I was struck by cupid’s bow a few months ago when I first saw the dolls at Gingermelon’s Shop. The faces – especially the eyes on these dolls grabbed hold of my heart immediately. The detail in the eyes, lips and face, puts them in a league of their own. Check out Valentina, a sold doll from Shelly’s site that is on it’s way to making one little girl very happy this Valentine’s Day.
Isn’t she exquisite? Each of these little lovlies from Gingermelon is a handcrafted doll and the dress, shoes, and undies are designed and created with obvious devotion from doll maker Shelly. The process of embroidering the doll’s face is true art and most importantly, the doll’s body is made from unbleached muslin. This fact if so important because it’s not made from the usual material of choice ~ PVC plastic. The clothing is designed with linen/cotton blend and the shoes are hand-woven and hand-dyed felt – there is no scrimping on quality with these dolls. The hair is made from organic cotton, silk bamboo, or Alpaca blend, and is so soft and silky to touch.
I find it so interesting when talking to doll makers that at the end of the journey of making these dolls, they love to watch the personality unfold and come to life through their creations. After a doll is completed, names and clothing selections seem to call and Shelly really listens. The clothing on the dolls is just lovely and the best part for me is that it’s removable and by request can be purchased separately. It is very hard to find a doll where you can purchase quality vintage clothing for dolls and it really lengthens the number of years the child will play and love their doll. My Sophia was truly amazed that her Gingermelon doll “Hannah” has underwear that slide up and down and shoes that come off. It’s wonderful to know that these options exist outside of having to go the Barbie route in order to enjoy the play of dressing up dolls.
My 3 year old Sophia loves her doll so much and I’ve removed the shoes so that they don’t go missing and disappear. These dolls aren’t for young children because there is a button on the shoes and they can’t be ‘loved roughly’ although my little cutie just can’t help herself. The Valentina doll I teased you with is sold but the good news is you can find more on the Gingermelon shop that are gorgeous and available to purchase. Use the ‘contact Gingermelon’ option to chat with Shelly to create the perfect Valentine or special gift for your little sweetie this year.
Looking for some last minute magic for a great stocking stuffer? These wonderful felt butterfly rings have just arrived and been loaded onto the Green Planet Parties site. All girls love rings and butterflies…I won’t talk about the fact they are pink =) My finger actually fits the medium size we are carrying for tweens, so I’m proud to host my new eco-friendly ‘bling’ that is guaranteed to start some conversations. A picture is worth a thousand words – so this is a short post tonight. They’ve been loaded onto the Green Planet Parties website and cost $9.95. A great price for a very special gift.
For more gift selections for Christmas – check out 2009 Christmas Selections.
My Christmas shopping woes have ended for my girls, as I’ve struggled this year with finding safe and fun (!!) gifts for under the tree Christmas morning. They love dolls so much, but we already have a few plastic ones that I’ve been looking to replace because I don’t want them snuggling with PVC. Well…bring on the Christmas cheer because I’ve not only found handcrafted cloth dolls that are beyond adorable (and affordable), but also felt food that ‘had me at hello’ when I saw the apple slices. Think I’m exaggerating? Read on and check out the doll pictures and food pictures – I’ve never seen anything like either online or locally…
If you are also looking for cloth alternatives to plastic with dolls before Christmas, keep a close eye on Secelie’s shop this week. She’s posting 14 new dolls next week and like all other custom doll makers, is not accepting custom orders until the New Year. With the price point and next to nothing shipping cost, her site is amazing! It’s called Heart Felts and each little cutie is hand-made. My twins are always ‘coded’ by color because one loves blue and the other loves pink. It works for us so when I saw some of the funky hair selections form Secelie, I knew I found the right place. Here is a picture of what will be under the tree Christmas morning for my girls. Thanks Secelie!
I’ve also been on a quest to purchase enough felt food that my girls can pretend grocery shop, play kitchen, play restaurant, without breaking my bank account. I want to replace all the plastic food they’ve inherited from my sons. Well as I mentioned above, once I saw the apple slices from MudPie Kids – my quest was over. Especially when you see her well-priced listing called ‘Everything but the kitchen sink’ …what a deal! The detail is more realistic than you’ll ever find with wooden or plastic pretend food. Look at the fruit selection!
So cute! And the bananas actually peel! I purchased everything on this plate, plus
2 pancakes w/ syrup
4 apple slices
2 strawberries
4 carrots
And wait until you see the hot-dog buns with ketchup and mustard. I just love it!
2 hotdog w/ bun ketchup, and mustard
2 fried eggs
2 drumsticks
1 watermelon
4 orange slices
2 bananas
A very reasonable listing and items that are guaranteed to get lots of use. I also feel great about supporting two ladies that are making incredible, safe, and quality items from the US. I love dolls and felt food from Europe but there’s something to be said about trying to shop as locally as possible this year. Thanks for making this year so easy with your creativity!
Okay I’m going to stop now, but check out this popcorn! And when you check out her site, look at the whole chicken dinner, cherry pie, eggs, and sushi!
When I was planning birthday gifts for my nieces last summer, I knew it was time to source something unique and ‘big girl’ themed. When I ran across the Baby-Tags site, I knew I found my big ticket item. I immediately emailed the founder Desiree and we worked together to handcraft some magical necklaces for my nieces. I’ve written in the past that I’m a huge fan of hand-stamped sterling silver necklaces for moms. Something about having your child’s names around you neck to show-case your love just thrills me. Well, why not give this special item to a girl that wants to be just like mom and show-off a special piece of her own personalized jewlery? Here is the picture of what Desiree created for my older niece who is old enough to handle a bit of weight around her necklace:
Isn’t it sweet? I wanted the ‘love’ heart in behind her personalization because I want her to know how much she means to my family. We just love her to bits! It’s exactly like the design a mom would want with a large ‘love’ heart to anchor all of her kid’s tags with their names. I fell in love and wanted to share.
Desiree is mainly concentrated on designs for parent’s that want to showcase their love. Think your hubby or grandma is impossible to buy for? Nope! There is a full line of perfect Christmas gifts for everyone that are well-priced, personalized, and gifts that will be appreciated.
And because Desiree is so creative and easy to work with, Green Planet Parties is delighted that she designed a special piece of jewlery just for us! The perfect birthday gift or box under the tree, this exclusive necklace is classic and we are proud to carry this star design, complete with personalized name, birthday, and birthstone. Special, unique, and a gift all little girls will love.
Whew ~ Baby-Tags has been a tough secret to keep quiet over the Fall months. I’m glad I get the chance to finally write about this talented mom and designer.
I’m pretty confident that if every little girl was given a tea set with play food on Christmas morning – the squeals would be heard around the world. It’s one of those things you simply don’t question. Girls never tire of having pretend tea parties and after using the world’s possibly greenest set for 2 years, my Christmas pick for the younger crowd is the Green Toys tea set. Because Green Toys make their products from recycled milk jugs and manufacture their products in the US, the eco-friendly status of this toy is wonderful…not to mention you don’t have to worry about phthalates or BPA. My girls drink from the tea cups and tea pot in the bath tub every night – it’s their nightly routine. This set has been the best toy they’ve owned and I love that it’s safe for them to mouth and drink from.
I’d like to point to an Etsy store for my ‘cupcake’ pick because I think everyone should have some handmade, uniquely handcrafted toys and gifts under their tree this year. I would love to see a decline in the profits of huge toy companies and see a boom in the sales of small companies that have gone back to the ‘safe’ way of creating toys for our children to play with. Felt is a material I’m very fond of and plan to incorporate felt food into one of the larger gifts for my girls this year. These felt play cookies and cupcakes from the Etsy store Sugar Chic Baby are next on my list to order for Christmas shopping. They look so real!
If you have a special theme in mind for your gift ideas this year, why not try Etsy first before heading to Toys R Us or to Walmart? Think your kids that love to dress-up would appreciate a new item for their trunk? Try going to Etsy.com and use the search field to source gifts this year. What a difference for our children’s health and the planet’s health. Much of the plastic from packaging and products themselves would be eliminated. Not to mention we’d be supporting many moms that appreciate the extra income to handcraft these truly special items. Try it – you get a really good feeling from shopping this way.
