Getting ready for the craft fair

I haven't blogged for a couple of weeks and maybe some of you have started to think that I've stopped making dolls! But no... here is the evidence of what I've been doing lately. I've been busy getting ready for the craft fair in Mostar in December and life has been generally busy too. These 3 dolls are awaiting accessories. Apart from that i'm focusing on Christmas stuff to sell at the fair.

I sew cute :)

If you read my blog yesterday you will know that I got loads of exciting parcels all in one day. Well here is the contents of one of them! An awesome Christmas present from my sister - the I sew cute sewing kit from Fantastic Toys. I love it!

SALE

All my Christmas amigurumis have been reduced by 25% for one week only! Sale ends on Monday 10th January. Click here to go to the Christmas amigurumis section of my shop.

Amigurumi movies - Part 3

Our main character is now very upset :( She tried to get a present by stealing and it didn't work and now she feels bad cos she knows she did something bad. She decides there is no way she'll get a present this year. She is really tired from all this thinking and from being upset so she puts her hat on, goes to sleep and the video starts...

Here is the translation:

It looks like there isn’t a way...

New girl: Hi

girl: hello

New girl: why are you so sad?

girl: it’s better if you don’t ask

New girl: come on – I’m sure it can’t be anything so bad – and if it is it has passed. It’s a new year – smile a little.

girl: How can I smile? – I don’t have anything to smile about

New girl: Ahh you are one of those people that needs a reason to smile. I know what you need. Here you go

girl: What?

New girl: It’s ice cream – for you. Take it.

girl: but I don’t have anything to give you in return for it.

New girl: you are silly! it’s a present. You don’t need to give me anything. I simply thought that it would make you happy. that’s why I bought it for you.

girl: wow. I can’t believe it. thank you so much. it’s so good!

And so the message of the show - a present is a present, you can't earn it, you can't steal it, you can only recieve and accept it :)

Amigurumi movies Part 2

so at the end of the last video the little girl doesn't get an ice cream - even though she was really nice and gave the Eskimo a cup of tea.

Our main character takes off her hat. Now she is worried - she thinks there isn't enough time left to do enough good things to earn a present and so she needs to come up with another way of getting a present. She puts her hat back on and the video begins...

Here is the translation for those that need it:

or maybe in a not so nice way..

boy: there you go – you didn’t get any ice cream.

girl: it still isn’t over – I’m changing tactics.

boy: what are you talking about?

girl: I have another plan, but this time you need to help me.

boy: ok let me hear your plan.

girl: We’ll do it like this. When the Eskimo comes you will get him into a conversation and I will steal an ice cream from his basket.

boy: please – how do you think you can be good by stealing an ice cream?

girl: you are so slow. When you steal you don’t need to be good anymore to get anything – do you understand now?

boy: ok – but on one condition – that you take one for me too.

girl: ok

boy: Hello, it’s you again with your ice cream. Tell me – how is it in the North Pole? It seems to me that it must be very cold. It’s not surprising that you came to Jajce (the town where we live) – it’s better than the North pole. and how on earth do you heat your houses there? It really isn’t clear to me! There everything is ice – I have to say - I couldn’t live there.

girl: whoops – did you see how that ice cream fell out of the basket? just like it had legs! We need to go now bye

boy: you are so clumsy.

And....the final episode will be up tomorrow!

Amigurumis in the movies Part 1

This is the first video of three that were part of the children's show we put on last week. The videos are a glimpse into the imagination of the main character. Each time she needed to think she would put on a big black and red hat and then the videos would start as if we were seeing into her mind.

Before this video the main character says that she's heard that you have to be really, really good to get a present and she is worried that she hasn't been very good this year. She decides she will have to think of something good to do quickly if she has any chance of getting a present. Then she puts on her thinking hat and this video plays.

Here's a translation of the video for those of you who don't understand!

We try in a nice way to get a present:

girl: Hey look. that Eskimo has lots of ice cream. He could give me one...

boy: listen to you – he certainly won’t give you an ice cream just like that. Look how he likes to eat them.

girl: you are silly – I didn’t think he’d give me one just like that.

boy: Then what did you think. Why would he give you his ice cream?

girl: I know what I’m going to do. Look how cold it is today. I’m sure he’s freezing just like his ice cream so I will be really nice and bring him a cup of tea. You will see that he will be really grateful and I’m sure he will give me an ice cream to say thank you.

boy: pull, pull, pull

girl: Hi – your basket of ice cream is so cool.

Eskimo: Thank you

girl: I really like your hat – it must keep your ears really warm.

Eskimo: thank you

girl: You know what – I thought that today must be really cold for you and your ice cream so I’ve brought you a cup of tea.

Eskimo: thank you very much. I must go now. thanks once again. bye

boy: ha ha ha – your plan was so good...

And now I'll leave you in suspense as to what happens next - you'll have to check the blog again tomorrow:)

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Amigurumi Caricatures

These 2 were a custom order - the customer sent me some photos of her sister and brother-in-law and wrote a little bit about each of them and asked me to make amigurumi caricatures of them. They were great fun to make - and she said they were a big hit!

Cute cushions :)

I haven't blogged for a whole week! We've been really busy preparing a children's show which happened last night. Samaritan's Purse is a charity which runs a something called Operation Christmas Child which organises the distribution of shoeboxes filled with gifts, which have been donated by people around the world, to children in countries in need. We recieved a delivery of around 1000 shoeboxes a couple of weeks ago and have distributed some in schools around the area but the majority of them were given out last night at the end of the show. Some of my amigurumi dolls featured as part of the show in 3 short videos so hopefully they will be up on the blog sometime soon for you to see. In the meantime our sofa cushions got some new super-cute friends this Christmas from mymimi.

Momiji Fudge

If you have never heard of Momiji dolls then you must check them out. They are awesome! I am on their mailing list and for December they are doing an 'Advent Calendar' where everyday until Christmas they email something like a discount code or a craft tutorial or some other special offer. The other day they emailed a recipie for fudge (click and scroll down to December 8th) so today I tried it out. It tastes great!

The Great Facebook Bake-off #2

This week's challenge for the Great Facebook Bake-off was to make Christmas cookies. Here's my entry - Stained Glass Window cookies. I made them using a normal cookie recipie. I have some cookie cutters that cut a hole from the middle of the cookie and I put 2 boiled sweets into the hole of each cookie and then put the lot into the oven and baked them as normal. Oh - and as you can see, the snow has now all gone.

Black Friday Discount!

I wanted to let you all know that for the first time ever there is a special offer on at www.outoftheframe.etsy.com. If you use the code BLACKFRIDAY2010 you will get 15% off any order. The offer closes on Friday at midnight. Enjoy shopping :)

and the winner is...

This is the randomized list of everyone's entries.

And here's the winning number:

Congratulations to littledeadmommy for winning the desktop Christmas tree!

It's Christmas giveaway time!

I made this Amigurumi Desktop Christmas Tree as a perfect decoration for livening up your office, study or bedroom (wherever you have your desk!) during the holiday season. She is supercute will bring a smile to your face just when you need it!

So what do you have to do to get the chance to win a Desktop Christmas Tree? Each of these things gives you one entry into the giveaway. The links are all there for you to find my facebook page etc... just click!

1. leave a comment on this blog

2. follow this blog

3. leave a comment on the outoftheframe facebook page

4. 'Like' the outoftheframe facebook page

5. Tweet this giveaway

6. follow me on twitter

7. heart my Etsy shop

8. buy something from my Etsy shop - (this counts as 5 entries)

make sure you let me know which of these you have done and that I have a way to contact you if you win!

The giveaway will close at midnight GMT on Friday 5th November and the winner will be announced very soon after.
Enjoy :)

Christmas at outoftheframe

The Holiday season is here! Today is Halloween but as I'm not really into that I thought I'd show you what I've got in my shop for the Christmas Season. If you're looking for cute and unusual decorations this Christmas season then outoftheframe is the place to look!

And don't forget tomorrow is giveaway day :)

working down my to-do list

I've got a string hanging from my curtain rail with notes clipped to it listing all the amigurumi things I need to make and the deadlines. This helps me keep organised and gives me a sense of satisfaction when I finish something and I can take it off the string! At the moment I'm working on some more Christmas stuff for my Etsy shop and on pieces for the Plush Team CandyLand Exhibition which will be at Hot*Pop Gallery in January .

Need a little brightness in your office?

I wasn't planning to make any more Christmas stuff just yet but last week we went to the DIY store and I saw these tiny terracotta flower pots. They inspired me to make mini Christmas trees so I had to buy them and make the trees!

Will your office need a bit of brightening up during the holiday period? Then these little desktop Christmas trees are just what you need. They stand 3in/9cm tall and at $10 each what more could you ask for? You can check them out here and here.

And don't forget if you want to win a pumpkin enter the giveaway. It closes tomorrow at midnight.

Janey and Travis - Santa's Little Helpers

Here are my latest Christmas Creations Janey and Travis - Santa's Little Helpers! They are both available in my Etsy Shop.

Janey works in the post room sorting all the letters that come in for Santa. She opens the letters, reads them and then sorts them according to continent then country, town and street. She loves reading the letters and seeing what people write and she can reveal that some people who are in their 60s and 70s still write to Santa - who says he's not real?

Travis works in the packing department making sure all the orders are boxed up correctly and sent to the right address. In quiet moments he enjoys popping the bubbles in the bubble wrap.

getting organised

Recently I've seen a lot of Etsy sellers talking about getting their shops ready for the Holiday Season and so I decided that I should follow their good example. Living in the Northern Hemisphere the Holiday Season means cold weather and dreams of a White Christmas, so it seems slightly strange to be making Christmas themed amigurumi while it's 40 degrees outside (that's 104 degrees for any American readers!). As you can see my photographic assistant also thinks it's pretty bizarre!

Sunshine at Christmas

It's pouring with rain today and I would really love to see a bit of sunshine! A few years ago we spent Christmas in Cape Town with Matt's brother and family. It was sooo nice to go from rainy cold England to the sunshine of Cape Town - and even nicer to see our family who we hadn't seen for a long time.

Tomorrow they are coming from Cape Town (via visiting family in UK) to visit us here in Mostar and this time we haven't seen them for an even longer time - nearly 2 1/2 years! I can't believe we're actually going to see them :) so exciting - and now there's 4 of them - last time we saw them there was only 3. So they are swapping the chance of sunshine at Christmas to come and visit family on the other side of the globe.

And while they are here, my sister has gone with her husband to visit friends in Cape Town and is sending me texts like 'sunbathing, just been swimming in the pool...' so someone in our family is enjoying sunshine at Christmas. What a well travelled family we are!


This is Lulu. She also loves sunshine at Christmas and sea and sand. She's been surfing since she could stand and has won lots of competitions. She loves it when she beats the guys. She's just picked herself some hibisucs flowers and made herself a lei to welcome the new year in. She is available in my etsy shop.

raspberries and custard

Happy Christmas everyone :)

I finished making raspberries and custard yesterday. She's really got the colour co-ordinated accessories down to a fine art - and check out her mittens, complete with safety strings so she doesn't lose them, just like we all had when we were kids.

raspberries and custard is for sale in my etsy shop.