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 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!

With just a few hours until we ring in the new year, I wanted to look back on this year in my blog. Here are the top posts of the year by reader page views!

1. My Living Room Redo (top center)- It was so fun to document the transformation of my living room!

2. Decorating On A Dime (middle right)- Where I shared my tips for thrifting great home decor.

3. 4 Reasons a Custom Doll Might Be a Perfect Grad Gift (top right)- A fresh new idea for the ever-difficult-to-shop for Graduate.

4. Vintage Sewing Notions (top left)- It was a joy to take the time to photograph the pretty packaging of the vintage trims I've collected.

5. Mary Poppins Doll (middle center)- A childhood favorite comes to life!

6. Vintage Flower Brooches (middle left)- Another fun thrifted collection that I shared this year! (Many more to come in 2014!)

7. Hen and Chick Patterns (bottom center)- A new venture for me, I now have 10 different PDF sewing patterns in my shop! It was fun to look back at this post, the first two.

8. Halloween Dolls (bottom left)- I was thrilled by the support these stripey legged beauties received!

Thank you to all of my readers who have made it a joy to write this blog this year! I look forward to sharing lots more with you in 2014, from my latest dolls, to my latest vintage collection, to the state of my garden, it's going to be a great year, and I'm looking forward to enjoying it with you! Happy New Year!

Today is the last day to order a doll for Christmas arrival! I have these 8 dolls in stock now and ready to ship. Get one while you can!

Above: Sweet doll family (complete with tiny dog!). Below: A Carnival Birthday doll.

I'm currently working on a set of 5 dolls, each with extra clothes, pajamas, and stuffed animals! Watch for those here on the blog soon.