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Stitches and Songs: Alkelda Dolls in October

Greetings to all of you from Alkelda Dolls!  My name is Farida. I make wool felt dolls for children’s creative play and storytelling, though teens and grownups have been known to bring my dolls to their desks for quiet inspiration. The dolls can travel in your pocket, too– just be sure to tuck them into a silken bag to prevent the wool from “pilling.” This is my fourth year with the NaturalKids Team. As a little background to my shop’s name,  when I started on Etsy, “Alkelda” was my username. Alkelda (pronounced “al-kell-dah”) is an apocryphal English saint whose name means “sacred spring” or “holy well,” and whose feast day, March 28,  is my birthday.

Here in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, autumn is in full swing.  I ran by Lake Washington for the first time in months, and was happy to see two of my favorite trees with their vibrant array of red and yellow hues. I was inspired to make these yellow and red leaf babies for the shop:

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Yellow and Red Leaf Babies

In the realm of academics, the blue math gnome provides some wise counsel to the Ladybug Witch (with removable hat) and Ladybug Child. The counsel may be this: “Regardless of your natural skill levels, the things worth learning require time, patience, focus, and determination. Ask for help and clarification when you need it, and persistence in learning what you need to know. I am here for you, and you are not alone.” Speaking of witches, I have some salamander and bat themed friends who would be most willing to be part of your Halloween Fairy tradition (whereby the Halloween Fairy gets the child’s candy and receives a present in return).

The Blue Math Gnome has a conversation with the Ladybug Witch and Ladybug Child
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Bat and salamander witches

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elsewhere in the shop, the Black Heart Queen (a tribute to rock and roll musician Joan Jett) and the Grey Knight are in the early stages of courtship. The Grey Knight enjoys composing sweet, sentimental songs on his lyre, while the Black Heart Queen’s songs have a bit more edge to them. Regardless, both kinds of songs celebrate love and friendship.

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The Black Heart Queen (who is a big Joan Jett fan) converses with the Grey Knight.

Speaking of music, I was fortunate enough to attend a week-long guitar camp this summer. I returned home with renewed interest in learning new skills and new songs. I’ve taken up ukulele as well (I wrote a blog post on Saints and Spinners blog post about that new passion), though guitar will always be my first love. Here I am on Orcas Island, as the sun sets, learning on guitar the chords to Lucky Man, by The Verve:

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This week, I’m playing a William Butler Yeats poem set to  12 bar blues by The Waterboys, called The Lake Isle of Innisfree.  If any of this talk makes you feel like you want to take up an instrument, but you’re not quite sure, I recommend watching The Mighty Uke. Making music is indeed within reach!

As the weeks progress, I will be featuring December festival dolls along the lines of angel-fairies, Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus), St. Lucy (Santa Lucia), and more. Please feel welcome to drop by for a visit. My fellow NaturalKids Team members would enjoy saying hello to you, too.

Warm regards, Farida Dowler

burglar nov12 Farida Dowler of Alkelda Dolls is a musical storyteller and dollmaker in Seattle, Washington, USA. She was recently   featured on Jama’s Alphabet Soup Indie Artist Spotlight. Farida is trained as a children’s librarian, and would enjoy talking about children’s and teen books with you if you were so inclined.

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Harvest Colors by Jess of broodbaby

This time of year I am as busy in the kitchen as I am the studio.  The bounty of the summer garden becomes a harvest that needs to be processed, packaged, and stored so that it can continue to nurture us through the long winter months here in New England.  Tomatoes are simmered into sauce, cucumbers are pickled, and fruits of all kind are frozen.  The bounty of goodies requires that I spend quite a bit of time chopping and slicing, but the rewards are many.  Not only will we have a taste of summer available to us in the dead of winter, but I’m finding I’m inspired by the colors around me in the kitchen.  The rich reds of the tomatoes and coral lusciousness of the peaches: suddenly I know what to do with the brightly toned stash of cashmere sweaters that I wasn’t quite sure how I’d repurpose yet.  A creative appetite has been satiated, as well now, as I envision a neighborhood of little playful houses growing on my studio shelves.

My Little House Cashmere Pillows have been a delightfully fun community to build.  Each seems to have its own personality, and all have a secret.  The front door to each one is a pocket!  Use it as a tooth pillow or tuck away messages or a favorite charm.  Perhaps a small little snack for later so that the house that was inspired by my kitchen work can repay its creation with afternoon fortifications.

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Easy Frozen Peaches:

10 peaches
the juice of 1 lemon
1/8 cup of sugar

Combine the sugar and the lemon juice in a large mixing bowl.
Slice each peach into eighths.
Toss in the lemon and sugar mixture in two or three batches.
Lay the slices out in a single layer on a cookie sheet and freeze.  Once frozen, bag or pack them in containers of your choosing for storage.

Listing link:  https://www.etsy.com/listing/160427285/little-house-cashmere-tooth-pillows?ref=shop_home_active
Shop link:  www.broodbaby.etsy.com <http://www.broodbaby.etsy.com>

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~In the forest ….something magic happen !!

Ahhh Summer !!!
Back to school is right around the corner, my DD and I did enjoy one of the last week end of warm weather, we spent a couple of days in the forest ~~ We went camping !! Awww I just loOooove camping !! I don’t know about you but the forest is a place where I deeply feel that this is where I belong….
When I was putting up the tent, my daugther found a little ”fairy house” on a big rock near our camping site, how exciting !! She did work on it the whole day enjoying adding little bedding and a table all made of leaves and mushroom. The little cottage quickly became a palace !! I SO enoy looking at her imaginary world….these moment are preciosu to me. Even more since she is now 12 and I feel like her childhood days are nearing the end…so I cherish these moment dearly !!
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The next day her best friend came over and they created a new little house of their own….very beautifull !!
At dawn, I secretly brought a little apple that I found close to the road….when they discovered it they where SO excited…and thought that it was a fairy present. The next morning, she was very suprise to find a little ”bite” in the apple….a fairy bite !???
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I deeply feel that these little house are great ways of searching for little special things in nature and I truly believe that fairies LOVE to sleep in them while we are sleeping too 😉 !!
I can imagine my fairy dolls having a lot of fun dancing around them too…
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Wishing you a happy back to school everyone <3
Take care,
~Julie xo
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A Weekend At Baker Creek

Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company pretty much does just one thing – selling traditional heirloom seeds to a worldwide customer base. The seeds are not genetically modified and are not modern hybrid varieties. Instead, they are traditional seeds, passed down from generations of farmers: they’re the kinds of seeds you’d have traded with your neighbors for in less modern times. Because of that singular focus, they are able to take a strong stance against genetically-engineered food. The best way to make a difference is often through consistent, quiet work with an outstanding commitment to quality.

In the fifteen years since the seed store was founded, they have grown to offer almost 1500 varieties of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. Their website can be found at rareseeds.com.

Pioneer Village

Baker Creek Pioneer Village

Baker Creek is replete with a Pioneer Village. There we found many interesting shops to visit; a seed store filled with heirloom seeds, gardening books and locally made items (the soaps smelled amazing.) There is also a mercantile and an herbal apothecary. And the freshly baked cinnamon buns at the natural bakery were, by far, the best we’ve ever tasted.  The Asian restaurant generously serves free tea and vegetarian lunches. At the outskirts of the village there are different animals to see including historic breeds of poultry. Our boys watched in fascination as the peacocks  showed off their colorful feathers.

Heritage Festivals

The first Sunday of each month, they host Heritage Days Festivals. And the first Sunday and Monday in May is the biggest festival, the Spring Planting Festival. The festival was complete with world-renowned speakers, old-time musicians, and over 40 artisans creating hand-made goods.

baker-creek-table-setupBorn At Home Toys was there, too. The Ozark Mountains of southern Missouri are the perfect backdrop to sell earth-friendly, natural toys.

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This is our favorite of festivals, both to attend and at which to be a vendor.

 

Sand Pit

There is also a kids’ tent with face painting, live music, and other activities. Our boys spent many fun-filled hours in the gigantic mound of play sand.

Nearby

In nearby Mansfield is the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum. If you’ve ever read the Little House books or watched “Little House on the Prairie”, you might recognize the name. This is where Laura and her husband, Almanzo, spent most of their life and where the Little House books were written. We didn’t have time to go because we were busy selling toys, but hear it’s a fascinating place. More can be found at their website: LauraIngallsWilderHome.com.

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Introduction to Outside Everywhere

We’re still fairly new members here in the Natural Kids Team, so I thought I would start off with a little introduction to our family and our shop.

I’m Allison – the designer and one of the makers here at Outside Everywhere. Daniel, my partner, is the wood-cutter and sander. Our nearly 7 year old son, Eden, gives us ideas for toys to make, and sometimes he helps paint toys as well.

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Our home is in Asheville, North Carolina. We feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful place surrounded by absolutely breath-taking mountain views in every direction.  I stay home with Eden,and this year we’ve begun homeschooling. We’re having a great time figuring it all out. Daniel works during the days at a local natural foods store. In the afternoons, we are most often found in our backyard outside of our home studio. We spread out blankets, have picnics, sand toys, and take breaks to play with our dogs.

We consider our pets members of our family, so I just had to include them here…and plus, they’re really cute!
We have 3 dogs: Mason, India, and Gemma. We also have 2 cats, Beatrix and Poki.

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Here are a few fun little things about us:
I love: cats (I’ve been obsessed since age 5), succulents, and I collect vintage pyrex dishes.
I do not love: onions, snakes with triangle heads, hot hot weather.

Eden loves: cats (he is his mama’s son, for sure!), bird-watching, and nature hikes.
Eden does not love: getting water up his nose, growling dogs, and brushing his hair.

Daniel loves: Harry Potter, reading books about religion, and birds.
Daniel does not love: being cold, impatient drivers, and cheap beer.

For the past few years we have been very fortunate to have an opportunity to take a vacation at the coast with my best friends. We all live so spread apart (Portland, Oregon; Columbus, Ohio; Charleston, South Carolina; and us here in Asheville, NC) that this trip is often the one time a year that we get to see each other. It’s so, so wonderful to be able to be with my closest friends and their families for an entire week. This year I got to meet the new daughter of one of my friends, as well as see another friend’s daughter I haven’t seen since she was 6 months old.

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In thinking about our upcoming trip, we were inspired to make a few beach-related animals.

This great white shark is one of them:

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We spent our vacation in Folly Beach, which is a turtle nesting site. Here’s our sweet little turtle:

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And how could we resist making an animal as adorable as the manatee:

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We came home with some new toy ideas -they will be in our shop soon!

You can find our shop, Outside Everywhere here
You can keep up-to-date on our shop stuff on our facebook page here
And here is our very new, still in progress blog here

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Doll Fashion

I believe a great deal of wonderful articles have already been written on the topic of Waldorf doll-making and, seeing that my own dolls follow closely in the steps of tradition in terms of their anatomy, with the same tightly-rolled wool for the head and similar stylized arms and legs, all made from natural materials, I have decided, instead, to write on doll fashion.
It is the making of a doll’s wardrobe which allows me to fully pursue my creative fancies and develop my own ideas. After perusing many fashion catalogs and blogs, I strive to create garments which would reflect my love of the simple and yet elegant, of beautiful warm color combinations, and of small intricate details. I make doll dresses with the same careful attention and love with which I clothed my own daughters when they were younger. Sometimes, I may be inspired by a simple combination of colors, such as a pattern of complementary bright orange and blue which I used in creating Solène. Placed side-by-side, they seem to invigorate each other and endow the doll with a unique personality of its own, bright and sunny as her name implies.

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Other times, my eye may be caught by a work of art in a museum, such as a masterpiece by Amedeo Modigliani, in which I, again, may fall in love with the color scheme. One of my earlier dolls, another redhead, reveals this love of mine for working with soft yellows and browns.


Although I prefer working with contemporary styles, sometimes, especially after visiting an exhibition featuring historical fashion, I may get inspired to re-introduce a style from the past. The blue lace dress I recently made, for example, was inspired by a 19th-century French ball gown, and, in making it, I used the finest silk, lace, and delicate little pearls I could find to create the most authentic experience possible for the doll which had decided to grace a ballroom with her presence.

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Sometimes, a character from a story may strike my imagination, such as in the case of Sarah from A Little Princess by Frances Burnett. In her white silk, pleated, low-waist dress, soft linen coat, and small hat, she envelops herself in elegance and grace so appropriate for a little princess.

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Finally, I love finishing off monochromatic outfits with a bright dab of color. With her bright red beret to set off her black-and-white couture dress, this doll seems ready to join the casual strollers in the boulevards of Paris.

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As a thank you to all of you, wonderful doll-makers and doll-lovers, I would like to offer a give-away of one of my tutorials/patterns to dress your doll. The winner will have the option of choosing between a Dress or a Hooded-coat pattern found in NobbyOrganics etsy shop, which will be sent via email as a pdf file. Both patterns are for a 18-20” doll and are easy to follow.

To enter, visit the shop, then come back here and leave a comment saying which of the two patterns is your favorite, along with a way for me to contact you if you win. The giveaway will run until 9:00 pm EST June 10, 2013. The winning comment will be selected using a random number generator, and announced here on Tuesday, June 11.

If you would like to learn more about my work please visit Petit Gosset Blog and FB Page! Thank you!

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My New Favorite Herb—Chives

Do you ever find yourself in a food rut? I used to all the time. I’d grab the same thing for breakfast every day and limited myself to a small list of options for lunch and dinner. I eat a paleo diet, and while most think that to be quite limiting, it’s honestly not. I was limiting. I did it out of boredom and convenience, plain and simple. When you are chasing after three kids, homeschooling and running your own business, it’s easy to fall into the trap of wanting to make things easy.

I’ve was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, a thyroid auto-immune disease, two and a half years ago and with it brought a whole host of issues including a leaky gut (really that came first, I just didn’t know it) and food intolerances. And guess what causes food intolerances? Yup, you guessed it, limiting your diet.

Eating the same thing often is not only boring, it’s not healthy! For the past two months I’ve been doing an elimination rotation diet. What that means is I don’t eat anything that I had become intolerant to—through testing I discovered I have intolerances to gluten, eggs, dairy, all nuts and sweet potatoes—and I don’t eat anything twice in a four day time frame. No more eating the same breakfast every day or the same lunch just because it’s easy and convenient.

I was eating super healthy, just not with enough variety. I have found the best way to add variety to my diet is through the flavor palate. It’s easy to rotate through a different protein and couple of veggies every meal, but I began to crave new flavor combinations as well.

Chives are an herb that I have grown in the past, but never really enjoyed. Suddenly I love them!

Chives

I’m an avid albeit fairly novice gardener, so first off, the crop I planted of them last year winterized so it was like a gardening bonus this spring. Booyah! Turns out that they are a perennial bulb like others in the onion and garlic family. Duh, I should have thought of that when I first planted them, but the bulb is so small it’s easy to miss. I love a plant that will winterize since here in NY that can be tough.

Second, the flower is equally yummy as the typical leaf that you normally see. It’s big and purple much like a standard Allium, just not quite that large. It’s a beautiful herb and a nice visual addition to the garden.

Third, they are super easy to grow organically. Literally plant and water. They don’t need a heavy dose of fertilizer, they need very little  maintenance and pests leave them alone. Cut them about 1-2″ above the ground when you harvest (only cut what you need at that time and you can continue to have some all season) and once they flower you can cut the plant way down in preparation for next year, or do what I do and just continue to harvest until you put the garden to bed for the winter. They can be thinned at any time, and should be every 2-3 years, so they are easy to thin and share with other herb gardeners.

The flavor is milder than green onions in my opinion and excellent in stir fry dishes, on veggies, eggs, chicken, beef or pork, soups of all kinds,  and they make a great addition to pretty much any salad. I use my kitchen sheers, cut the long leaves up and shred the flower for my salads, along with some thai basil, cilantro and dill. Yum.

Chives have been around for about 5,000 years originating in China. Adding them to your foods can lower blood pressure and aid in digestion. They can be frozen or freeze dried, but they don’t dehydrate well. Bummer too since I love to use my dehydrator on my herbs.

So I highly recommend this herb as both a tasty and beautiful addition to your garden this year. And please leave a comment and let me know what herbs you are loving right now, I’m always on the hunt for more to add to our repertoire!


Chives

Chives

 

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New Designs for Spring by broodbaby

 

 With the Arrival of Spring, New Designs Break Ground

When I first met my husband we quickly made scavenging the local flea markets a favorite past time.  He’d routinely select some item from a vendor’s cache and ask me what I saw.  I’d respond shoe form, wrench, or whatever else the item happened to be.  “No,” he’d say.  “That’s what it is.  I want to know what it could be.”  Such a simple statement that became the cornerstone of my point of view in all my ensuing design challenges.

We live a pretty earth friendly life.  My husband spends a good part of the year chopping the wood we use to heat our home through the New England winters.  I manage the kitchen; cooking and baking our breads, snacks, meals with an emphatic keeping to organic and local ingredients.  We know our farmers.  We are fanatic recyclers.  We drive a hybrid.  So, it should come as no surprise that when I started my fiber and textile business my materials would continue in the vein in which we live our life.  The fabrics and yarn I work with are all organic, natural, fair trade, recycled, and/or re-purposed.  With a steady eye on quality of both my designs and my materials, my constant challenge is to eek out the best of possibilities from my cottons or woolens.  What shape will my collected treasures take next in their recycled evolution?

Quite honestly, I can’t even recall how I first started working with sweaters, but somehow I started collecting beautiful wool, cashmere, fair isle, aran—exquisite sweaters that for some reason or another were being discarded.  Sifting through thrift shops and rummage sales became a favorite activity.  And my husband’s first questions that he posed during our courtship became a constant echo.  What’s next?  What’s next?  And then one day designs started falling from mind’s eye to my pencil and paper to my cutting table.  Cashmere bunnies, and fair isle elephants all started to take shape.  Pigs and starfish and puppy dogs began to fill the studio.  My little gallery now hosts a community of little friends to join the community of our littlest treasures:  our kids.
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This incredibly soft Cashmere Bunny satisfies her sweet tooth with Cupcakes, which are also made with bits and pieces of recycled sweaters.

 

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A gentle elephant springs to life with cheery thanks to a wool fair isle sweater.

 

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Everything starts with the washing and felting of the sweaters and very frequently some design detail in them–be it a placket or a seam–will inspire the Sweet Critter that it will become.

Jess Wrobel:  A lifelong creative type, my studio is filled with an enormity of wonders from the fiber world from which I create my knitwear and pattern designs and textile art pieces.  With my husband as my cohort, we reclaim, repurpose, and salvage old pieces into new functional home decor and furniture works.    I teach, and write, and enjoy meeting everyone in person at artisan shows. Please visit www.Jwrobel.com <http://www.Jwrobel.com>  or follow me on www.facebook.com/JwrobelStudio <http://www.facebook.com/JwrobelStudio>  to learn more.

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Mothers Day – by Little Jenny Wren

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Mothers Day for me , here in Tasmania was spent travelling to the south of the island to visit my two sons who attend University in the state’s capital Hobart

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We travelled through the mists and autumn leaves and small villages

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and arrived in Hobart to perfect, still, sunshiny autumn weather
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we ate lunch at an outside cafe then strolled around the docks
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to the ice cream parlour
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Such a beautiful day with my beautiful family in such beautiful surroundings.
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Hope you all had a Happy Mothers Day!
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Hello, this is me, Nalina

 

Hello!

 

I’m Pia from Nalina Puppen. We haven’t met yet – not officially at least. So, hello. It’s really nice to meet you. As this is our first time together, I thought I might share a little about Nalina, and I hope that you’ll connect with me, through comments or social media.

 

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 Pia and little presents for customers

 

Nalina was born in 2008, when I was studying to be a Waldorf teacher. I started crafting little fairies and gnomes just because I enjoyed the handwork. Doing crafts back then wasn’t so popular as it is now. Knitting and crocheting were considered uncool, but for some reason people wanted to buy my little things. I didn’t understand why people would want to buy them, but I was happy they did. Looking back now, I still don’t understand it. Stitching was all off, products weren’t very unique, but they were made with lots of love. I guess that did it back then. In the years that followed I learned to make Waldorf dolls from my art and crafts teacher at Waldorf seminar, Ms. Thiesen. Watching her paint, draw, and create beautiful crafts with such precision and love was like a pinch of fairy dust to my life. To this day, every time I sit down to create a doll, gnome, fairy… I think of her.

 

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Doll maker in making – from the first doll to the real Nalina Puppen doll

 

This memory helped me go through four years of trial and errors in pursuit of a perfect Nalina Puppen doll. Last year when I create my first doll that could properly sit my world stopped for just a minute. Long enough to know that was it. I came from someone who learned how to make a Waldorf doll to a doll maker – a proper one. I started believing in my work, and my dolls. And getting feedback from happy customers was like a happy pill for my heart.

 

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 Nalina Puppen dolls

 

Though I can make every doll myself I enjoy that this is actually something I often do with my husband. In our crazy computer infested world (he works as senior developer and I as freelance web designer) we take time to be with each other, to talk, watch movies, and ground ourselves, crafting dolls. We were together at seminar for Waldorf teachers, and we are together after all those years, working and learning how to live simple natural life. If you want to know about my creative process as a crafter click here to read the post about it.

 

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 Nalina Puppen boys

 

In search of that life we are moving to Germany in a month, hoping to settle, have a family, and enjoy living. We make a very limited number of dolls per month, making sure each is really well made and infused with all the love our family can hold. We are happy to see them finding new homes all over the world, and In our little country.

 

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 Nalina Puppen gnomes

 

If you want to know more about our stumbling as expats please find me at Joie de vie blog.

 

Until next time, have fun!

 

Pia

 

 

Nalina Puppen on Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/nalinapuppen)

 

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