When I was working on the Paperclay Leaves last week, I was absent-mindedly rolling some of the cut-away clay

For years I have been promising our readers a tutorial for making our Gnome Home. Last Christmas Tim and I mad

Children just love fairies, gnomes, elves, pixies, wee folk, bendy's, pixies, trolls, etc. which is why their popularity has soared in the few last decades. They also love creating fairy gardens of their own, some simple and some very elaborate. Their popularity is so great you can find thousands of examples of faceless fairies and fairies with faces on the web along with thousands of tutorials for making them out of just about any medium available. Some of the dolls are simple, while others are actually art forms. Fairies, themselves, have been around in the folklore for thousands of years. According to Wikipedia.com , "Wings, while common in Victorian and later artwork of fairies, are very rare in the folklore; even very small fairies flew with magic, sometimes flying on ragwort stems or the backs of birds.[ Nowadays, fairies are often depicted with ordinary insect wings or butterfly wings. " Most fairies have faces, but in the last few decades their has been an increase in the handmade and home schooling community for "faceless" and eco-friendly fairies. As a result there are a lot of tutorials out there showing how to make them. Here's a few I found: One of the most popular types of fairies to make are the "Waldorf style gnomes" which are basically faceless or with very limited facial features. On the Wee Folk Art website there is a Felt Gnome tutorial by Kimara showing how to make a felt gnome, like those shown in the picture to the left, out of a wooden peg and wool felt. The felt gnome is faceless. According to Kimara they made these as traditional Waldorf style faceless gnomes. If you would like to see and read the Felt Gnome tutorial please click here. Wee Folk Art also has a Flower Fairy tutorial by Kimara showing how to make a flower fairy, like the one in the picture to the right, out of a wooden peg and wool felt. The flower fairy is faceless. If you would like to see and read the Flower Fairy tutorial please click here. The Wee Folk Art website also has a Basic Knit Doll In 6 Sizes tutorial for making a faceless knit doll here and A Whimsy of Knit Gnomes tutorial for making a faceless knit gnome here. The Duckyknits and Makes Stuff blog has a How to Make Fairy Dolls tutorial by Kersten showing how to make the faceless fairy doll in the picture to the left out of pipe cleaners, embroidery floss, wool felt, and a wooden bead. The doll is faceless. According to Kersten, "I like these dolls with clear faces as children can imagine them having any emotion or expression they can dream up." If you would like to read the How to Make Fairy Dolls tutorial please click here. There is a cute tutorial by Amber Greene on the Happy Crafty Family website showing how to make a faceless fairy doll out of pipe cleaners, yarn, wool, felt and a wood bead. To read this tutorial please click here. I love craft videos and was happy to find a Poinsettia Fairy Doll Tutorial by Emilie Lefler video on YouTube showing how to make the most adorable faceless poinsettia fairy dolls like the ones shown in the picture to the right. If you would like to view the Poinsettia Fairy Doll Tutorial video please click here. She also has a How To Make A Flower Fairy Doll video tutorial on YouTube showing how to make faceless flower fairy dolls here and a DIY Angel Fairy Doll video tutorial showing how to make a faceless angel fairy doll here. Her Sunflower Fairy Doll video tutorial is here and her Snow Fairy Doll video tutorial is here. Both are also faceless and both are absolutely adorable. In doing my research on faceless fairies I came across a wonderful Magic Wool Fairies Paperback book by Christine Schafer showing how to make the beautiful faceless magic wool fairies shown in the picture on the left. According to the books description the faceless fairies are made using sheep's wool roving, pipe cleaners, wooden beads, scissors, glue, felt-tip pens, needle, and thread. If you would like to see more of this book please click here. On the Rhythm & Rhyme blog I came across an adorable peg dolls tutorial showing how to make the adorable faceless dolls, shown in the picture to the right, out of wood doll pegs, roving, and wool felt. If you would like to see and read that tutorial please click here. The Juise blog also has a Bendy Doll Faerie Family tutorial for making an adorable bendy fairy family tutorial. The tutorial shows how to make the boy and girl fairies, shown in the picture to the left, using pipe cleaners, embroidery floss, wood beads and wool felt. If you would like to see and read the Bendy Doll Faerie Family tutorial please click here. The Plain and Joyful Living at Natural Earth Farm blog has a wonderful knitting how-to for making the cutest faceless knitted gnomes shown in the picture to the right. If you love to knit and love adorable gnomes you might want to check out the post on the The Plain and Joyful Living at Natural Earth Farm blog. Click here for the post. Fairies, gnomes, elves, pixies, wee folk, bendy's. spirits, trolls, etc can be made pout of so many things. The Playful Learning website has an adorable tutorial showing you how to make the faceless DIY Autumn Peg Gnome, shown in the picture to the left, using a wood peg, embroidery floss, and wool felt. If you would like to see and read the DIY Autumn Peg Gnome tutorial please click here. The Magic Onion blog also has a Make Autumn Gnomes tutorial for the faceless gnomes shown in the picture to the right. The faceless gnomes are made using wood pegs, wool felt and needle felted acorns. If you would like to see and read the Make Autumn Gnomes tutorial please click here. Faceless gnomes can also be made out of natural materials, like pine cones and leaves. The Magic Onion blog also has an adorable Lets Make An Autumn Fairy From Natural Materials tutorial showing how to make the pine cone fairy, shown in the picture to the left, out of pine cones, acorn caps, autumn leaves, roving and a white felt ball. If you would like to see and read the Lets Make An Autumn Fairy From Natural Materials tutorial please click here. They also have a Cute Autumn Gnome tutorial showing how to make a pair of gnomes out of a wood peg, acorn cap, roving, wool felt, and a button. It's totally adorable and can be seen here. There is a totally adorable Flower Girl Bendy Dolls tutorial on the Something Lubely blog showing how to make the flower girls shown in the picture to the right. They are made using a bendy doll kit, silk floral with wire removed, wool felt, roving, and embroidery floss. If you would like to see and read the Flower Girl Bendy Dolls tutorial please click here. The Wee Folk Art website also has a charming Flower Fairies and Buds tutorial for making the adorable flower fairies shown in the picture to the left. They are made using wooden doll pegs, wool felt and embroidery floss. If you like to see and read the Flower Fairies and Buds tutorial please click here. I also ran across a charming More Magic Wool - Creating Figures and Pictures With Dyed Wool book by Angelika Wolk-Gerche. The books teaches how to create faceless pipe cleaner dolls, faceless shelf sitter types of fairies, faceless nature dolls, faceless flying sylphs & sylph mobile, and faceless gnomes from wool roving. Instructions are provided for making a basic roving doll body which is embellished for the type of faceless doll you are making. The sylphs are made the same as the rainbow fairies. Instructions are provided for making the faceless people (male & female - adults & children) using 3 pipe cleaners. Instructions are also provided for making faceless shelf sitter types of mother dolls holding their swaddled baby, rabbits, or small sheep. Instructions are also provided for making the faceless red-capped or flower gnomes. The faceless seasonal fairies are much more embellished and include the Spring Fairy, Summer Fairy, Autumn Fairy, and Winter Fairy. The faceless Spring Fairy, shown in the picture to the left, is basically made the same as the faceless shelf sitter type of mother dolls holding their swaddled baby only she is holding a horn of plenty filled with flowers. While the book has instructions for sheep's wool roving I would assume any type of roving could be used for making these dolls as well.

Master O is on holiday till the 2nd of February so in between social engagements and other commitments I am squeezing in some sewing. My new range is all going to be Easter themed. My friend Marie over at Soft Earth will be very happy with me as I have been experimenting with needle felting. I am having great fun with it. Here is a quick peek at what I have been working on: The four Amigo's!

Like much of the world, I anxiously awaited the arrival of Britain's newest member to the royal

STORYBOOK INSPIRATION: Cocktails in the Bush, by Ida Rentoul Outhwaite The Fairy's Barque, by John Anster Fitzgerald The Fairies Banqu...

Part 1 can be found HERE. Part 3 can be found HERE. Here are the next two gnomes in our Big Gnomes for Little Hands series. For instructions on how to make these "big guys", check out the tutorial HERE. The actual pattern for our Sun Gnome and our Toadstool gnome can be …

Oh there you are! Do come in, only mind the flat fairy under the doormat my dears. Perhaps you're feeling a little stressed or press...

Whether you are a gnome, fairy or a wee doll, nothing makes a special occasion more special than a beautifully

Red Poppy

27 cm. wool felt gnome,handmade

Check out this tutorial from busylittleelf: look at this redwork pattern! It is free at allsorts. and here is a tutorial on needle felted elves, complete with pattern this one is from craft elf and look here for these cute paper doll elves chickpeastudio has these elves that you can make smaller...she has a tutorial!!! and these are found at hubpages... and flickr has a whole page to check out here craftgossip has these....again, you'd have to improvise but aren't they cute! wee wonderfuls has free embroidery patterns (kinda big...but you could shrink them!) thelongthread shares a tutorial for this ornament but with a change of colors, Santa turns into an elf! She has some AMAZING things on her blog...go stalk around a bit! princessnimblethimble has wonderful bendy doll elves...and shares a tutorial on flickr and this most adorable knit elf is at spud&chloe. I do wish I knit sometimes! and a crocheted one too....pattern is for sale... I hope these give you some ideas!

Although your average woodland gnome has a life expectancy of hundreds of years, that's not always the case fo

Gyo Fujikawa 1979 What a pretty back cover!

A sweet, rainy poem by Rose Fyleman, from 'The Fairy Flute' pub 1921 Methuen & Co, caught my eye today, while I was sheltering from torrential rain, looking through my faery collection of magical things. So, I burrowed further and found some of Muddypond's favourite 'rainy' illustrations to share ..... The Puddle Dance by Margaret Tarrant, an old postcard pub 'The Medici Society' Rainy Morning As I was walking in the rain I met a fairy down the lane. We walked along the road together, I soon forgot about the weather .... 'Rain, rain, go away,' illustration by Arthur Rackham from 'The Nursery Rhymes of Mother Goose' Vol 41 pub 1913 He told me lots of lovely things: The story that the robin sings, And where the rabbits go to school, And how to know a fairy pool, And what to say and what to do If bogles ever bother you. 'The Hail Storm' by G.E.Shepheard from'The Playtime Story Book' pub Ward, Lock & Co. The flowers peeped from hedgy places And shook the raindrops from their faces, And furry creatures all the way Came popping out and said "Good-day." 'Shelter from the Rain' by Margaret Tempest An old postcard from Medici Society, posted 1938 But when we reached the little bend, Just where the village houses end, He seemed to slip into the ground, And when I looked about I found The rain was suddenly all over And the sun shining on the clover. Rose Fyleman " 'My feet are quite dry!' she exclaimed, as she paddled through a pool ..." illustration of Little Grey Rabbit in her new galoshes by Margaret Tempest from 'Wise Owl's Story' pub Collins 1935

Here's the finished poster art for the Elves and the Shoemaker Itheatre production in Singapore (running from October 28th to November 13th). I decided to give the main poster an actual storybook cover look with fancy scrolled edges made up of shoes and their laces. This completes all the illustrations needed for this project. To see the other ones visit Part One and Part Two. Some news. I was just asked to doodle up 360 views of the elves for their resident puppet maker and performer (and an old friend) Paul Pistore so he can actually create the ones I illustrated. Pretty cool.

Worry dolls originated in Guatemala and are said to take your worries away. They may have very crude drawn dots for eyes or faces, or they may be entirely faceless. Either way they are said to help calm the fears of children. According to The Information Please Girls' Almanac By Alice Siegel - Page 148, "Worry Dolls - These are tiny dolls from Guatemala. You tell one worry to each doll, place the dolls you've told your worries to under your pillow, and by the morning they've taken your troubles away." If you would like to see or read more of this article please click here. The Utah Museum of Fine Arts created a wonderful Folk Art Dolls .PDF tutorial. The .PDF includes an introduction into "Doll Making As A Folk Art Tradition" and tutorials on making 4 different types of Folk Art dolls. According to the tutorial, "According to folklore, the doll will worry in the person's place, letting the child sleep peacefully. The child will wake up without their worries, which will have been taken away by the dolls overnight. The dolls come in sets of six and the Guatemalan tradition is to use one of the six worry dolls each night. After six nights the worry is gone. The dolls are usually 1/2" to 2" tall and handmade using wood or wire as a frame and cotton fabric or thread for clothing." Included in this tutorial is a section on Page 14 & 15 on How-To Guatemalan Worry Dolls, like the doll in the picture to the right. If you would like to see and read the Folk Art Dolls tutorial please click here. According to the University of Minnesota article on The Legend of the Worry Dolls by Sara McDonnell, "The indigenous people from the Highlands in Guatemala created Worry Dolls many generations ago as a remedy for worrying. According to the Mayan legend, when worrying keeps a person awake, he or she tells a worry to as many dolls as necessary. Then the worrier places the dolls under his or her pillow. The dolls take over the worrying for the person who then sleeps peacefully through the night. When morning breaks, the person awakens without the worries that the dolls took away during the night." If you would like to read that article please click here. If you would like to make a worry doll of your own there are many websites showing how using wire, tie twists, clothespins, popsicle sticks, toothpicks, pipe cleaners, etc. There is a How to Craft a Worry Doll tutorial by Dale Cook on the Snapguide.com website showing how to make the faceless worry dolls, shown in the picture to the right. If you would like to read this How to Craft a Worry Doll tutorial please click here. The Crafty Teacher - Crafty Ideas for Pre-K-12 Art Projects, Recycling, and Educational Demonstrations blog has a wonderful Make Your Own Worry Dolls or Toothpick People tutorial showing how to make the faceless worry dolls, shown in the picture to the left, from toothpicks. If you would like to read the Make Your Own Worry Dolls or Toothpick People tutorial please click here. Worry dolls have become extremely popular in the last few years and have definitely come into the 21st century as Neopets.com even ran a worry doll contest. The rules were as follows: Your challenge for this week is to create worry dolls. These should be of a favourite character on Neopets.com. Please tell us what you used to make your doll and also what character your doll is of in the description. We're judging the dolls on beauty, cleverness, and overall awesomeness. Some of the worry dolls submitted had faces, some did not. If you would like to see pictures of all the participants and the winners please click here. The University of Wisconsin Extension program generated a terrific 4-H Afterschool International Program - It's A Small World Guatemala activity plan tutorial showing you how to make both faceless worry dolls, like those shown in the picture to the right, and worry dolls with faces. If you would like to read the It's A Small World Guatemala tutorial please click here. Heidi Boyd has a tutorial on her Crafty Inspiration blog showing how to make a faceless worry doll from pipe cleaners. If you would like to see this tutorial please click here. Angela Michelle Rousseau makes the most incredible faceless 2 1/2" toothpick dolls which are all art forms unto themselves. In her skilled hands she turns her toothpick dolls into beautiful and elaborate art doll creations. She created a 6-part tutorial on her Angela Michelle Dolls - The Elegant Toothpick blog showing how to make the beautiful faceless toothpick doll shown in the picture to the left. If you would like to see and read her 6-part tutorials please click on the links below: Toothpick Doll Tutorial #1: Supplies & Bodies Toothpick Doll Tutorial #2: A Dress & Some Arms Toothpick Doll Tutorial #3: A Shoulder to Lean On Toothpick Doll Tutorial #4: Finally a Head! Toothpick Doll Tutorial #5: Toothpick Salon Toothpick Doll Tutorial #6: Finishing Touches The faceless toothpick doll shown in the picture above and to the right is Emeline, Lady de Couer-dents (Lady of Toothpicks). The faceless toothpick doll shown in the picture to the left is Rapunzel. Here's what Angela posted in her blog as to her Rapunzel toothpick doll, shown in the picture to the left, "I am a doll maker. You can make dolls out of all sorts of things - clay, cloth & porcelain are the usual suspects. I use toothpicks. Look closely at Rapunzel here. Imagine the head stripped down to a single toothpick. Under the dress are two spindly little toothpick legs (thank goodness for floor-length skirts). Each arm is two pieces of toothpick, attached to look bent at the elbow. Everything added to the toothpick skeleton: the head, the body structure, the gown, the hair, the flowers, is all embroidery floss, or thread. Yes, I'm nuts; yes, I love it." Not only does Angela make faceless dolls out of toothpicks, but she decided to challenge herself even further by making tiny faceless "Penny People" like the doll shown in the picture to the right out of string and tiny wires in the arms. I think Angela's doll are just amazing and hope you would agree. If you would like to see more of her dolls please visit her Angela Michelle Dolls - The Elegant Toothpick blog here or her Angela Rosseau - Angela Michelle Dolls Flickr account here.

from a friends collection

Explore helenpriem's 413 photos on Flickr!

Yes, that's a word. Nanologist is a person who is a Gnome collector. I happened upon these delightful hand-embroidered Gnome's when looking at Etsy. The artist calls her shop "Paintingpixie". Brandy Carsten, from Colorado, USA, says "I picked my name by mixing my love for traditional art and the magical world of fay." Before studying Brandy's art , I discovered I was weak on the little Gnome facts. Prior to this, I always pictured the Travelocity gnome as he is playfully humming his way along in what he thinks is a comfortable river and suddenly finds himself falling off the edge of the earth.........(so like my life......lol). This is what I learned, there seems to be a general agreement regarding the following things about gnomes: 1. A gnomes life span is about 400 years. 2. When a gnome is about 200 years old, they begin to think of marriage. 3. Birth of gnomes always involves twins. 4. Male gnomes indulge in pipe smoking. 5. Gnomes are 7 times stronger than a man. Brandy says that she made her first gnome doll for her son when he was small. "It was soft, filled with carded wool and had a simple embroidered face. I was highly influenced by Waldorf traditions; simple in design and natural materials. This is why I leave the faces blank, it leaves the emotion of the doll play open. " "As far as my embroidery history, I simply became curious and tried a couple of stitches until they looked right with the exception of the French knot which I had to look up to see how to make a proper one. " "I let the seasons and the natural world around me influence the designs of my embroidery. I embroider intuitively- meaning I don't usually have a design plan, it just unfolds with each stitch. I have a couple of Rocky Mountain Flower guides for inspiration and reference that I use upon occasion." "The Mushroom Cap Gnomes are truly my favorite of my designs so far. It took me quite a while to create the right shape for the cap. " "Along with embroidery and doll making I have recently taught myself to spin yarn with a drop spindle. I love the feeling of the wool roving passing through my fingers and twisting the yarn. I close my eyes and imagine that I am connected to all the women of the past who have also made yarn in this very same way since the beginning of time. I love to needle felt, its so similar to painting with color mixing and layering. I also do illustrations in pencil and pen and ink." Brandy says her favorite artists are Alphonse Mucha (one of my favorites, also), Van Gogh, and Matisse. Artists that are living today that she admires are Michael Haque, Brett Wilson, and Karma Majors (who is her aunt). Brandy lives in Colorado with her husband and two children. "When I was a child I lived for a year in the mountains with a rushing river in my front yard and all the world to explore in my back yard. That year I discovered the magical realm of fairies and gnomes. Every spring flowers seemed to speak to me and trees and the rocks all had their own story to tell. I saw the world around me in a vividness that I hadn't been aware of before. Then my family returned to the city and I ever since have had that connection with nature." Thanks, Brandy, for sharing your art and thoughts with us.