All in 1 Wallet

I bought this All in 1 Wallet from Napkitten Pattern’s etsy shop back in May but I haven’t had the chance to make it ’til today.

 

 

I needed a little bit of a break from making my custom orders, plus I needed a new wallet that could house all the things I take with me and this wallet is perfect for that.

 

I used a red and white gingham for the lining, red canvas for the internal pockets and external panel and a dark denim for the main part of the exterior. I also added a red tab on the side so I can clip my keys to it and used magnetic snap closure instead of velcro.

 

 

This All in 1 Wallet has six card slots, a note compartment, a zippered coin pocket, and one pocket on the inside …

 

 

 … and a zippered compartment on the outside.

 

 

The pattern instructed to have an internal canvas for interface to make it sturdier, which I omitted but I will make sure next time to add as this one turned out a bit flimsier than I wanted (I thought the dark denim would be thick enough). However, with all the cards it holds its shape pretty well.

 

Tomorrow, I will get back to finishing a custom order Mariane Doll. Here’s the WIP doll hanging out with Laid Back Jack.

 

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Glinda The Good Witch Mariane Doll

She is finally finished (to my friend Shaye’s great delight). Shaye has a fascination for Wizard of Oz memorabilia (she has almost all off the original L Frank Baum books, the two movies, and the Gregory Maguire adaptations).

So when I first made The Dorothy Mariane Doll, she bought it right away and made the next following orders: The Wicked Witch of the West, Glinda The Good Witch, Tin Man, The Wizard, The Scarecrow and The Lion.

I have already made Dorothy and The Wicked Witch Mariane Dolls

 

 

So the 3rd installment in The Wizard of Oz Mariane Doll collection is Glinda the Good Witch

 

Next one I’ll be making is either The Tin Man or The Wizard.

 

Now Shaye is not short of talent herself. She’s actually a brilliant artist and specialises in paintings.

For Edward’s birthday a couple of years back, she painted Edward and I on a 36″ x 36″ canvas – it’s magnificent:

 

When we moved to this flat last year and the way we arranged our furnitures, it left a couple of big walls blank. What a better way to fill it up but with pictures of our 2 little guys – and the best way to do it was to get Shaye to commission paintings of Josh and Zach.

She’s finished Zach’s one and it is painted on a 24″ x 36″ canvas. This is just way too gorgeous:

 

Shaye’s work of art can be found on deviantart muse1176.

 

Now this is the 99th post, so the next one will be my 100th POST BAG GIVEAWAY CLEBRATION! So don’t forget to come back again and get a chance to win a CYSN Bag.

 

Coraline Mariane Doll

The Coraline Mariane Doll is finished! Got her in her little yellow raincoat and gumboots. Her hair clip is supposed to be a dragon fly, but I do like the clear butterfly bead that I had on hand.  

Coraline

Hooded Coraline

Work-in-Progress Mariane Dolls

In between making bags and little caps, I still have my Mariane Doll orders to make: Glinda the Good Witch, Coraline (from the animated movie of said name) and 12 mini keychain dolls. My friend Shaye and Aunty Ditha have been very patient with me re: when their dolls would be finished.

Coraline is nearly finished – just face and hair to do (and attach to her body); Glinda – tried to give a perm, but ended up more of a small wave in her hair, finish attaching the star sequins, make her wand & tiara and finish her face. As for the keychain dolls, continue sewing, stuffing and making the basketball uniform and waiting for the different hairstyle and colour and the numbers to put on their basketball singlets. Coraline will be done by tonight, hopefully both Glinda and the keychains by the end of the week.

Just some of the pieces for the keychain dolls

Glinda's perm

Glinda's body

Progress of Coraline last night

Coraline's body

Fairy Mariane Doll

I finished another Mariane Doll order. This one was for a 3-year-old girl named Jodie (photo of her below). Eleonor (my cousin – who also ordered the Claire Mini-Mariane Doll) said that Jodie “is very witty and likes colouring in. She also likes fairies. Cindy (the mum) plans on dressing her up as a fairy on her birthday”.  

My cousin Eleonor (left), Cindy and her daughter Jodie

 

So I thought a nice pink fairy would be great. Making this doll was a bit different to the other dolls I made as the recipients were grown ups. I had to make sure it was safe for a toddler to play with (nothing small than can be swallowed). So I couldn’t put too much embellishments on it, but I still had to make sure it was of the same standard and quality as my other dolls.  

I made this fairy doll sitting down so she can sit next to Jodie and I gave her movable arms (by placing buttons in the inside of her arms). She has a nice pink tutu and ballet shoes. Also, for the wings I made them fully of felt as I couldn’t put any type of wiring for safety reasons and I made her hair the same style as Jodie’s in the picture. She turned out beautifully and I’d be proud to have her as my little fairy angel.  

  

  

Mini Mariane Doll

I received another order for a Mariane Doll mid January and this was for her friend for her birthday. The requirement was for the doll to be half the size of the normal Mariane Doll (which is approx. 32cm/12in) so “[she] …able to pin it on her or on her bag like an accessory”.

I was given a few photos to work with:

So I reduced the pattern for the doll to 2/3 the size (I first reduced it to 50%, but that was too small). I made the hair fully blonde as that was part of the request. I sewed on a ring to the top of the head and attached a red cord to it – she ended up being 25cm/10in tall. I quite like her high-top shoes and the graphic on her t-shirt

Bride Mariane Doll

So you saw the Tinkerbell costume I made for Yvonne’s Hens Tea Party and the Handmade Felt Envelope to pin on her veil, well this Saturday, 30th January 2010 is Yvonne and Jimmy’s Wedding Day.           

Yvonne wanted to have Mariane Dolls of her and Jimmy in wedding outfits. The requirements were:           

Yvonne: backless, cream wedding dress and hair up and Jimmy: Black Suit           

I’ve discovered that if I make the head first, then the rest of the body seem to come together a lot quicker. Because of Christmas, Zach’s 1st birthday (30th December), New Year’s, my birthday (3rd January) and the many events since then, I have been so busy. But I always work SO much better close to deadlines – the creative juices flow a lot better.           

So, I have finished the head and the body of the Yvonne doll. I also chose to embroider her eyes closed with lashes as Yvonne’s eyes close up when she smiles. As for her mouth, the 1st picture below had a much grinnier (is that a word?) smile and after looking at some of the pics from her Hens, the corner of her smile point down a little bit, so I un-stitched the smile and re-did it.             

Previous smile

New smile

Now for her body and the dress, of course Yvonne didn’t want to give too much away about her dress as she wants it as a surprise, so I am going to make a creative interpretation of what the dress may look like. I made a swimmer style top and then I’ll add the skirt part of the dress. Here are a few pics so far of the armless doll:            

     

I made her veil and attached it to the bottom of the bun and cut a small beaded and sequienced lace for her tiara. The skirt I made very simple, with gathering and 3 little pearl beads at the back (to hide the seam). The finishing touches were a rosette bouquet, pearl earrings and a lace garter for her something blue. I know in the past I’ve said I enjoyed making my Mariane Dolls, but I really DO!        

Here are some photos of her – hope you like.        

Bride Mariane Doll

Felt rosette bouquet

Back of the doll - with tiny pearl beading

Laced tiara

With lace garter

        

Mariane Doll Keychain/Emma’s Hens

Today was another good friend’s Hens party. Emma had a cruise earlier at Sydney Harbour, then a dinner at Gazebo Wine Garden, Elizabeth Bay. She’s a dear friend of mine from where I used to work and of course I had to make her something special.     

We had lost touch for a little bit with her going to a new company and me making my little brood, but she was never far from my thoughts. She is getting married to another friend, Brendan who I also used to work with (he was in the same team as me).     

I wanted something that signified our friendship and also something that can showcase my craft. I thought of making mini-Mariane Dolls in a key chain set (the tutorial from Nuno Life)     

I decided to make a doll of Emma and a doll of me, holding hands signifying our friendship. The photos I referenced from are below – the one of Emma is with a dress she wore to her engagement party and the one of me is of the dress I wore to my birthday party earlier this year (which is also the same outfit I wore to her Hens night)     

        

Hand stitching smaller dolls (6 inches) takes a bit more time than regular size doll of 12 inches, but the outcome is still very satisfying. Once I made the two dolls, I decided to stitch the hands together and place chains on the heads. I absolutely LOVE the finished product:     

     

Last night, I had thought of a little poem to go with my gift. After wrapping up the keychain Mariane Dolls, I stuck the poem on the gift:     

     

 So, I got ready to go to the party and asked hubby to take a photo of me in my outfit and new hairstyle:     

     

When I got to the Gazebo Wine Garden, I gave Emma her gift, she loved it and showed it off to her family and friends (I’m glad she loves it as I am very proud of the sentiment that went behind making it for her).     

Here are some pictures from the night:     

     

     

     

Kerry, Monika & I

 

     

"That's Me!"

 

I had a beautiful night and it was SO wonderful catching up with Emma.

KISS Doll

The most recent Mariane Doll I made was for my husband’s boss’ brother (phew – that was a mouthful) who’s a big fan of KISS. She asked if I could make one of Gene Simmons’ The Demon. After thinking what material to use and how much embellishments to put on it, I came up with the outcome below.

“Oh my god! Those shoes! We were all so impressed. The bro loved it and it now stands within his massive music collection very fittingly.” – D