Quick and Easy Tips For Bloggers

I wrote this post for an interview I did regarding beginner charity blogging, however, I believe it would help beginner bloggers in general…. Please add your tips in the comments, I’d love to learn what you have found helpful in your individual journeys in this wonderful world of blogging!

♥

* Pick a blog name that makes sense, but doesn’t limit your endeavors.


* Link in to everything!!! Twitter, Flicker, Facebook …. People have a variety of ways of hearing about you then. Use the same name as your blog everywhere … yup, get a gmail account with it in …… don’t confuse people!


* That being said ...... Keep your add-ons simple. Blogs that have too many widgets and gadgets take FOREVER to load!  (hmmm I really should get rid of my feed the fish gadget ... shame it's soooo cute!)


* Make buttons that link back to your blog that are simple, eye-catching and tell people what you are trying to accomplish. E.g. Dolly Donations: Sending Love, 1 Dolly at a Time!

* A picture says a thousand words …. Use photos, people don’t have time to read everything you want to say, no matter how important it might be!

* Turn off no-reply. I love responding to comments, but I get really sad when I type up a fab little email response, only to hit send and see it go to "no-reply-comment@blogger.com". So don't forget to leave your email when you leave a comment or link it to your profile.

* Reply to Comments …. That’s how you make friends!


* Always treat others how you wish to be treated. ♥ If people link to you, drop by their blog and say thanks and have a look around, you’ll be amazed who you’ll find!


* Ignore statistics! Who cares how many people viewed your blog, it’s quality not quality at the end of the day…….


* And above all ........ HAVE FUN! 

♥

Wow, I have learnt so much! I had never blogged before January and I love it! I have met so many wonderfully creative and compassionate women from all over the world.

Take Everyone & Happy Blogging!

♥

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I’m all Dollied OUT! - How many did I make?

Can you guess how many dolls I made for the Haiti Orphanage?!

I’ll post the number at the end of the week!

..... ok it's the end of the week :) ....
I am happy to say, I have made 72 Dollies, YAY!!!!

OK, Time To Ship!!!!!! Hmmm I’m going to need a BIG box :)

Maybe I should vacuum pack these babas!!! How exciting!

Happy Sewing Everyone!

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Look What Dolly Donations Was Given!

A Big Box of Stunning Fabric! Thank You so much Carla (Scientific Seamstress) and Jennifer (the very talented designer of Sis Boom) for the wonderful fabric scraps! There’s nothing quite like a beautiful box of fabric to spur a girl on with her work. I left dolly limbs scattered all over my house, far too excited to finish them before I started cutting the new fabric! It took me half an hour just to choose from all the many colors, and wonderful designs…… and then I stayed up all last night sewing away!

TA DA!!! Two beautifully stylish dollies in Sis Boom Fabric all ready to find their new owners in Haiti!

Thank You both so much! Happy Sewing!

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My Creative Space!

I've been meaning to post this for a while......... I see a lot of beautiful craft and sewing rooms on blogs, all the fabric organized, their tools of trade hidden away in some clever designer storage bin with all the furniture color coordinated …. And I drool!!

My sewing space just doesn’t fit into my art studio anymore! As you can see it’s taking over my whole house!!!  My sewing station is in fact my dining room table.

My limb stuffing station is my comfy chair, all my doll face painting happens on my kitchen table and ……

…. This used to be my entryway living room!

I’m a one woman production line! Hahahaha

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A Surprise for the Haiti Orphanage: Sneak Peak

I stumbled across this very talented doll maker’s website Revoluzzza and found a tutorial on stuffing an Ikea fabric print tree. It’s very cute in its own right, but it got my creative juices flowing . I had been given a scrap of this fabric (no whole trees) …… and I started piling all my fabrics together ….. I’m a muralist by trade (acrylics) …. Can you guess what I’m making?

I’m really excited with how it is all coming together and will hopefully finish it this weekend, and post a free tutorial with finished photos next week!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and Happy Sewing!

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How Many Dolls Have You Got for Haiti?

I keep getting asked how many dolls I have made, so I decided I would do a count. Don’t worry I am not expecting everyone to do all the hard work of making a dolly while I sit back, put my feet up and have a cup of tea (I know I know, very British!) Trust me, I have been working very hard, and after 3 weeks of cutting, sewing, stuffing and painting …… I am happy to report that I have 42 Dollies!!! That’s 21 boys and 21 girls, and I am exhausted!!! Hahahaha

So let’s do a quick count and see where we are. I don’t care if you haven’t sent them in, or photographed them yet, I’m just wondering how many finished dollies we have out there dotted around the world……

In no particular order:

• Pippa (UK) – 3 (3g)
• Susan (UK) 2 (1b,1g)
• Gill (UK) – 2 (1b, 1g)
• Janice (UK) – 2 (1b, 1g)
• Jennie (New Zealand) – 2 (2g)
• Jeanie (USA) – 2 (1b, 1g)
• Rosario (USA) - 1 (1g)
• Ellen (USA) – 2 (1b, 1g)
• Third St Girls (Canada) - 4 (3g, 1b)
• Felt Like Stitchin (UK) - 3 (2g, 1b)
• Agnes (USA) - (2 g)
• Louise (Gibraltar) – 5 (3g, 2b)
• Rachal (UK) -3 (1g, 2b)
• Guelph Homeschool Group (Canada) – 37 (22g, 15b)
• Di Burns (UK) - 4 (3g, 1b) 
• Aleta (USA) -3 (2g, 1b)
• Poppy - (USA) 21 (11b, 10g) 
• Carla - (USA) 6 (3b, 3g)
• Melinda - 2 (2g)
• Suzy (UK) - 4 (3g, 1b)
• Joy (UK) - 3 (3g) 
  

WOW, we have 157 Dolls!

(92 girls and 65 boys) Well done everyone!!!

Remember: if we get over 181(and i hope we do!!) they will be given to the local children who have nothing to call their own!

Let me know in the comments how many you have if I haven’t listed you :) Oh this is so exciting!!!!!

Making 1 doll takes time and love, and your hard work is appreciated! Just think, with that 1 dolly, you are bringing happiness to one child’s life! How wonderful!!

Thank You!!!! 

 I couldn't do this without you all :)

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Adventures with Twitter …. Mini Dolly Updates!

So I have been avoiding Twitter like the plague, why? Because it’s another thing I can get hooked on! But I realize that it is a fabulous way to not only get the word out about Dolly Donations, but to also update my friends from Dolly Donations about how everything’s going without writing a blog the length of my arm…. Which I fear I might do right now so I shall stop!!!

So here goes nothing! I’ve added a twitter button to my page, feel free to add/follow me, but remember I’m a newbie and it might take me a week to get my act together hahahaha!!

BTW ….. Love Dolls And Twitter? Well feel free to add this cute little twitter bird I photo shopped this morning for my page!

Happy Sewing … and Twittering!!

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Weekend Worries: My Sewing Machine Broke!

I was given my sewing machine by my husband’s late grandmother, The lovely Ms Mona. We had a lot in common, especially when it came to crafting, and I miss her terribly….. the nice thing is, I think of her every time I make a Dolly.

Unfortunately late Thursday night my machine suddenly stopped in mid stitch and refused to budge!

Worried, is an understatement! The machine’s maker is out of business; parts are hard to find and hideously over priced, and to top it off, my local shop told me they have a 3 week wait just to look at a machine!!!

Does no one realize I have Dollies to make!!!!!

My Darling Hubby tried his best ….. but luckily I found a little shop on the other side of town. They were fantastic, listened to my heartfelt story and fixed her in a day!!! (I have to say I should have had her serviced years ago.) My material now glides through her like a warm knife through butter! I loved sewing on her before, now I adore it! I made 10 dolls in one sitting (unheard of last week when she was running slow!!!)

Moral of the story, maintain your machine, clean and love her …. As inevitably she’ll throw a wobbly when you need her the most & you don’t want to spend a weekend panicking like I did!!!

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Are You a Teacher or Home School Your Children? - Download the Dolly Tutorial!

I made the Free Dolly Pattern so simple and easy to follow so that parents (and teachers) could help their children, as I love the idea of children helping and giving to children less fortunate than them. But it’s a pain having to look at the computer screen to follow the tutorial isn’t it!

Well, now you can Download Free Dolly Donations Instructional Tutorial to the Free Dolly Donations Dolly, and make life a little easier…. in fact everyone can! (Thank you to The Scarpa Family for the wonderful idea!)

Please click on the Link:

Download Free Dolly Donations PDF Instructional Tutorial

Thank You & Happy Sewing!

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Haiti Dolly Pattern Almost Here!

My Dolly pattern is finally done, and so is the tutorial! Hoorrhhaa!!!  Just need to sort out the PDF and I’ll have it up online by the end of the week, fingers crossed!!!

I’m very excited to announce that the New Jersey based charity The Abundant Ground Foundation really needs 181 Dollies by March 15 for their orphanage in Haiti.  I'll post more details soon!  

So I am going to need all the help I can get!!

Please Spread the word!

Thank you to all my wonderful friends and family for your support in my crazy Dream!

And a big thank you to the love of my life, my inspiration ....... and of course my top quality control manager, my daughter xxx

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Haiti Prototype Rag Dolly Finished!

After the adventures of the ‘easy’ sew pattern last week, I decided to give that a rest and start on my ‘intermediate’ Free Rag Doll Pattern I am making for everyone to share.

First I sketched out what I wanted the doll to look like, added a ¼ inch to each piece and merrily began to cut them out in card.

First thing I noted, the fancier the design, the more waste in fabric. That’s not good.

Second thing I realized. I loathe sewing doll thumbs at this scale, and so does my machine. I managed to jam it just after taking this photo. Far too fiddly and the end result was no better than the rounded ones I started doing.

Third thing. Boy did I make the arms too long and everything was far too skinny, making stuffing a slow job! The boy dolly (who I started with) looks like a runner bean, poor chap! I made a few quick adjustments to the girl dolly … but I’d already cut the pattern out – silly Sarah!

Fourth thing. Incorporating the hair into the design will make it much quicker than this method (didn’t have any black felt on hand, but I think the colors make the dollies look cute! So I might stick to it in the final design. Ahh I love it when you make happy mistakes!)

And last but not least ….. I think their faces might have too much detail ……... Especially if i am to teach someone who doesn’t paint. (don’t get me started on the shape of their heads …. Prototype people!!! hahaha) anyway…. All in all, I am pretty happy with the first shot at a dolly pattern and will look forward to tinkering with it over the next week.

Have a Lovely Weekend, & Happy Sewing!

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Back to the Drawing Board..

What a day. First the printer ….. I got over it and made up a dolly …..and now.... well quite frankly I’m not happy with the Dolly’s proportions. She needs longer arms, more of a shape, she’s looking far to triangular at the moment.

These little Dollies mean so much to me, as I know they will to a little boy or girl who has nothing to call their own. I will not send a child something I am not happy with…. Ok, off to start sketching again!!!

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Haiti Dolly Almost Finished but ..

I am so close to getting the Haiti Dollies up on line and of course, something crops up … yup my printer’s dying on me! To say it’s frustrating, is an understatement!

I am trying to write up the tutorial and make a test batch of Dollies, and each print out is getting worse and worse …. The printer is not my friend today. It has ink, I have the pdf file (thank you Jeanie!), I have transfer paper loaded correctly … but oh no, it couldn’t be that easy …. I have big stripes through my print out ….. but when I do it on normal paper it’s fine! Must be the sheen on the paper, huh. Changed the setting …..Nope still lines!

Oh how frustrating, I really wanted to get the two Dollies up on line today :( The prints aren’t horrendous, I’m just a perfectionist …. Maybe I’ll make them up anyway so that I can write the tutorial….. and wait for my hubby to fix the printer after he gets back from the station tomorrow morning ….

WISH ME LUCK :)

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Dolly Outline & Color is Done!

I am so excited! I have finally, not only completed the outline for both the basic boy and girl dollies, but I have finished the colors for the Haiti Dolly Donation Patten.

Now it doesn’t seem so impossible that I will have a doll made, and the tutorial written by the end of the week!!!

Ok, off to pre-wash all my fabric!!

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Drawing Dolly

I was up late last night after putting my little one to bed sketching Dolly ideas. She of cause is not only my inspiration but will be my genie piggy for trying out my prototypes dolls!

I have two main Dolly Donation patterns in mind, both would have a boy and a girl Dolly version to make…

The first is a very simple Dolly design so that even someone who doesn’t sew could make it. Something easy that you could make with your children.

The second is for those who sew a bit (or a lot!) a basic rag doll, something quick & easy to make, uses up left over material and looks adorable …

I want them both to be fun, to hold my (and your) interest, and inspire me to make another and another and another!!! Hahaha!!!!!  And of course, I want the children to just LOVE THEM!!

All Dolly Donation patterns will be free to download and for personal use only. The only thing I ask is …… if you make one for yourself, please consider making one for a child who doesn’t have a Dolly.

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Everybody Deserves a Dolly!

My favorite dolly was a rag doll named Holly Hobby. I lost her on the train back from London (I’m originally from the UK) with my mother when I was 5. My mother called the station and before she knew it, Holly was on the next train back to us with a band aid (plaster) on her knee and a cute note from the staff. I was so happy to see her again, and glad that she would be feeling better now she was safely back with me after her adventure.

The wonderful thing about a Dolly is it lets a child’s imagination flow, whether they are a little boy or a little girl. With a dolly by their side, they are never lonely, they have someone to talk to, to hug and hold tight, and of course to play with!

Think how important your favorite dolly, stuffed toy, or blanky was to you ….. doesn’t it bring a lovely warm smile to your lips when you picture it ……… come on, I know it does!!!

Watching my daughter play, and remembering how important the comfort of a toy was, I have decided to embark on an exciting journey of crafting creation! Making Dollies for Donation!

I will be providing links to free doll patterns and uploading some fun free patterns of my own for others out there that want to join in the fun of making a Dolly for a child who would otherwise have nothing to call their own.

Check out these other related posts!

A New Direction For Dolly Donations


Why Dolls?

Dolls aren’t for Boys …… are they?

How do I start my own Dolly Donations Drive?

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