Simple Saturdays! American Girl Doll Shops

     There are millions of sellers on Etsy, but only a few successfully make a consistent income from their shops. Today I'll take a look at a few crafters who have found success creating products that people love to add to their American Girl or 18 in. doll collections.

Beds and Threads designs, creates, and sells heirloom quality furniture for American Girl Dolls. The owner, John Hember, has designed and made his own wood furniture for over 50 years. He makes most of his furniture from the finest hardwood, mostly European beech wood, and it is built to last a lifetime.

The following photos are a few of his designs that can be found at: www.etsy.com/shop/BedsandThreads

Nayas Designs is owned and operated by Linnea Van Epps. Ms Epps has been sewing her entire life. She started sewing American Girl clothes when her granddaughters started collecting and playing with American Girl dolls. She now has more dolls than they do. She stays current by scanning sales adds and web sites for "tween" fashion ideas. She loves to complete an outfit with small jewelry and other accessories that add to the fun of dressing dolls. The quality of her work is exceptional, which is why she has been very successful in her niche. Check out her shop at: www.etsy.com/shop/nayasdesigns  Here are a few of the items she offers.

                                                                                   

Jade Expressions creates handmade crochet hats, headbands, head warmers, hair fascinators, scarves, shawls, jewelry and accessories.  She doesn't actually focus on American Girl doll items exclusively, but the items she makes are all current, artistic and high quality.  Check her shop out for yourself at:  www.etsy.com/shop/JadeExpressions 

If it's American Girl doll or 18 inch doll items you're looking for, shop Etsy!

and

Don't forget to check out www.etsy.com/shop/CherokeeMagnolias

Friday Felt Fun: Recommended Shopping on Etsy!

     There's a great little shop on Etsy called DGstyle.  It's owned by a artist-designer - Dace Grinvalde. She's a "jack of all trades" when it comes to art and design. She's into photography, fashion, drawing, and interior design. She describes her passion as  "liking simply beautiful things".

     The following are a few of her creations. You'll find them at: www.etsy.com/shop/DGstyle

White Felt Slipper
These slippers are made to order. These fit shoe size  7/7,5

Made using hot water and organic soap.Your feet will be warm on a cold day and cool on a hot day.
Soles are covered with natural latex what makes wool slippers safe to walk around the house (not slippery).

     Another great little Etsy shop is CVD Art, by Christina Van Dellen. She likes to make small sculptures of fairies and babies, needle felted sculptures, and taxidermed chicks (yes! baby chickens) and also mice and rats! One of my favorite items in her shop is her Needle Felted Life Size English Bulldog Puppy. It is a 100% wool needle felted sculpture with button eyes. It is life size  and measures about a foot in length. You can find this little guy at: www.etsy.com/shop/cvandellen

Fairyfox is a great shop for crafters. It provides some exceptional patterns for felt foods and toys. They provide all needed instructions and tutorials and offer some great deals. Their items are current and the toys are popular with kids everywhere. I love Hello Kitty, so one of the items I'm featuring is their 

DIY felt Toaster and Sandwich--PDF Pattern via Email--T03 pattern set. It comes complete with the following pattern pieces and instructions. Check them out at www.etsy.com/shop/fairyfox

They also sell the same item in a kit.

Their faux foods are realistic looking too and a great example is this fruit set  pattern : 

DIY Lovely fruit set(Lemon,Orange,Kiwi,Cherry,Strawberry)--PDF Pattern via Email--V02

Crafters are doing amazing things with wool felt these days. If you're wondering if it can be done, check out the felt shops on Etsy!

What's New at "Under Glass" on Etsy

 Tree Earrings

     Intricate black interlaced branches reach out and kiss the days fading sky goodnight, as water colored blues and pinks fade into the ever darkening night trying to settle in.
    These modern resin earrings measure 3/8 of an inches wide (1cm) with a total hang length of 2 inches long (5cm) from the top of the silver plated ear wires to the bottom of the rectangle.
    They offer free customizations if you require a certain kind of metal earring hangers. They also ship free worldwide.
Check them out at http://www.etsy.com/listing/62977449/resin-earringsdusk-resin-earrings

Moody Tuesday Bracelet

      This sweet little cuff style bracelet features a cool thermo sensitive focal bead . The bead base is a terracotta color and as your body temperature heats up the bead turns several shades of the colors gold green,deep turquoise blue ,deep navy blue and violet.  
     The focal bead has been strung on a soft brown velor cord with a wire center shaped into a cuff. Silver plated jump rings and pretty blue green faceted beads with an A/B finish adorn each side of the bracelet.
     This bracelet is adjustable and can fit a wrist from 7 inches at it's smallest setting to 8 1/2 inches on the largest setting.
     Be colorful on your moody Tuesdays, or any moody day for that matter!
This item is ready to ship and will arrive thoughtfully packaged ready to give as a gift or keep for yourself!
     SHIPS FREE, worldwide!

Check this out at: http://www.etsy.com/listing/74483646/mood-bracelet-moody-tuesday-2-bracelet

Spider Earrings! A Cute Conversational Piece

     Perfect for those associated with the Pest industry....Entomologists, Terminix Service Inc., ,Bayer Chemical, Dow Chemical, Dupont Chemical, etc.  Also perfect for Halloween or the random party conversation. 

These cool,  resin earrings have the image of a solid black silhouette of a spider centered on the front of each of these translucent resin earrings.The spider dangles from a fine silver plated cable chain.

The earring disk measures 3/4 of an inch round and is hung on silver plated ear wires. These earrings are very lightweight and easy to wear.  Perfect for a little arachnid fun!

Check these out at: http://www.etsy.com/listing/59371934/resin-earringslittle-dangler-translucent

Perfect "American Girl" Fashions

     One of the latest projects at Cherokee Magnolias, on Etsy, is creating fun fashions for 18 inch dolls, like the American Girl dolls. There are a growing number of dolls out there, such as the "Our Generation" dolls available through Target, "Molly P. Originals" from Walmart, and "Daisy Kingdom" from AC Moore. It appears as if the doll manufacturing companies have sat back a watch "American Girl" dolls rack up all of the business with the expensive doll lines and accessories. In the last few years an increasing number of manufacturers have started their own lines of dolls with books to tell their stories, accessories for the increasingly fashion conscience little girls, and furniture, toy, and hobby items to match their stories and clothing.
     There is nothing like watching little girls (and sometimes boys) playing "house" with their dolls and creating imaginary lives with them. They love to experience the world through the safety of doll role playing and changing a doll's clothing to fit the imaginary scenario is one of those  "simple pleasures" of childhood. At Cherokee Magnolias we get to create clothing that little girls love. The outfits we produce are often similar to the fashions the girls wear every day. Here are a couple of examples of the doll clothing we make and there will be more to follow. Watch for it here or visit www.etsy.com/shop/CherokeeMagnolias