my little mochi

Valentine Word Find

Happy New Year and Happy Valentine's Day bloggieland!

Here's a free Valentine's word find printable for the kids!
Click here to download.

New in the shop! Stu the Penguin Doll & Fun Pack - ePattern & Printables

New in the shop! Stu the Penguin Doll and Fun pack.

Perfect as a stocking stuffer or a gift for a little one. ePattern includes:

• 12 pages of detailed step by step instructions with sketches to make a 3-inch high felt penguin doll
• cap, scarf and easy to make felt bedding designed to fit in an Altoids mint tin
• felt fish softie toy

Also included in the ePattern:

• Mint tin printables for quick and easy decorating of inside and outside of tin - 6 to choose from
• Stu the Penguin Gift Tag printable
• Stu the Penguin and Friends Paper Dolls - 3 pages of printables
• Stu the Penguin Fun Pack - 4 pages of kid activity printables

Visit My Little Mochi Shop or Craftsy Pattern Shop
to purchase.

 

Gum Advent Calendar

Sorry to recycle an old post, but this project is always popular this time of year so I thought I'd re-post for those who might have missed it.

If you're looking for a quick and inexpensive gift that you and can make and give in multiples - how about an Advent Calendar made from packs of gum!

 

strawberries and hedgies

Found these little guys in our strawberry patch enjoying our fall harvest...

(Want to make some hedgies for your strawberry patch? Find instructions here.)

pretty in pink

Hope you had a nice memorial day weekend! I managed to find some time to make this bear and get some photos at the beach. She reminds me a lot of this guy. 

holiday oldies but goodies

Hi there! I've been super busy and don't have anything new to post but here's some crafts, recipes and tutorials from the past that may come in handy in the next couple of weeks. Happy Holidays!

  

cranberry bliss bars

 

snow globe necklaces

 

reindeer gift card holders

 

origami snowman gift bags

 

pinecone hedgies

 

snowman cookies

shortstuff

Strawberry Shortcake dolls were released long after I had put away my Barbies and Blythe doll and moved on to Rick Springfield and Duran Duran, so I wasn't very familiar with them. But then last year I came across Jillybug's fantastic Blythe photostream which led to her "Cake Set" - simply adorable vintage customized Strawberry Shortcake dolls. 

Further investigation led me to discover that many of the Cakes photographed by Jillybug were customized by the very talented Polly Jane. Her knit and crochet clothes for these little dolls are amazing. I was instantly smitten and needed to get my hands on some vintage Shortcakes asap.

I went on ebay and bought well, um... 40 Shortcakes. Yup, 40. What was I thinking? I really don't know. But I bought them in a huge lot with no clothes or accessories for cheap, and many of them weren't in the greatest shape. Since the price was good I figured it would be a great way to learn how to customize dolls without worrying that I was ruining some valuable vintage dolls.

In addition to making incredible clothes for the cakes, Polly also gave many of them new hairdos using Tibetan Lambskin which just turns up the cuteness factor.

So these are all my custom cakes with crochet outfits no where near as nice as Polly's, but it still so much fun to make. The Strawberry Shortcake in the pink dress above even has her own new lambskin hairdo which was a little trickly figuring out how to make and apply, but I'm really pleased with the result. And even those these dolls are at least 25 years old they still smell so good! 

pompom bear

 

No time to post but don't want to break my once a week posting momentum,
so here's a pompom and pipe cleaner bear I'm thinking
about making as Christmas ornaments.

Have a great week!

strawberry bear

Strawberry bear didn't care,
if he ever ate a plum or pear.

All he wanted, was for eat,
lots of strawberries that was super sweet.

 

another wee doll

Home at last...

time to relax.

 

Yes! Finally a craft post. I made this doll months ago, but wasn't happy with how large her nose came out and couldn't come up with the motivation to finish her. After awhile, she started to grow on me and now I feel like her nose is kind of endearing. So I gave her a teeny floral dress and a wool coat and boots to match. And now you barely notice the nose, right?