This time of year is always the busiest for custom dolls. I always try to squeeze in a batch of ready-made dolls, too. Here's what I've been up to.

I also tried my hand at some painted wooden spoon girls.

And I submitted work and was excepted in an art show with this piece.

I want to wish all of my readers, fans, customers, and friends a peaceful winter season!

Every once in a while I get a custom doll order that gets me even more excited than usual.

When a mom contacted me about making Laura and Mary Ingalls dolls for her little sweetie's birthday, I couldn't wait to get started! As a little girl, I loved the show Little House on the Prairie, and even more close to my heart are the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I started with red calico and brown braids for Laura and blue calico and blonde braids for Mary.

Another essential piece was going to be the bonnets. I made these from some really pretty Liberty of London-esque vintage cloth napkins.

I modified the bonnet from a vintage Holly Hobbie doll pattern to fit these dolls. Isn't this sweet?

The dolls also needed some little white pinafore aprons over their prairie dresses, and then faces painted. Laura with violet eyes and Mary with soft blue.

Here they are completed and in their bonnets.

And here they are in their special winter cloaks, a sweet extra my brilliant customer added on.

I enjoyed this project so much and was so inspired by it that I've decided to reread the Little House books this summer, starting with this one:

If you are interested in a custom made doll of your favorite book character, click here for doll options, and here for costume and outfit extras.

I've been so busy filling orders that I feel like an elf! It's so fun having a hand in making Christmas wishes come true. Here are some recent custom orders.

Happy Holidays!

I recently made a pair of biracial dolls with natural hair for a beautiful set of siblings from Chicago. It was so fun to make the little costumes for the dolls too. And I really love how the curls framing the little girl's face turned out!

I also made a special customized art doll for a sweet little girl who was adopted from Ethiopia. Her mom told me she was so excited to have a doll to look like her!

A few others from this month:

I'm also working on some new designs of some little kitty dolls, so keep your eyes put for those!

This summer is almost half over, but it has already been beautiful and rich with tiny joys. (Minus the lost of our sweet doggie Skully to old age and a horrible flu/cold/hacking cough I just can't shake.) But let me focus on the many positives.

How is your summer going? Are you enjoying heavenly weather where you are as we are here in Boise? Any fun summer projects you've accomplished? Let me know in the comments below!