Greetings from Dandelion-Land

 Oh Dandelion, yellow as gold,
What do you do all day?
"I sit and I wait in the long green grass,
'Till the children come to play."

Oh Dandelion, yellow as gold,
What do you do all night?
"I wait and wait, while the cool dew falls,
And my hair grows long and white."

And what do you do when your hair grows white,
And the children come to play?
"They take me in their dimpled hands,
And blow my hair away!"

-Marlys Swinger

Make a wish!

Bloom

Charming Knit Toys

After creating this stop motion animation (and this other one here), I am a bit fixated on stop motion, so you can well imagine I did a little "happy dance" when I stumbled across the trailer below for the book TOPSY-TURVY INSIDE-OUT KNIT TOYS by Susan B. Anderson.

Besides the fact that this book trailer is fun and clever, the projects are so very cute!  I cannot decide which I like best...  The chicken & fox? The hedgehog & squirrel?  The bunny & lamb?  Do you have a favorite?

Hello Wombat

The morning I was set to work on the vegetable-themed dolls for my book Making Peg Dolls I mentioned to my friend Caroline that this was the plan.  I told her I was going to design carrots, tomatoes, radishes, peas-in-a-pod and a cabbage.  Her response was, "How about corn?"  Corn?!  Did I not already have enough to do?  Corn.  The idea of a corn-on-the-cob peg doll stuck in my head, and so of course I had to make one (thank you Caroline!)

A similar thing happened the other night.  I was chatting via email with my friend Clare in Australia and she mentioned she'd been sketching Australian animal peg dolls.  Australian animal peg dolls?!  Am I not already working on a pile of other projects?  Australian animal peg dolls.  The idea stuck in my head, and so as soon as I had a free moment I grabbed some dolls, paint and felt...

 Hello wombat.

Hello koala.

 

Hello lorikeet.

Hello everyone!

A Treasure

A Blog-iversary Peg Doll Swap

Today is my third blog-iversary!

I started this blog three years ago and so much has happened since then.  When I began, I hardly expected to make wonderful friends, to discover so much heart, spirit and creativity... and three years ago I hardly expected to end up writing a book on peg dolls!

daffodil doll and photo by Painting Pixie

In honor of my third blog-iversary I have decided to host another peg doll swap (after making so many peg dolls, one would think I'd get a bit tired of them... but I'm not!)  On a regular basis I get comments on my blog and emails asking if I would ever host another doll swap.  Really, I'm a bit busy right now, but I feel in my heart that this would be the best way to celebrate.  For me, swaps are such a source of creativity. When I participate, I always challenge myself to try something new, and, as far as I'm concerned, this is as much fun as receiving parcels full of surprises in return.  I hope this swap brings you similar inspiration and joy!

HERE ARE THE DETAILS

-- Sign-ups are open starting today (Sunday March 3rd.)  To sign up, please email me margaret (at) flyingteapot (dot) com with your name, mailing address, email address, blog URL (if you have one), plus a few sentences about yourself; you can mention your family, information about where you live, what kind of crafting you like to do, materials you like to use, etc...  This will help you and your swap-mate get to know each other a bit.

-- This swap is open to anyone anywhere in the world and to participants of all crafting levels.

-- Each participant will be matched in a group of three (i.e. you will create a doll for each of your two swap mates and will receive a doll from each of them in return.)

-- Sign-ups will close Saturday March 9th and information about your swap-matches will be emailed to you by Sunday March 10th.

-- By signing up for this swap you are agreeing to create, with you own hands, a peg doll for your swap-mate and send it off in a timely fashion.

-- Preferably, dolls should be posted to recipients by Saturday March 23rd.  If you are delayed in sending your parcel, it will be important to communicate this directly to your swap-mates so they know when it is coming.

-- Any questions?  Please feel free to send me an email!

NOTE: Sign ups for this swap have ended...

icarus peg doll and photo by Faith Pray

And now for a further bit of blog-iversary fun. Starting tomorrow I will be having not three, not four but five give-aways!

I will post the first give-away on Monday and each day consecutively next week.  They will be what I think of as "flash-give aways" -- meaning that the turn-around will be quick.  You will have one day to leave a comment before the opportunity closes and a winner is announced.  So, if you're interested, be sure to stop by starting Monday to see what I'm offering (small, sweet & fun... I promise!)

dolls and photo by Mama West Wind

p.s. I mentioned in this post here that I would take a break from posting about peg dolls.  I guess I changed my mind.