Making things - "what goes around, comes around"

It was whilst reading the lovely Pretty Nostalgic magazine and blog that the question was posed, "have you or your family kept any souvenirs of things you made as a child?" They were referring to things like wonky pots we made in pottery classes, or in my case a book shelf I made in woodwork which weighed a ton!

I made all sorts of things, many of which were inspired by watching Blue Peter and Magpie, the amount of glue, cellotape, glitter, toilet rolls and egg cartons I got through was phenomenal!
I bet some of you are nodding to this also, our poor parents, all this rubbishy stuff we used to make them for presents which they thought were 'lovely'!

However, A few months ago, whilst rummaging in my parents loft, I was both surprised and delighted to find some little felt dolls I made as a child which they had kept. I was quite amazed that they had survived with no musty smells and were still in good condition because I think I made these age 11 or 12 (35 yrs ago).
The dolls were hidden in a little Quality Street tin.

As I opened the tin, I had completely forgotten that I’d customised the inside into the dolls house. 

It made me smile as the memories came rushing back of happy childhood days crafting.

I had used some 1970’s flock, velvety wallpaper which we had in our lounge  to line the inside of the tin. I’d added little windows made from chopped up scenes from greeting cards, I had kept lolly sticks to use the wood for the doors. It seems I was into re-using and recycling from a young age!

I was a big Charlie Brown & Snoopy fan which is why you can see Snoopy on the wall.

Lets take a look at the dolls then, there are 11 in total.

So why did I make the dolls or what inspired me? Well I think it stemmed from family holidays when it was always a treat for me to have a souvenir foreign doll from the different countries we visited. I had some lovely dolls, this is one of my few remaining dolls from Bavaria.

The foreign dolls inspired me to make dolls from places I hadn't been to so the Eskimo was my first and one of my favourites. 

I soon moved on from making foreign dolls and as you can see I picked on some

subjects closer to home like a nurse, a princess and another favourite is the punk with blue hair!

The dolls are about 6cm tall.

They kept me occupied and out of mischief for hours as I busied myself making them in school holidays.

It's strange to think that I've almost come full circle with this and in recent years I have made little felt dolly brooches which I can happily say are much neater and better made.

It's nice to look back on these finds, I wonder if anyone else has such things tucked away still?

Here are some of the felt dolly & button brooches I make today.

And these are some very new ones, not yet finished but using scraps of vintage and other recycled bits of fabric & wool.