Personalised Peg Doll Set ~ Pretty Little Parents

I love creating peg doll sets that have a special meaning for the family. When my fellow creativepreneur and Instagram friend Gemma asked if I could create something special for her Mum’s birthday I was of course super excited!

Gemma runs the beautiful Etsy shop Little Wishing Well Company. She hand-makes the most beautiful wedding accessories, gifts and homewares with a rustic, vintage touch to them. Her thoughtful creations really are a must-see.

Here are the pretty little peg doll portraits I created of her parents.

personalised peg doll, parents, peg doll set, handmade gifts, one of a kind gift

I loved recreating Mum’s beautiful rose-printed top and bright, chunky necklace. Will I ever tire of drawing roses? I think not! I love them, and recreating patterned clothes with them.

personalised peg doll, parents, peg doll set, handmade gifts, one of a kind gift

Mum’s cardigan had a subtle textured, self-pattern which I gently added using a tiny amount of acrylic paint and the tiniest paint brush in my collection!   I always choose the most suitable material for the project and the effect, pattern or texture I’m trying to recreate. Although I work proudly and predominantly with high grade artists pencils to colour my dolls, sometimes a spot of paint or watercolour is called for to enhance the design and give the best overall finish.

personalised peg doll, parents, peg doll set, handmade gifts, one of a kind gift

There were a couple of requests to personalise Gemma’s Dad’s doll. Firstly, he needed his watch on his wrist. In all the reference photos that she had sent me, his shirt appeared tucked in, and sleeves rolled up. In addition, she asked if I could create a chain necklace above a little cheeky vest, just visible under his shirt neckline.

personalised peg doll, parents, peg doll set, handmade gifts, one of a kind gift

They were a lovely couple to make, for an equally lovely customer.

personalised peg doll, parents, peg doll set, handmade gifts, one of a kind gift

So, who in your life deserves the peg doll treatment?! Take a look at our little gallery for some ideas, and then drop me a line using the contact form to chat about your ideas!

Cwtch ♥ Mawr,

peg doll family, personalised peg doll

International Women’s Day 2018 – A celebration in Peg Dolls

March the 8th marks the annual celebration of Women through International Women’s Day.  Not only is it a day to commemorate the progress and campaigning that women have done within the equal rights movement, but with gender parity cited to still be 200 years away, it also aims to ensure that we continue to #pressforprogress so that the plight of women and girls who are denied their equality, rights and freedom will have their voices heard. You can find out more about this here.

I truly love this job that I have carved out for myself, to suit my needs and my lifestyle, and to provide for my husband and I. A favourite part of my work is seeing the photos of such a rich variety of women pass my desk as I create their little peg doll portraits.  Each woman has their own story to tell and her own strengths carved from the tapestry of her life experience. Each has a different reason for having their peg doll created. And each peg doll is a celebration of that woman; be it a birthday, mothers day, graduation, becoming a mother, or showing how loved and appreciated they are.

international women's day, strong women, gender equality, rights for women, sisterhood

Each of us is an individual – but together we can be a super power. Happy International Women’s Day my lovelies.

Cwtch ♥ Mawr

peg doll family, personalised peg doll

Peg Dolls – Personalised Spoon Topper Doll

Well, Easter is over and we’re slowly all getting back to normal. For me, that means getting back at my desk, and creating lots of my lovely personalised peg doll families for my lovely customers. I’m finding it hard to believe that it’s May already. I feel like I only just got over Christmas! However, the steady influx of wedding cake topper orders and graduation peg dolls keeps reminding me that we are definitely heading towards the Summer months now.

Easter was a a fun time for creating though! I loved making my Easter Bunny Peg Dolls and my giveaway was well received!

I also had great pleasure in making a couple of lovely spoon dolls as Easter Gifts.

The first one was created for the lovely Sharon of Daisy Lions

Peg doll spoon topper Easter Gift

Sharon is a highly talented textiles artist, and I love the gorgeous little birds she makes; which were perfect for hanging from my Easter Tree.

Daisy Lions Tiny birds

Another Spoon Doll request was from a very proud Mum who wanted a special Easter gift to congratulate her son on his prestigious Chef apprenticeship. She sent me some images of his Chef whites, cap and trousers for me to work from. I endeavored to include as much detail as possible, despite the tiny size of the peg doll.

Peg Doll spoon topper Easter gift for chef

She reported back that they both loved the peg doll spoon, and that her son was impressed by the detail.

Chef with personalised peg doll spoon topper

Perhaps a peg doll spoon would make an ideal Father’s Day gift for the Foodie Fella in your life! Get in touch if you’d like me to create one for you. They are just £10 plus p&p.

Father’s Day 2017 is on Sunday June 18th, so now is the time to drop me a line if you’d like any of our peg doll gifts for Dad or Grandad.

Cwtch ♥ Mawr

peg doll family

Wax Melt Bouquet – DIY Mothers Day Gift

This is your four-day warning for Mother’s Day! T-minus Four days!

But don’t panic! I promised that I’d be back with another quick and easy take on a Pinterest find. This one’s lovely too; a tutorial for a wax melt bouquet. It’s a really quick and easy DIY Mothers Day Gift.  Here’s the pin I found:

And here’s my take on it which I will help you make in this tutorial. Who doesn’t like a nice scented wax tart? They will be appreciated even more when presented in this lovely wax melt bouquet!

peg doll with diy yankee candle bouquet tutorial

It took me around 10 minutes.

DIY Mothers Day Gift wax melt bouquet

First up, you’ll need some scented wax melts . There are loads of different brands around now and they are easily available. I can get Yankee Candle tarts at my local Supermarket for less than a £1 each.  They have their own brand for half that price too. You’ll also need some tissue paper and some green craft or copier paper to create the leaves, and some kebab skewers.  Have a scissors handy, and I also used a snips to cut the skewers. In fact, a good scissors will probably cut through them if you don;t have one though.

Finally, choose a nice vessel to arrange your wax melt bouquet in. I chose this little jug, but you really could use anything. Perhaps a mug or a biscuit tin if your Mum is a fan of tea and biscuits, or a vase for her to display a real bouquet in.  A flower pot, like in the original pin looks nice and is easy to find. Alternatively, if you haven’t got time to shop around, you could use a pretty glass jar with some ribbon or lace tied around it. How about using an old (but empty and clean) Yankee candle jar?

TIP: My little jug had a narrow opening, so it held the wax melt flowers where I arranged them with no problem. If you are using something with a wide opening, you might want to use a bit of florist foam or polystyrene inside to push the flowers into so that your wax melt bouquet arrangement stays as you intend it to.

OK! You’ve got all your bits. We’re ready to go!

quick and easy mothers day craft

Start by stuffing your “vase” with tissue paper. If you needed foam, pop it in the bottom first before doing this. However, if your vase is see-through, put the foam INSIDE the tissue so it’s not seen, then put it in the jar.

DIY Mothers Day Gift wax melt bouquet

Now make your leaves. You can skip this step, but it does add a little something to the arrangement. I used 2 different coloured green papers, because I happened to have two here. Nevertheless it’s not essential. I just popped the two sheets right on top of each other to save time, and sliced them length ways into long, leafy strips.

diy mothers day gift with yankee candles

I gathered them all in a pile and rounded all the edges all at once. Just go for it! Nature isn’t perfect, so why should we be?!

Diy mothers day gift with yankee candles

Next I folded them in half and made a firm crease along the folded edge to create a leafy “spine”.  Again I did this with them all at once in a pile. I then curled the tips along a scissor blade, like you do with curling ribbon. This gave them a more natural look.

DIY Mothers Day Gift yankee candle bouquet

Don’t laugh but this is the bit that took me the longest! Artistically stuffing my “leaves” into the tissue paper was the fiddliest part of the whole craft process. I popped most around the edge of the jug, between its’ side and the tissue paper, as this was the easiest way. However, I also wanted some in the middle of the bouquet to give it a more authentic look. So I grabbed one of the skewers to help me poke them down into the jug between the layers of tissue.  Drama over!

DIY Mothers Day Gift yankee wax melt bouquet

Push the pointy end of a skewer into each of the scented wax melts. Add them into your bouquet (pushing into the foam if you needed some). You can snip the ends of the skewers to alter the lengths of your “flowers” to suit your arrangement, just like you would with a real bouquet.

Quick and easy tutorial for DIY Mothers Day wax melt bouquet

And you’re done! Stop the clock!

You could go a bit further by painting the sticks green, adding ribbon/bows etc. But I think it looks good as it is. Your Mum will never guess that this lovely hand made gift took you just 10 minutes to make. And of course, it has the added advantage that these blooms won’t fade. Their smell will last a lot longer too!

DIY wax melt bouquet tutorial

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial for your DIY Wax Melt Bouquet and that it was quick and easy to follow! Feel free to share it or pin it to your Pinterest boards so that others can make one too!

Also, don’t forget my guide to making super snappy DIY Hanging Light Bulb Vases in my last post, or my FREE MOTHERS DAY PRINTABLE here!

It’s not too late to have a happy, handmade Mother’s Day, even with just a few days to go.

Not to mention if you’re still short of ideas, you are welcome to pop on over to my Mother’s Day Pinterest board for more inspiration:

Cwtch ♥ Mawr

custom peg dolls uk

DIY Mothers Day Gift – Beautiful & Easy Hanging Light Bulb Vase

There is just ONE WEEK until Mother’s Day here in the UK! So I’m here with a handy DIY Mothers Day gift idea that you can make to show your Mum how much you care on March 26th.

Pinterest is of course a huge wealth of inspiration for all sorts of things. Just last week a beautiful pin caught my eye for it’s sheer prettiness. Wouldn’t it make a lovely DIY Mothers Day gift I thought?

The next day I was passing time whilst our kitten was in the vets with a spot of shopping nearby. By chance, I spotted vintage garden lights in Home Bargains and I immediately remembered the pin from the night before!

At just 99p each, it was worth giving a couple a go TO recreate the pretty vases as a heartfelt DIY Mothers Day Gift.

DIY mothers day gift light bulb vase

And I think it turned out beautifully!

DIY light bulb hanging vase

Do you want to know how I did it?

It was easy peasy. Seriously. And super fast. In fact, I over complicated it, so you can learn from me and avoid my mistakes!

First , I unscrewed the silver cylindrical “lid” part from the plastic “bulb”, and set about removing the solar light gubbins. My thought was to remove the lights, wiring and battery hidden by a screwed-in little cover, and then screw the cover back into the cylindrical lid. Now, just what amazing feat of quality and engineering I was expecting for 99p I’m not sure. But when I went to screw the plastic cover back, the flimsy plastic parts that received the screws snapped off. Bummer.

So this is where you can learn from me and save yourself a couple of minutes. Go ahead and unscrew the cylindrical “lid” off the bulb. Then instead of removing the screws on the inside, see in the picture where the lightstring goes through the hole? Just snip the wire right there as close as you can to the hole. Yes the battery is still inside, but I don’t think there’s a huge risk of electrocution from the little solar battery so I *think* you’ll be ok.

Disclaimer – you carry this out at your own risk! I am not an electrician and if you are overly concerned you could always seal over the hole with a big blob of silicone glue. This should keep any moisture out once you fill your finished vase with water. Just allow it the stated time to properly cure as per the manufacturers instructions.

Next gather your beautiful blooms! Isn’t this fun?!

I pinched some carnations and chrysanthemums from my almost-finished bunch of Valentines bouquet. I also picked some pretty pink hyacinth heads fresh from the garden.

mothers day DIY gift light bulb vase

Pop them into your bulbs; I learnt that more is more. The water obviously causes the petals and flower heads to float, so the more you put in, the less room they have to float up to the top.

DIY light bulb vase for Mothers day gift

Final step is to gently add water, screw on the cylindrical lid, hang somewhere pretty, then sit back and admire your handy work. If you’re not happy with the arrangement after adding the water, the solution is simple. Pop a pencil into the bulb and gently nudge the flowers to where you want them.

DIY light bulb hanging vase

The whole thing took me about 10 minutes. That included picking the garden flowers, searching for a screwdriver (which you’ve learnt you won’t need) and the breakage fiasco.

DIY light bulb hanging vase for mothers day

I found on day 3 the blooms were still bright, but the water had gone a little cloudy. I gently tipped it out and filled it back up again.

DIY light bulb hanging vase for mothers day

By day 5, the flowers from my almost spent bouquet had had it really, but the fresh garden flowers were fine. I wasn’t sure how flower heads would last immersed in water, but they’ve done ok. It’s certainly given an extra couple of days to the remaining blooms from an old bouquet which would have ended up in the bin otherwise.

These beautiful light bulbs are a gorgeous and unusual way to display pretty blooms. Wouldn’t it make a lovely Mother’s Day gift to have a child fill one with flower heads that they picked themselves from your own garden?

It’s a really quick, easy and lovely DIY Mothers Day Gift idea that will mean so much and look so lovely.

Why not accompany your DIY light bulb vases with my pretty free Mother’s Day printable from my last post? Print it off and pop it into a pretty frame to make the perfect partner to the vases.

I’ll be back in a couple of days with another quick and easy gift idea for Mother’s Day. But if you’re suffering from Peg Doll withdrawal, here’s a pretty Mother and Daughter gift set I made last year.

peg dolls mothers day gift

Cwtch ♥ Mawr

custom peg dolls uk