyes and a beak out of felt and attaching them to the hat.  I think that would be adorable.  For now, here she is, modelling her new hat.  I think I'll knit her another one in garter stitch and see how I like that one compared to this one.

NOTE:  Did you know that hats designed for Blythe dolls also fit American Girl dolls?  I did a little photo shoot and plopped this hat on Ellyn to show that it works for her too.  

I am working hard to improve my photography skills since they are so crucial to selling online.  In the photo below, I photographed Talia lying flat on a fleecy blanket.  This allows for a really nice face shot.  However, the lighting was poor.....I took it at night in my craft room.  All artifical light and flash.

The next morning I got up and took advantage of some natural light to set up a little photo studio and get a better photo.  I'm still not thrilled with these photos, but the lighting is MUCH better.  I've found that Blythe dolls have heads that are tilted downward.  To get the shots below, I was lying full out on my stomach on the floor and tilting the camera slightly upwards.  I still need to practice this a lot.  It's amazing what a difference natural lighting makes though.

For some reason, when photographing this hat on Ellyn, the white background was completely washing out the oatmeal-colored hat.  So I pulled a canvas off my studio wall and propped it behind her for contrast.  This achieved a better result, but I'm not happy with the lack of detail in the hat.  I'm just using a little point and shoot camera which probably is at least half the problem.  Anyway, you can see this little hat fits her well and looks cute on her too.

The Ruffled Scarf

Right before Christmas I was getting my hair cut and noticed some really awesome scarves for sale in the salon.  When I saw them I could not imagine myself ever being able to make them.  They looked very complicated.  I commented about the scarves to my hairdresser and she told me they were knitted and that another customer had told her the pattern is only 6 stitches across and that it was made with a special lacy kind of yarn.  I was instantly intrigued.  I went home and did a good ol' Google search to figure out the type of yarn needed.  Then I watched a YouTube video about how to knit with this lacy yarn. 

For Christmas I got a gift card to Hobby Lobby (LOVE!) and used it to purchase some special yarn.  I watched the video again and within a few hours (spread out over 2 days) I had a beautiful lacy scarf.  I would be very happy to make a scarf like this for anyone who'd like to order.  I would also be happy to teach you how to make your own or refer you to the video I used.  Here are a few photos of my scarf.  Not the best photos........I snapped them quickly at night.  It gives you an idea of how pretty and ruffly the scarf is though.  It is super-light and would be great to wear even in warmer weather.

Here's a little peek.........

.......at what I've been crafting!  I am making a goal to write more blog posts here in 2013.  It will be my way of sharing what I'm up to as well as a way to showcase items that I'm planning to make for sale this year.

As I sit here writing this post, here is my view.  (See photo below.)

You can see my awesome new cozy socks, a Christmas gift from my oldest son.  I LOVE COZY SOCKS!!!  My little sweetheart, Lucky, is always close by when I'm crafting.  In the distance you can see my TV where I'm watching a cheesy movie on Lifetime.  You can see athletic shoes on the treadmill because one day, very soon, I'll put them on and walk on said treadmill.  Really!  I'm not kidding!  There are a few crafty creations in this photo that I'll post about over the next few days.  See if you can spot them!!

When I'm finished typing this post and publishing it, I'm going to finish the dishcloth I started knitting last night to use up some Christmas yarn I hadn't done anything wish.  These knit up super fast, are super easy, and make great gifts.  I use this pattern which is often called "Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth."

Thanksgiving Pillow: BLESSED

Just listed this pillow in my Etsy shop.  It would be a great hostess gift for Thanksgiving or a wonderful keepsake to pull out in November each year, reminding you to count your blessings.  CLICK HERE to purchase.   I will have 2 similar pillows at the Holiday Boutique on November 15th and can make more to order, but ORDER SOON!!

"merry" pillow

Here's a cute little pillow that would make a great gift or home decor item for Christmas.