I know a lot of parents who are looking for summer projects to do with their kids, so when I saw this tutorial, I knew I had to make these wands for my kids. They were great bribes for getting them to get their chores done. They collaborated on how they wanted them to look and what kind of beads to use. I wealded the hot glue gun, and painted them for them.



You can find the tutorial here:
http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2012/06/diy-harry-potter-style-wands.html

It was less than $2 for a package of chopsticks. There were 20 to a pack, but I ran out of hot glue. This takes a lot. Expect to use 1 long stick or more, per wand. The paint wears off too, I suggest giving them a coat of spray on primer before using the acrylic paint to get it to stick longer.

Dumbledore is one of many colorful characters created by J.K. Rowling in her series of books about Harry Potter. I forget sometimes that not everyone has been caught up in the books or movies like my family and I have. David bought the seventh book and laid on the closet floor all night to read, so that he wouldn't disturb my sleep.


umbledore is the headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is wise, old and has a bit of a sense of humor. While researching him, I found that he prefers patterned socks, and favors argyles.





My inspiration for my dolls comes from both the books and the movies. Dumbledore wears a gold under robe, a purple over robe, a gold fez, and purple argyle socks. The time turner that he loaned to Hermione hangs from his neck, and the horcrux ring is on his finger.


This doll is completely original. the patterns for doll and clothes were created by myself. his face is hand painted and needle sculpted.

For those of you who have been around Craftster for a while, this will look like a repeat post. but I promise it's not. The first doll lives with Spooky Pooky. This little gal will be making the long trip to Australia tomorrow.
She's made from the same pattern, but her face turned out slightly different.

I really enjoyed making this doll. She has so many details that appeal to me, from her crazy hair, to her bird skull jewelry and her fingernails!




Her fingernails are made from a drinking straw that has been painted, cut into nails and then super glued to her fingers.


And an in progress picture. The hair really makes it!

Last year I was diagnosed with multiple food allergies. Among a lot of other vegetables, tomatoes were on the list. I was depressed for a very long time, and then I found a recipe for no tomato marinara. From there it was pretty easy to find a way to make a good sauce for using in all kinds of recipes.



As you can see the sauce has a bit of a purplish tinge to it. If you haven't had tomatoes in a while, this tastes just like them. And I've fed it to people who eat them all the time, and they like it too.

I wrote all about it in my blog. Here's the recipe.

2-14 ounce cans of pumpkin puree
(the original recipe calls for canned carrots, but, alas, I run into another allergy. So use whatever you want. Sweet potatoes would work well here too)
2 small or 1 large beet(s) peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 celery stalks chopped
1 large onion chopped fine or 1 large fennel bulb chopped fine
(Again, onion is one of my allergens. So use what you like)
1 whole bulb of garlic peeled and chopped
4-5 large lemons
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, or apple cider vinegar, or red wine vinegar
(the idea is to get a ton of acid into the mixture. All of those will work, just use what you have on hand.)
Sea Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
a big handful of fresh chopped basil
Leave the basil out if you want to use this mock tomato sauce for all kinds of recipes.
some kind of sweetener, I use stevia or honey to taste

Peel and prick your beet, and put it in the microwave to cook until you can easily insert a fork into it. When it's done, throw it into a blender with about 2 cups of water and 1 can of the pumpkin puree.
Heat up a large stock pot and saute the onions (or fennel bulb), celery and garlic. When they are soft, add the juice from 4-5 lemons, and mix in the pumpkin puree and the beet and pumpkin mixture. Stir in the vinegar, salt and pepper and the basil. Add water to make the sauce to the consistency that you like, and then add the sweetener to taste. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Just long enough to meld all those tastes.

This makes a good size pot of sauce. I like to use it over the top of homemade gluten free meatballs. I also add it to soups instead of tomato sauce, and it makes a great gluten free, vege lasagne.

I used it to make chili last night.

I can always tell when a doll is almost finished. It's when I can't stand to look at them anymore. But after setting them down for a little while, I can't help but fall in love with them all over again.



Hagrid is one of my favorite characters of all time. Can't we all relate? Here he holds his Monster Book of Monsters, which was just way too much fun to make.


He's a pretty big fella. If he were standing, he'd be 32 inches tall! That's a lot of stuffing!

So you don't get to see it in the movies, but in the books, Dobby does wear clothes and he puts together some pretty zaney outfits. That is what inspired this doll.







I hope that people don't think that he likes Slitherin because of the green tie. He just likes all colors!

These pins are a fun way to use up scraps of fabric from other sewing projects.



I have a tutorial on my blog, found at the bottom of the post, if you'd like to learn how to make them.

I know I'm starting REALLY EARLY for Christmas.



The bodies of the adults are made of a cone shape and then the heads are two circles sewn together. I love making these kinds of dolls with felt. It doesn't take very much fabric, they're sturdy, and I don't have to finish any edges of fabric.




They're only 3 inches tall, and the perfect size to pop into my purse for the kids to play with. They also are the right size for a doll house.

This doll started out as a baby, and when I was finished painting the face and wigging it, I could tell that it wasn't a baby at all, but Peter Pan! It's strange to me that sometimes a vision will turn into something else and when I just go with it, the finished product is so much better!

Peter is made from an original pattern, his face is hand tinted with colored pencils and the other details are put in with paint.



Peter's hair is a crocheted cap using fun fur.



His dagger and Tinkerbell are made using a wire armature and then sculpted from Super Sculpey and then hand painted.




His tunic is made from bits of cloth and felt that were cut into leaf shapes and then gathered into bunches. Then they were sewn onto a high waisted pair of shorts.