Here are Selma & Charlotte.

Selma

Selma is an old soul. She is a keeper of vintage bits & loves to doll up her outfits with antique pieces she’s collected. Her ideal weekend includes scoping out estate sales & eating strawberry ice cream with her slightly younger sister.

Charlotte

Meet Charlotte. Her dream is to find a cottage in a cozy forest town & while the time away with her true love. She very much enjoys a warm mug of cider on a blustery afternoon & her hobby is collecting old picture frames.

Sisters – they bring this old scene from “White Christmas” to mind. We watched Bing & Danny dance across the screen on television the other night & tonight we are due for another holiday film. And perhaps some hot cocoa. And maybe some more sewing. And just maybe a little bit of rain.

Happy Friday evening to you & yours.

I decided to grasp the positivity of the morning & got out of bed before the wee one awoke. I fixed a mug of coffee & sat down to work on the three dolls that have patiently been waiting for their finishing threads. And I actually feel like I got a lot done. Ella gave me two solid hours of uninterrupted work time.

I tell you, I felt like an elf in Santa’s workshop. There with my cozy beverage, Christmas tunes jollying around me, sitting at my sewing machine making toys. All I needed was to see snow flurries out the window & I would have checked my feet to make sure I wasn’t in pointy toed slippers.

This little man has found his way to the shop:

Meet Henry. He was named after his grandpa, with whom he shares his shade of hair & love of butterscotch candies. Henry likes to play tennis in the mornings & follow his matches with a pineapple smoothie. If you keep your eyes open, you may just spot him on a perfect afternoon, strolling about under shade trees with pockets full of butterscotch. And he may just share with you.

I’m very fond of his pants & flops. Quite the charming combo.

A duo of girls are on their way to keep him company tomorrow.

A lovely evening to you & yours!

…This girl has been sold. My first Kismet sale! Hoorah! It’s been a long, long time coming. I’ve been (quite slowly, but steadily) cranking these dolls out for a year, in one form or another. Part of the reason it’s taken me so long to get them in shop is my (unhealthy) attachment to each one. I tend to draw out each decision & prolong their finishing touches. Once I’ve named them & given them a story, they instantly become my polyfill-ed children. I get too personal with each little doll. I suppose it is a good thing, to be proud enough that I want to keep each one. It is also somewhat of a curse.

To see they are liked & have one purchased is a wonderful honor. Thank you, dear customer, thank you!

She should be in Texas by now.

It was bittersweet to see her go, but Ella made me put my brave face on & chaperoned me to the post where we shipped Poppy off & wished her good hugs.

Here she is telling me not to be such a baby.

More dolls such as Poppy to be in the shop tomorrow.

I think it will have to wait a day longer. Until tomorrow, shimmering friend. I promise. I think.

Ella Faye has realized the strength of her vocal cords.

And, I think, enjoys the franticness it sets in her mommy & daddy. Now she sleeps on her daddy’s chest…her nightly prelude to bedtime, we are discovering.

Mexican hot chocolate is brewing on the stove.
And calling for me.

I listed this girl tonight:

Drew

If she could live anywhere, Drew thinks she would want to spend her days in an old red barn surrounded by cornfields. Her favorite indulgence is her mom’s strawberry cake.

She is here. I love her stockings. They were heck to work with, but I love how they turned out. I’d kind of like a pair for myself.

And Goodnight.

Alma & Rosa

((what a lovely feeling it is to finally click the “Kismet Plush” category before I publish.))

Tomorrow, December 1st, throughout the day, here.

I am so so excited for their debut.  It’s been a very long time coming.  I have a nice size stack of ladies & a couple of boys waiting to see the sunshine.  I’m going to start tomorrow’s additions to the shop with two plush of the older design & one or two new girls.  (Some SCL tees will also be added.)

So an update, a real true update!!

At last!

Here are the specs of our auction:

We will be auctioning two items in this post. Please specify which item you are bidding on when you make your bid.
I will start the first bid for each item in the comments section below.
Bidding for each item ends on Sunday the 31st at 10pm PST.
Increments by at least $1 please.

First up for auction: A Pair of Wishes

Send your wishes to the Nielson family & wear them too.

This auction is for a set of our women & men’s Dandy tees. Screen-printed by hand on American Apparel shirts.

The women’s tee features a light gray dandelion on a lapis blue tee. Available in sizes XXS – XL.

The men’s tee features a black dandelion over white & ash stripes. Available in sizes XS – XL.

Each shirt is unisex & suitable for both men & women alike. The blue tee is slightly more tailored, thus we refer to it as “women’s.” We will print on any size you choose. I will email the size charts to the winning bidder so the appropriate sizes can be ordered.

Again, if you win this auction, you will receive both shirts! If you’d like to bid on this shirt set, please leave a comment on this post, including a way for us to get in contact with you once the auction is over (in case you win!). The winning bidder will send their money directly to the Stephanie Nielson Fund via PayPal, using the donation button below.

Next up for auction: Grace Kismet

This plush was lovingly constructed for this auction. The body is made out of a repurposed soft chenille blanket & the face is jute with embroidered eyes. A dove applique is featured on the front & the back is adorned with a chenille flower.

If you’d like to bid on this Kismet plush, please leave a comment on this post, including a way for us to get in contact with you once the auction is over (in case you win!). The winning bidder will send their money directly to the Stephanie Nielson Fund via PayPal, using this donation button.

**Once money has been transferred, the winning bidder should email us their donation confirmation/receipt & we will send the shirts & plush off in the right direction. Postage will be provided by us.**

It has been officially dubbed “NieNie Day!” Please send your thoughts & prayers to the Nielsons & their families. Again, I’ve added a donation button to the bottom of my sidebar if you are interested in helping financially.

Feel like doing some more shopping? Peruse this fine long list & see what other supporters are offering up for auction! Now I am off to do some bidding!

It was so nice to receive direct, immediate feedback on our tees. Now I can’t believe we haven’t given ourselves more of those experiences. We’ll be setting up again in April, but sadly that will probably be it as the galleries along the Art Walk are upset by all the vendors & traffic they’ve brought to the scene. Starting in May, officials will start handing out citations & fines, so I think we’ll be far away by that point.

So April, we are looking forward to your arrival. New tees are in the works & we’re planning on introducing a few items from our baby line as well. Those pieces really tickle my fancy. I love tiny onesies! So we’re in for some very busy evenings over the next two weeks.
In other news, I am working my fingers to nubs trying to crank out new dollies. This is the first time I’ve found a pattern that I want to stick with for a while. I’ve realized I like pattern-making almost as much, if not equally, to actually constructing the dolls. I love to see how I can change the pieces to make something new. This time, though, I must’ve hit on a keeper because I haven’t strayed for weeks. I have plans for a male counterpart, but all I want to do is make the little girls. Here’s a peek.

I am really going to try to be better about logging my thoughts & crafty progress. I’ve been a bit preoccupied lately with another little project Anthony & I have been brewing up, but things should be getting back to semi-normal soon. More on that later. Enjoy your first day of Spring…be sure you go out & bask in the warmth for at least just a minute or two today.

Maybe I will snap a photo of that tree on my trek home this afternoon.

On to productivity-
I’ve finally finished the body of these tiny shoes. A small elfin girl is now in the works…

Benecio the Elf

Meet Benecio. He’d much rather you call him Benny, unless you are an elf gal, in which case he goes by his fully foreign name. Benecio resides in the Popcorn Ball division of the workshop. He won the Kernel Award in 1905 for his famous Popcorn Ball flavor ‘Hollyberry Spice.’ (He may enjoy sharing that nugget of information just a bit too much.) Since then he has taken semi-retirement & currently taste tests new flavors in the shop.

…And here he is!

He’s so soft.
Have a merry Wednesday!

The first Kismet I made using my revised pattern is likely my favorite one yet. She’s so simple & of all the rest I’ve made, I think she takes the least time to complete. Her name is Geraldine. On my aunt’s latest visit, she popped into my craft room & decided she’d like to snag Geraldine & send her off to a little friend of hers in Ireland. Excitement! How exhilarating to have something made with my hands over across the world! But I couldn’t bear to send my Geraldine away. Sooo I made a second one.

This is Geraldine II.

She takes the cake. Well they both do.

Their dresses are made of some lovely gold corduroy-ish material, velvety & soft & just enough shimmer to give her some snaz.

& here is a work in progess for today. Frustratingly so, I became distracted about three hours ago & these little booties haven’t progressed since. I think they need some legs. I think I’ll do that now. Happy weekending to you!!