Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Dressing an Our Generation doll on a budget


I love American girl and Our Generation dolls. We live in South Africa and as such any imported dolls are horribly pricey.I am also between jobs ( such a polite euphemism) so dressing my daughter's Our Generation doll April has had to be done with a large dose of creativity. April was a birthday present and is a lovely Our Generation doll, with pretty soft red hair and lovely pale blue /green eyes..
I have made a few outfits and accessories for her so far and I am loving being creative with dolls again. I am including photo’s of some of my creations and links where necessary, so that you can add a few more outfits to your dolls’ wardrobe without breaking the bank this Christmas.
These two lovely outfits can be found at PA Country Crafts . The patterns are easy to follow and they can be sewn together in a few hours, depending on your skill level.She has another few free patterns for 18 inch doll clothes.
 







The pattern for these lovely warm PJ’s can be found at All with a purpose.

 
 This pretty pink and blue dress was made from a pattern called Butterfly Kisses by

 Little Miss Muffet.


A girl needs a place to sit and this pouf was made using bits of leftover material with a button in the centre to cover up my less than perfect meeting of the centre pieces.

Some reading material and toys just right for an 18 inch doll.
The bed was made following ( more or less) the designs for the  Be Chic Forever DIY Garden bed.Please excuse the mess in the background but my creativity tends to spawn chaos. I still need to make bedding for the poor doll but this is on my to do list.



 This cat pillow was  a copy of one of the Our Generation pillows.




 The strawberry and bubble gum milkshakes were inspired by those made for The Unicorn CafĂ© at Brandy’s Happy Home, although mine are not nearly as yummy looking as hers with all their added extra’s. Time and money may be needed to crate the entire cafe but I would love to tackle this project in the new year.





The pink cardigan was made using the ABC knitting pattern for the American Girl Doll Country Style Autumn Cardigan. 





 I cannot remember where I go the pattern for the ballet jersey, so please forgive me for not giving a link. If this is your pattern I will be more than willing to add it.







The table lamps are my own design and light up ( tutorials to follow so watch this space).
Thanks for joining me as I share these creations.
Happy crafting.


Friday, October 27, 2017

Our Generation dolls at Toy Kingdom .......and my new sewing machine




A year ago I discovered the world of Our Generation and American Girl dolls. It was love at first sight. There are few places in South Africa that stock Our Generation dolls , so when I find a new store I get rather excited.

 We were at the Waterfront in Cape Town yesterday and decided to visit Toy Kingdom and Hamley's. Toy Kingdom is now stocking Our Generation dolls. YIPPEE! There are so few toy shops that do stock Our Generation dolls and accessories so I was very excited to find a new one. They also had a number of new dolls that I have not seen in store. My daughter fell in love with Sia.



I think it is her red hair, as my daughter is a red head and there are not many doll brands that carry red headed dolls. She also loved the great accessories that come with Sia. Another doll she really liked was Meagann. She told me that she thought she was very pretty and she loved all the accessories.











I thought Nia was lovely. She has a beautiful ballet outfit, soft hair and the sweetest expression. I just wish I could find more clothing and accessory sets in store. Neither toy shop had much to offer except the very large accessories like the camper van and retro cruiser. There are one or two online shops in South Africa that one can order from but I prefer to see something in store before buying. I think I am very much a touchy buyer and prefer handling an item before I spend money on it.
SA Girl doll has some lovely clothes which are not too expensive. They also have a very limited number of American Girl dolls that I am so tempted to buy….or would be if I had extra money on hand.

My other exciting news is that my new sewing machine has finally arrived. I cannot wait to try it out and start making dolls clothes for my daughter’s Barbie’s and April, her Our Generation doll. I even splurged on some pretty material, including two pieces of netting for tutu’s as well as some very soft pretty pink tulle. I am not sure what I want to do with that yet but I cannot wait to start playing with patterns and material.

  Happy crafting.

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Cape Town


 So here I am, posting from the fairest Cape, the “Mother City”, the city on the southernmost tip of Africa. I never thought I would be writing those words and some days I still feel as if I am dreaming. It have wanted to live here since I first visited when I was twelve years old. I fell in love with Cape Town as a child and have wanted to move here ever since then, although I was born near the Highveld gold fields and have lived my entire life on the dry, hot, grassy plains above the escarpment with thorn trees and red dust and the blinding sun all I have ever known.
What a culture shock this move has been. We have lived here for the past six months and I am still seriously homesick for the Highveld. Cape Town is a beautiful city but it is so foreign to all I have known growing up. I now live a two day drive from where I was born but I could just as well be living on another continent. Life is slower and more relaxed. People spend serious time on leisure activities. The scruffy man in the bank queue who looks like a beach bum turns out to be a business owner talking in millions about profit. Long hair and casual clothes have replaced the army style haircuts and business suits of Gauteng. The languages are different, with Xhosa clicks heard everywhere, Afrikaans is spoken with a Cape accent which nothing like I am used to and the slow drawl that identifies a Capetonian is soft and foreign to my ears. Donkey carts, squirrels in the trees, seabirds flying overhead. The taste of the sea on my lips if the wind is blowing in the right direction. The gnarled and slanted trees growing in defiance of the Cape winds. And always the magnificence of Table Mountain dominating the skyline.
This is now the city that I call home. Yet my heart still longs for bone chilling winter frost, the still, deep hush before a Highveld thunderstorm breaks, the red earth and purple Jacarandas. The granite copies and harsh cry of the Hadeda Ibis.
We have made the decision to move and there is no going back but I am still a Valie at heart and it will take a long time before I will think of myself as Capetonian. I feel very much like these tourists in Fish Hoek beach, far from home and everything is foreign.
Please keep reading and join me on this new adventure. When I decided to start this blog I decided to call it seasonal sanity because at the time there was a great deal of craziness in my life. I was battling to with being a mom to two very young children and having to go back to work. My life has changed so much and I am now in a different season of life. My children are both at school and I am, for the time being, a housewife. We live in a beautiful city and I look forward to sharing our adventures with you.
Happy blogging
Lauren


Saturday, February 18, 2017

New books and storm lily


The rain is falling intermittently as I am writing this post and it reminds me of God's grace in watering our lives with gifts that grow our soul. New books by good authors are on of these ways.New books by favourite authors is always something to get excited about. When the authors in question happen to be friends that is even better.

Lisa-Jo Baker is mom to three children and blogs at lisajobaker.com. Her first book is called Surprised by motherhood and it is excellent. If you are a mom or know someone who is, I highly recommend this book. She is about to bring out a second book called Never Unfriended, the secret to keeping lasting friendships.

It deals with friendship between women and uplifting and devastating these friendships can be because, quite honestly, women can be quite savage with others of their species, leaving scars that can hurt for decades. She is giving away the first two chapters for FREE, so go on over to her blog and sign up. I have already started reading the first chapter and I can tell you it is excellent. Never Unfriended will be published on 4 April 2017, so do yourself a favour and pre-order your copy or keep an eye out for it on the shelves.

The second book I would like to recommend is Walking in Grace by Dalene Reyburn. Dalene is mom to two awesome boys and has learnt the hard way about walking in grace. I have an enormous amount of respect for her and her husband and God is using both of them to bless others. Walking in Grace is a 365 day devotional and if you want to deepen your walk with God, then get this devotional. It is already on the shelves, so do yourself a favour and get a copy. 

Dalene and Lisa-Jo have been wonderfully blessed as authors and write from deep experience with words that reach deep into your heart.


 On a completely different not I would love to share this beautiful storm lily with you. It was one of four given to me by a friend and it is the lone survivor.

It flowered for the first time this summer and was so beautiful while it lasted.

Thanks for stopping by and happy reading!