I'm downsizing my crafting... to 18" dolls

I'm downsizing my crafting... to 18" dolls

As the first month of the New Year came to a close, I have been busy planning what to do this year. I have looked back at my last year of crafting, and with a great sadness as I have to admit that I have not done as much as I wanted to (many projects still sit unfinished, craft room overflowing with craft supplies not even used yet, I bet it it all sounds familiar...) so decided that I needed to seriously downsize.

I love all manner of handmade crafts, but there simply isn't enough hours in a day to do everything I want to do ! And with 5 kids in tow, one of them being a very boisterous toddler boy, I don't have as much time to sit down and make stuff as I used to. So with a heavy heart, I decided to downsize my crafting... to dolls.

Last Christmas we discovered the joy of playing with 18" dolls, mainly due to Santa bringing one of my daughters a "Hair Play" doll from Smyths Toys UK by Our Generation / Battat . Now all my girls all wanted a doll, including me!

As much as I love Our Generation Dolls, they mostly look the same, with the same face mold but different eyes and hair colour, and I think they are mainly suitable for children rather than an adult collector. So as I researched what other 18" dolls are available, I discovered American Girl dolls. I fell in love with them there and then. There is SO much variety in American Girl dolls and I adore them all (well, quite a few).

So it's time to come clean: I am now officially an AG doll collector and proud of it :). The possibilities and crafting opportunities for my dolls are endless, so needless to say, I'll be even more busy. My girls all want to join in the crafting so that's great news for family crafting.  At the moment we are starting slowly, with some doll opening videos on our YouTube channel and some dress up fun. But I couldn't resist making a quick "Frozen-inspired" Swarovski necklace for my beautiful Caroline:

And of course, I couldn't resist a few knitting and crocheting projects, most of them inspired by Ravelry free knitting patterns for dolls, as modeled by my lovely Rebecca:

This year, I'm planning to concentrate more on smaller projects for my dolls, and few bits and pieces of home decor in Tilda fabric for the house. And more photography, featuring the dolls of course!
If I can achieve that, then my crafting year will be a success. Fingers crossed!