Make your own Christmas presents

Are you having trouble finding something for friends and family for Christmas? Or perhaps you just want some new ideas of things to make. It may sound like a bit of a palaver making your own presents if you haven't done it before, but so is trudging round the shops not knowing quite what you are going to get or finding it all sold out already.
There is still a week to go and all of these ideas are easily managed in that time, and you don't have to be an artistic genius either!

Tin of biscuits.

OK, sounds a bit boring but if you paint the tin yourself or even better get the children to do it and make the biscuits it really is a wonderful, personal present.
You will need a plain tin, some paints suitable for painting on metal, paintbrushes, newspaper or plastic sheet to protect the table and then ingredients for your biscuits - I'll leave that bit up to you!

If you are an artistic genius then you could paint a wonderful scene on the tin. If not then you could make a spotty tin, paint on stripes, have an attempt at snowflakes or stars or even paint the name of the recipient on the lid. If the children are doing it then they will no doubt come up with something great. At the moment the tins we do are quite abstract but my 6 year old has been doing great reindeer on our Christmas cards.

Make a soft toy!

Now if you are making something for a young child they won't care that it is all wonky and has lopsided eyes. In fact just tell them it is a monster and they will be thrilled. There are more detailed instructions with photos on our website but here is what you need to do.
You need two pieces of fabric and some scraps for a face. Needle and thread or a sewing maching. Place your fabric pieces one on top of the other right sides together and cut out your toy shape. If you want a doll then just do a very basic person shape but you can't go wrong with a monster as it really doesn't matter how they turn out. Sew all the way round the outside but leave a gap at the end so you can turn it the right way out. Stuff it and sew up the hole. Then cut out some shapes for the eyes and mouth and any other motifs you want to add and sew them on. Use bold fabrics or bright colours for a really funky look.
Children can make these too. My 6 year old is just learning to sew and made one of her friends a tiny pillow for a doll. It didn't take her long and it was the first thing she had ever sewed. Of course she was really proud of it and made a great gift.

Paint a T-shirt.

You will need a T-shirt or you could use an apron, cushion cover, cotton bag etc. and some fabric paints. You can either get the children to paint a design on or make hand or footprints on the front or the back. Read the instructions for the paint carefully as some need to be ironed afterwards to fix. One year we bought a whole lot of T-shirts, bags and aprons. We dyed them different colours with dye suitable for the washing machine and then painted, foot-printed and wrote names on them afterwards.

Make your own calendar.

If you can get a blank calendar then half your work is done. If not simply collect 12 or 13 (depending on whether you want a cover or not) thick pieces of paper together, punch holes in the top and tie together. Then you can write the month and dates at the bottom leaving a big area at the top to stick family photographs on or draw or paint, or cut out drawings your child has done during the year to stick on.

Artwork.

All you need is a special drawing your child has done and a frame. If you like you can stick the drawing onto a bigger piece of coloured paper. Choose a colour to compliment the drawing. This makes a lovely present for close relatives who probably don't have as many of your children's drawings on their walls as you do!

DVD.

Now we are getting a bit technical here, but if you have a computer and a digital camera you could make either a little film or a slideshow of still images. I am making slideshow of photographs of the children throughout this year for my Granny who has Alzheimers, adding lots of captions of course so she knows who everyone is. This is great if you have family who live in another country or just too far to be able to travel often.
You might find you already have a programme on your computer to do this, otherwise there are quite a few good programmes out there that don't cost the world and are easily downloadable. A good investment if you think you might make more slideshows in the future.

Give your time.

This might sound a bit boring but will be very much appreciated by people who have little time to themselves or don't get out much. Make up a beautiful gift certificate offering your services as a babysitter, chef for the evening, gardening help or any other skill that might be appreciated by the recipient.
Some friends of ours did this recently for my husband's birthday. They presented us with an amazing certificate offering to babysit one evening and even included some money for us to buy tickets to the cinema or theatre. It was fantastic for us as it was the first time we had been out together on our own since our now 2 year old was born!

Hope this has given you some ideas. If you have any ideas of your own then please leave a comment.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and, as they say here in Switzerland, a good slide into the New Year!

Happy poggling!

Mairi

Eco Friendly Christmas Wrapping Paper

The last few birthdays and Christmases in our house have seen a huge mound of wrapping paper, and I have been becoming more aware of the waste. We are able to recycle our wrapping paper here in the paper and cardboard collection but I know some places will not allow you to recycle it. But even if it if can be recycled we still have to account for the energy that goes into the production process, the bleaching, coloured dyes and all the extra money we spend just on wrapping paper. So for my eldest daughter's last birthday I decided not to use wrapping paper at all. I didn't want to just put the presents on the table without wrapping them in some shape or form so I used our silk play-cloths to wrap each one. One to wrap the parcel and one to tie around in a bow. It worked really well. She still got to unwrap her presents but there was absolutely no wrapping waste afterwards. The silks went back into the dressing up box and the next time they were used they had turned into a fairy skirt.

But what do you do if you don't have any play-cloths, or you want to wrap a present for someone who might not use the cloth afterwards, or you can't afford to add to the value of the gift by buying or giving away one of your own cloths? Here are some ideas:

Gift bags or boxes. These still use a lot of energy to produce but are usually very robust and can be used again and again which makes them worthwhile.

Brown parcel paper. So you are still buying paper, but as it is plain and unbleached it is more eco friendly than normal wrapping paper and you can spruce it up with a nice ribbon. Or perhaps you could get the children to paint on it or print simple shapes like stars on with a potato cut out.

Tissue paper. Again you are still buying new paper, but as it is much thinner than normal wrapping paper the raw materials stretch further. This is a good option for someone who still wants quite a traditional, colourful, wrapped look. You could use two colours and overlap them slightly, putting the overlap on the front of the parcel so that the underneath colour shows as a stripe.

Newspaper. Sounds a bit boring but if you jazz it up with a gold or colourful ribbon it can look quite special. Using a cloth ribbon that can be re-used makes it even more eco friendly. You could also pick out an appropriate picture from the newspaper to put on the front of the package.

Playcloths. Whether you have silk, muslin or cotton cloths, these make great wrapping. This could become quite costly though if you are giving it away to people outside your family.

Cheap fabric or remnants. Wrapping in fabric might sound very expensive but you can get some very cheap fabric. If you compare spending £2.50 per meter on fabric which is perhaps 115-150cm wide with what it costs for nice wrapping paper you might be pleasantly surprised. Check out the remnants bin too for reduced pieces, and remember it doesn't have to be dressmaking fabric, upholstery and curtain fabric will do just as well. If you use fabric the recipient of your gift will have an extra present in the fabric wrapping for making something fun or just playing with. Even a very small piece can be used as a doll's blanket or made into a mini monster (see instructions on Pogglers). You can make your own ribbon with very thin strips of fabric and you could even sew a simple motif on the front or stitch on the recipients name.

Not wrap at all. You could lay the presents out on the table for the birthday child to discover in the morning. You could even blindfold the child so that he/she is standing in front of them before you take the blindfold off which will add to the excitement.

But if you still want to use wrapping paper then buying recycled paper is still doing your bit. And whichever paper you use try and recycle it, save intact pieces for other presents or cut out squares and stick them on cards for a really easy do-it-yourself card.

Happy poggling!

Mumpreneur Competition!!

There is a fantastic competition on MumsClub to find the best business idea for a mum. There are all sorts of prizes being given away including a Cherish Doll from Pogglers, so get your thinking caps on and enter. You have nothing to lose! Closing date is the 1st November.



Congratulations on Finding the UK’s search for the most creative New Business idea for a mum!The competition is aimed at anyone who fancies winning the prizes – women, mums or business mums – it is simply a competition to win great prizes.

Have you always wondered about starting your own business working from home? Do you think you have an original, creative, or unique idea for a business? Enter the MumsClub competition to see if you will be voted most creative/unique business idea by mums already in business working from home.

To find out more visit the competition page on MumsClub.

The Green Parent Magazine

I have been really busy recently and have completely neglected my blog, but I hope to do better in the coming months!

Some great news is that we have appeared two editions running in The Green Parent magazine. In the August/September issue they highlighted one of our little Elephant in a pouch toys and in the current October/November issue we have a write up in their Ethical Spotlight! Thank you Green Parent!

So get down the shops and grab your copy now!

Coming soon!

The other day I made a really cute monster based on a child's drawing. This will also be added to Pogglers soon to compliment our Recycled Dolls and Monsters which are proving very popular.

This is how it works: you e-mail or send me a colour copy of your child's drawing of a monster and I use that as my design to turn as faithfully as possible into a real toy monster to cuddle and adore. You could even dig out your own childhood monster drawing to use. I use a mixture of off-cut and new organic cotton, conventional cotton and recycled fabric. The monsters are usually stuffed with polyester stuffing for easy washing but I can also use organic sheeps wool.

To find out more or to order your own monster please contact me.

Sign up! Sign up! For great craft ideas!

I have sent out our most recent edition of the Pogglers Crafty Kids Newsletter so if you would like to receive one too then please fill in the contact form on Pogglers, and I will send you a copy.

In this edition you will find out how to make a whizzy whooshy streamer toy (shown in flight above), some pine cone gnomes and some fantastically easy to make juggling balls.

All using things easily found in the home or outside.

And if you have your own idea you would like us to include then please send it to Pogglers and we may include it in the next issue. If you make any of the things in the newsletter then please do send us a picture as we would love to display a gallery of the images on the website with your permission.

Happy poggling!

Recycled Dolls and Monsters

We have been getting quite a few enquiries about our Recycled Dolls and Monsters from the article in Junior Magazine. We are mentioned in the article on page 51 entitled Bye bye baby written by Alice Beer and are at the top of the list of recommendations for what to do with your old baby clothes.

So if you have old baby clothes that you don't know what to do with then send them over to Pogglers for a brand new toy! Even if they are stained or full of holes we will be able to find a way to make them into a beautiful keepsake. And we are always happy to go over design ideas before hand.

Happy poggling!

Baby Playmats coming soon

I am currently working on some new organic cotton Baby Playmats for Pogglers. It will probably be a week or two before they are online but I have a blue and purple version and a pink, red and yellow version. The blue one has brightly coloured stars on it and I have still to decide about the girly one. I am thinking about stars again or hearts or simple flowers. Any opinions are gladly received.

They are about the size of a cot quilt, so bigger than most baby playmats. Small ones work fine until babies start to move a bit and then as soon as they roll over once they are off, so I decided to make these a bit bigger. This also means that you can continue to use them as a quilt for the bed when the babies are over 1 year, which makes them well worth the money as they will be used way beyond the first months.
It is recommended not to use a quilt to cover a baby under one year as they may overheat.

Happy poggling!

Pogglers in Junior Magazine!

Although I haven't seen a copy yet I have been told that Pogglers is mentioned in the June 2008 issue of Junior Magazine (UK) in an article on what to do with old baby clothes. So hop down to the shops and get your copy now!

If you do have an old item of clothing that you can't bear to part with then we can make it into a doll, Funky Monster or other soft toy for you. Either let us create a design for you, suggest some ideas yourself for us to base the design on or send us your design or drawing along with the item and we will work our magic. You could even get your child to draw a doll or monster and we will base the design on that for a truly unique toy.

Visit Pogglers for recycled dolls and Funky Monsters.

Happy poggling!

Green Holidays

We have just come back from a lovely holiday in Italy which we booked at the last minute. We have driven to Italy once or twice a year for the last three years, not so easy if you live in the UK, but from Switzerland it is a days driving. We usually stay on an Agriturismo, a farm which either rents out holiday apartments or has rooms on a B&B basis. Some farms also have an on site restaurant or have other activities that you can do, such as horse riding, or tours around the farm. It is a great way of supporting smaller farmers and can be very informative and interesting whether you have children or not. The farmers have always been very welcoming and interested in us too, so perfect for practising our Italian. And there are usually wonderful products to buy to take back home with you.

This time we stayed in an apartment on Agriturismo Fiametta near Rimini in Emilia Romagna. They are an organic farm producing 6 different wines as well as olive oil and a liqueur made from nuts which is particularly delicious. They have a new swimming pool, but unfortunately it was too cold to be open. The farm buildings are perched on the ridge of a hill so there are fantastic views over the countryside and out to sea on one side, and to the vineyards and rolling hills on the other. There was a big garden area with a little castle and slide for the children to play in which they enjoyed. The only down side was that the house was right by the side of the road, which although small, could be quite noisy with Italian drivers zooming along every now and then. However the shutters did shut out much of this at night, and we weren't in the house much during the day, and the gardens were well enclosed by a wall and robust gates so we didn't need to worry about the children running into the road.

We found some wonderful caves at Onferno about 20 mins drive away. They do guided tours through the caves which are home to 6 different species of bats. The children had great fun and loved wearing the hard hats and we saw 2 species of bats in the caves.
We also visited Montefiore Conca, San Leo (village pictured left), Gradara and San Marino (pictured above) with their wonderful castles, as well as Rimini, which must be teaming in Summer, and Urbino a beautiful walled town.
We also found a brand new organic Gelateria (ice cream parlour) which opened in Marciano on our last day there. Probably just as well or we would have spent far too much time in it!

If you are interested in an organic farm holiday in Italy then Bioagriturismi.it is the place to start looking.

Recycling clothes

In our increasingly consumerist society we seem to buy an awful lot of clothes, especially when it comes to our children. Before clothes became so cheap and easy to get hold of it was natural to keep clothes from one child to the next. Dresses and trousers were made with large hems which could be lowered when the children grew, socks were darned and rips and tears were mended with patches. Now it is much easier for many people to go out and buy new ones, especially for families with larger disposable incomes and little spare time to do the mending. There was a question posted on a parenting forum recently asking how many people kept the clothes from their first child for the next one. I was astounded to see that most of the respondents bought a whole new set of clothes for their next baby. Even if the first set were sold it would still mean a considerable outlay to clothe the next child from scratch. Plus we have to consider the energy, water and raw materials used to make all of these new clothes. This all adds up to create waste of one sort or another.

Whether you make do and mend or buy new clothes, there will come a point when even the youngest child outgrows them, or they become too stained or too full of holes to be wearable any more. You cannot sell these ones or give them away to charity, but there are some things that you can do with them.

• Duvet covers and sheets: if you are replacing these big items there are many things that you can do with them. Often the fabric at the edges will be the best preserved even if the centre is wearing very thin, and because the items are so big you will be able to make an outfit or two from them for children. Even with very little sewing experience you can make great elasticated skirts and trousers.
  
• Jeans: jeans and other trousers are great because they are made with thick material. I have two pairs which are just wearing through on the bum and crotch, but the material on the legs is still in very good condition. This sort of fabric lends itself very well to bags which need to be quite sturdy. For a small bag simply cut off a section of leg and sew one end together, turn the edge under on the other end and then add handles. For a larger one use pieces from two legs. Cut each piece open down the outside leg seam, lay them on top of each other (right sides together) and sew them together at the raw edges down three sides. Turn the seam down at the top and sew in place. Add handles. When you turn it the right way round you will have the inside leg seam running down the middle of the bag which looks quite funky.
  
• Tops and shirts: a large man's shirt will give you enough fabric to make something for a young child if you are careful with cutting out. Alternatively mix and match fabrics from two or more shirts to make some really funky clothes for little ones. Either make each piece of your pattern from a different fabric (four colour trousers!) or if you have time cut into squares and sew together to make on big piece of patchwork fabric and use this to cut your pattern from. Unless you spend a long time zig-zagging all the edges though you would be best to make something with a lining to prevent the raw edges from fraying.
• Stained baby clothes: these will be small and light fabrics can have some nasty looking brown stains on. You can either turn these into little toys and sew the eyes and mouth over the worst of the stains or cut them up to use as bottom wipes if you have a child in nappies or general cleaning cloths for around the house or kitchen. Have a look at my How to Make a Monster page on Pogglers for instructions on making a toy.
• Other bits and pieces of fabric: you can make little draw string bags for gym or dancing shoes or party bags. Instructions here on Pogglers. Pencil cases out of an oblong of fabric with a zip to close. Even the smallest baby clothes can be turned into even smaller doll's clothes and your children will still be thrilled if your sewing skills only allow you to make a scarf for their favourite toy. I made a teeny tiny hat out of a couple of very small offcuts for my daughter's favoured Eeyore nearly two years ago and he still gets to wear it to bed from time to time!
• Off cuts: you can use your off cuts from various projects to add details to bigger items. Cut out simple motifs like flowers or stars to sew on to bags or even the middle of a childs top to cover up the stains!
  
• Fleece jackets: cut out the best bits to make children's mittens. To make a template simply draw around their hands leaving a gap of about 1-2 cms all around in order to give their hands room to move inside the glove. Make sure to draw right down to their wrist or else they will be too short. Use the template to cut out four pieces from your fabric leaving another 1.5 cms all around for your seam allowance. Sew two pieces together for each mitten, stopping short of the edge on the thumb side so that they can get their hand in.
  

If you have a favourite item of clothing that you want to keep but know will not get used again then turning it into a toy is a great way to preserve the fabric and give continued joy and fun to the child who receives it. If you are not confident with doing this yourself then I can do it for you. Simply send me the item/s of clothing and I will contact you to discuss what sort of toy, doll or monster you would like before proceeding. This is a really great way of preserving those precious items without leaving them languishing in the cupboard or a box in the attic. To order a Pogglers Recycled Doll click here.

I hope you find these suggestions useful. If you have any of your own ideas then please add a comment.

Recycling

Well I think just about everyone now has got the hang of recycling household waste, or at least we know we should. Actually putting it in the recycling container is where some of us slip up! There is a debate going on in the UK at the moment over how rubbish should be paid for. Should it carry on being part of the Council Tax or should there be some new way of measuring household waste?

When we moved to Switzerland we just presumed it was the same as the UK until someone told us we would have to buy the appropriate colour stickers for our bin bags according to the capacity of the bag. If they didn't have a sticker they didn't get taken. Things have changed slightly now in that you actually buy the official bags so they all look the same, rather than having to buy different stickers for different bags and working out if you had put the correct one on. So in effect we pay for the volume of waste that we put out to be collected.

This immediately made us much more careful in what we threw out and what we collected to be taken to the recycling depots. Our rubbish went down enormously when we moved here. Part of that is due to the fact that we buy almost all of our fruit and vegetables from the market, reusing bags from the last time. But mostly it is down to the fact that it is blatantly obvious that if we didn't recycle what we could we would have to pay for about 3 times the amount of bags that we currently do.

We use 35 litre bags and usually put out only one a week. We have a compost bin in the garden for all our raw food waste. I used to put cooked food in it too, but someone told me that wasn't right and also no dairy. Please correct me if I've got that wrong!
We have a big green bucket for garden waste which is collected 1-2 times per month depending on the time of year. We have a paper collection every 2 weeks which has to be bundled neatly with the right sort of string! There is also a metal collection 2 times a year for everything from tin cans to bike frames.

Most supermarkets, even the tiny local ones, have a glass, PET plastic, milk plastic (white bottles) and battery collection point. And in the last year or so local recycling points have been springing up consisting of what looks like pedal bins in the ground with a huge underground container. The children love watching these being emptied as the lorry lifts them right out of their hole and high into the air to be emptied into the lorry.

I must confess that it did take me a while to get used to the idea of taking some recycling with me every time I visited the shops, but when it started dramatically constricting the floor space in our hall I found it easier to remember.

There are also regular clothes collections done by charities. There are not so many charity shops here as in the UK so perhaps this is why the collections work so well. I remember when we used to get one of the bags put through our door in Scotland we hardly ever put anything in it and didn't notice many on the streets on collection day either. But here most houses manage to find something to donate.

Something else that happens here is that if people have things that they no longer need, and perhaps not enough, or not good enough quality to sell, then they just put them outside on the wall with a sign saying 'GRATIS'/'FREE' and people can help themselves. I've seen bookcases, books, chairs, kitchen implements, crockery, ornaments and all sorts of other oddments. And they all get taken eventually.

When we left the UK there were no door to door recycling collections. We could take paper to the supermarket to be recycled but cardboard was not allowed. Glass was pretty easy to recycle, but I had never seen a metal collection and only a few places for drinks bottles, but no other sort of plastic. I believe it has changed a lot in the last couple of years and I would love to hear how it compares to what we have in Switzerland and how people think it could be improved. Please leave a comment!

Eco Friendly Party Ideas

I have just added a new page to Pogglers for Eco Friendly Party Ideas.

To start with I have put up full illustrated instructions on how to make your own fabric draw string party bags instead of using plastic ones.

I will also be putting up some ideas for what to put in them as well as activities to do at the party and other ways to make your party a bit more eco friendly.

How to Make a Felted Easter Egg

Well, I did get round to it, and here I will explain how you can make your own felted Easter egg. Of course this applies to any sort of wet felting over a shape, so you could make a little round bag over a ball or a felted cup to hold jewellery.

You will need:

Carded Merino wool for felting - please be careful where you source your wool from as some Merino sheep are subjected to Mulesing which is a horrific practice, but mostly affects Australian and New Zealand wool.
Hot water - 60C is ideal although you will want it cooler if doing this with children.
Soap - it must be soap though, not detergent.
Polystyrene shape - to felt over. I could only find a ball so had to cut an egg shape from it.
Bowl - to hold the water.
Scissors - to cut the shape off the mould.
Cloth or Tea Towel - to roll your egg in to felt it.
Wooden spatula or spoon (optional)- to bash your egg with.

Prepare your wool first of all with dry hands! Tear off little pieces of wool and lay them ready. I made the mistake of not doing enough and having to dry my hands and prepare more wool half way through. This doesn't matter too much as I had to break off to re-heat my water several times. The water must be warm or the wool won't felt.
Prepare your warm soapy water. The ratio is usually about 1 tsp soap to 500 ml water.
Cover your egg shape in pieces of wool and, holding the egg over your bowl, wet the wool. Continue to add wool to the shape evenly all over, continuing to wet it as you go, until you have enough layers. If you don't use enough layers then your egg will be too thin and will not hold its shape once it is off the polystyrene. I think you will need at least four layers.

In the early stages handle the egg with care, gently passing it from one hand to the other, as the wool will easily come off if you rub it at this stage. Keep pouring your warm water over the egg as you go. As the wool begins to felt you can handle it more firmly, patting and squeezing it. When it seems to be felting up well wrap the egg in a cloth or tea towel and roll it firmly on your work surface. After you have done this you can either slap it with your hand or wrap the cloth over a wooden spoon and hit the egg with that. It is great fun!

Once it is firmly felted you can cut the felt off the shape. Stuff the inside with scrunched up paper or a dry tea towel and fasten it back together with safety pins if necessary, or tie a ribbon around the outside to keep it together while it dries. I pressed mine down slightly so one side has a flattened bit for it to lie on without rolling over.

Easter Eggs

I have been thinking about making some felted eggs for Easter. I don't know if I will have time to do it, but I think the way it goes is to get a polystyrene egg and then wet felt over that. Then you can either leave it like that, or you can cut around the egg leaving a bit uncut to act as a hinge, or make two separate halves, and if you like put a button or other clasp on the open side and there you have an egg ready to fill.

The basics of wet felting is that you need warm water and soap. It has to be proper soap though, not detergent as that won't work. Then you lay the wool out how you want it and wet it with the soapy water and gently rub. The water and soap open up the fibres of the wool which then get tangled together which causes them to felt. As it starts felting you can rub a bit harder.

Another variation would be to just wet felt a solid egg shape, but of course this would just be for decoration as you couldn't fill it.

Alternatively you can needle felt an egg over an egg shaped sponge (a good solid one is best, you buy them specially for felting) and then cut it open as before. If you don't have a sponge then you could just use some scrunched up paper instead.

If I get round to doing this I will try and remember to photograph it as I go along. I still haven't remembered to photograph fairy making. I forget every time. I promise to do it at some point though.

There are some more craft ideas in my Pogglers Crafty Kids newsletter. You will find a great way to decorate your boiled eggs for rolling, entirely naturally, which I learned here in Switzerland. There is also a simple way to make some Easter egg holders for the table. And of course a very simple recipe for Easter nests.
And a suggestion for a birthday party craft. To sign up just send me your e-mail address or fill in this form on my website.

Happy poggling!

More Fairy Choices

I have been busy making fairies galore and there are now another three Fairytale Fairies on Pogglers.

What do you think of the colour choices so far? Any other suggestions?

New item on Pogglers

Well, I am so taken with these Fairies that I have added them to the site. So have a look on Pogglers online store and get yourself a fairy! There is only one design available at the moment, but I hope to add more colours soon. If you have a certain colour that you would like then please do ask, as it is no problem to make one especially.

I will also be making Birthday Fairies who will be holding a little wooden number corresponding to the age of the child.

The fairies come with a thread to hang them up.

I would welcome your comments on these fairies and any suggestions of colours or themes you would like to see.

Fairytale Wool Fairies

I went to the bookshop yesterday to get some crafty books. I saw some nice ones on the German Amazon site to make things out of natural materials and another one with fantastic reviews. I thought I would support the proper bookshop though so took the whole family down with me. Not so bad as it sounds as they have a play area with a tunnel in the children's section. It turned out the craft section just didn't have anything I was looking for but I still came away with three books: one on stuffed animals; one on felting; and one on making fairies and elves with Fairytale Wool.

My mum gave us some Fairytale Wool about three years ago and I am afraid we haven't done anything with it until now. I got as far as finding a bit of hessian and thinking of pinning it to the wall to stick the wool onto, but didn't actually get as far as putting it up. When I was wee we had one wall of our kitchen covered in hessian so we could use bits of the coloured wool to stick on (it just clings by itself) and make scenes and pictures. It was such a wonderful idea.

So this afternoon when my youngest was asleep we got out the wool and made the fairy. It occurred to me half way through that I should have been taking pictures but it was too late really, so I will do that another time and post a tutorial on how to do it. There were some wonderful examples in the book and although it was a bit tricky at times, not as hard as I expected. And I think she turned out quite well. Do you like her?

These fairies make great Christmas tree decorations. I might make some for next Christmas. Would this be something you might buy for your Christmas tree or a present?



Happy poggling!

Indian Cloth Doll

I just have to have a rave about my Fair Trade Organic Indian Dolls that I have at Pogglers, even if I didn't make them myself. When I received my first batch of these I just couldn't believe how wonderful they were and what good value.

The Indian Doll comes dressed in a sari with instructions on how to put it on again. She also has a change of clothes in a little cloth bag. Now all that would be great, but there is more! She is lying in a hand woven rush cradle complete with mattress and pillow. And there are a number of different sari colours to choose from.

They are made by Bishopston Trading's producer partners in K.V. Kuppam in India , where there is a tradition of hand weaving. They are made in an architect designed factory which was funded by the South India Rural Development Trust. All of Bishopston Trading's profits go into this registered charity to benefit the people of K.V. Kuppam. I looked very closely at the company before I bought from them as I didn't want to compromise my ethical standards, and I was very pleased with what I found.

Waldorf Dolls

I have a number of different dolls on my site but most of the ones I make myself are Waldorf inspired dolls. Waldorf dolls are made from all natural materials, usually cotton knit fabric and stuffed with sheep's wool. Their hair is often made from mohair, although any mixture of wool and mohair is quite normal. I found some wonderfully soft Alpaca wool for one of my latest dolls.

The idea of a Waldorf doll is that, because of the natural materials and wool stuffing, it is soft to cuddle and will absorb the heat from the child, becoming warm like a real baby. The faces are very simple so the child can easily project which ever feeling they want onto the doll. If a doll already has a smile and open eyes it is more difficult to imagine it crying, for instance. Some dolls have little noses, some not. I like to make mine with a little nose, but it is easy to leave it without if a customer prefers. Because they have well rounded heads just about any sort of hair style is possible. Hair embroidered flat onto the head is great for babies at there is nothing to pull at, and long hair is wonderful for older children who will love styling and playing with it. I offer a number of different hair styles on my Cherish Dolls and all colours too including white and grey for a Granny or Grandpa doll or perhaps an old gnome. My custom made Cherish Dolls can be fully personalised so you could choose to have one made to look like your child. Skin, hair and eye colours can all be chosen as well as the hair style and type of clothes. And if there is something you would like that is not on the website I am more than happy to chat with you and source something different to create the doll you wish for. I make my doll's clothes from Fair trade certified organic cotton.

I have recently added some Ready Made Cherish Dolls to the site. This is one Oriental boy that I made recently with a funky endearing hair style. I was very happy with his cross over kimono style top as I made the pattern up myself and got it right on the second go. It fastens with Velcro as this is much the easiest for little fingers to manage. We have some doll's clothes that fasten with buttons or clasps and my children are always asking me to help them.

I will go into the making of Waldorf dolls in another post as I always wondered how they were made before I started making them myself. They do take quite a long time to make and the head is the most tricky, but they look great in the end, and there is a real sense of achievement when one is finished.

In addition to my Cherish Dolls I have Cuddle Dolls, organic and non organic, which are perfect for a toddler as there are no fiddly clothes to take off. My toddlers were always taking the clothes off, but never seemed to be bothered about putting them back on again, so they were often traipsing around with a naked dolly in tow! I also sew a bell into the hat which children love.

My Comforter Dolls are the perfect baby comforter. They also have a bell sewn securely inside the hat and little knotted hands which are great to chew on. And they are small enough to stuff away in a pocket when you are out and about. If you choose one of these for a new baby then the mother can carry it around with her or have it in bed with her before the baby is born so that the doll absorbs her scent to give familiar comfort to the newborn.

FREE Pogglers Craft Ideas

I am about to launch my first Pogglers' Crafty Kids Newsletter which will be e-mailed to subscribers. It will have some fantastic seasonal craft ideas and activities to make and do with children. You will find it a great inspiration for a rainy day or for ideas to celebrate festivals like Easter or perhaps the coming of Summer - when we get there!

To get your FREE seasonal craft inspiration fill in the Contact Form at Pogglers and we will send you out the next one as soon as it is available. And you can unsubscribe at any time.

I have some wonderful ideas lined up for Easter including an all natural way to decorate your Easter eggs.

We already have a How to Make a Monster page on Pogglers with step by step instructions on how to make your very own monster from an old item of clothing. It is great fun and children love it. No matter how old they are they will be able to help, even if it is only putting the stuffing in. And nothing beats the feeling of having helped to make your own toy or gift for a friend.

Send us a picture of your monster with or without his proud owner and we may publish it on our website.

Happy poggling!

Toddler Size Organic Cloak

I have been meaning to make a toddler size Organic Cloak to go with my children's size Organic Cloak for ages. This weekend I finally got down to it when my husband took the children out to a book reading in town.

I was going to go with them but they said they might have to do some shopping after and they didn't seem too keen about me coming for that - Mother's Day tomorrow.
So I took the recycling to the recycling point down the road and did the shopping. I know it is not the done thing for people under the age of 65 to have a shopping trolley in the UK, but here everyone has one. I bought mine last Summer and it is so useful. It even has an insulated pocket on the front for the cold stuff and it means I don't have to lug bags around with me, just pull it along. Great to carry the recycling in too.
So after all that I managed to resist putting the computer on and went up to the sewing room and got cracking.

My cloaks are made of organic Fair Trade cotton. I use two contrasting colours sewn together so that they are reversible. They fasten with velcro tabs so that even young children can easily put them on and take them off. The first cloak I made for my daughter for Halowe'en when she was 1 year old had ribbon ties at the front. But the problem was that only an adult could put it on her, and she could undo it by accident just by pulling one end. Making velcro tabs to fasten them with solved both of those problems. My children get really frustrated if something gets stuck on them (jackets that do up with buttons for instance) and if they can't get it off they end up panicking and breaking it. The neck on my cloaks is elasticated for safety, which means that if the child can't undo the cloak they can still take it off fairly easily, and if they were to catch the neck on something they could still wriggle out. Of course they have never managed to do that, and I can't actually imagine how they would, but sometimes I go into a worse case scenario dream state and think up all sorts of calamities, and the elastic meant that that particular worse case scenario didn't end up so bad after all. Am I the only one who imagines these things?

The cloak should be online tomorrow or the next day.

Happy poggling!

Going Organic

We started buying organic food way back when I was at Art College. Although I probably couldn't afford it so it was really my then husband-to-be who stumped up the cash. The link between less chemicals, in the way of pesticides and fertilisers, and better health seemed quite obvious and there were articles and general musings in the press about the health benefits of organic food.

When we bought our first home we found an organic box company in Edinburgh called Grow Wild and had a box of fruit and veg delivered to our door every week. We did get the odd strange vegetable in there that we had no idea what to do with, but luckily they would put in helpful recipe ideas and were always glad to give advice over the phone.
I am afraid we still did most of the rest of our shopping at the nearby-ish supermarket in the car. Looking back, buying only organic food having driven to a place we could have walked to was somewhat ironic. When we return to the UK that is something I want to avoid.

When our first child was born we went down the cloth nappy route. I think I need a separate post about nappies - I love them! I avidly read magazines and scoured the ads. I found that there were some companies making organic clothes for children and we bought one or two things, although they weren't that easy to come by at the time.

When our daughter was nearly two and I was heavily pregnant with our second we moved to Switzerland where we found it was incredibly easy to buy organic food even in the tiny local Co-op supermarket and they even sold organic clothes for children and adults too. So now not only do our children get to wear organic but we do too.

I did a bit of research and finally came up with a company in the UK, Bishopston Trading who sell Fair Trade organic cotton cloth by the meter and wholesale too. I decided to order their minimum wholesale amount in order to make clothes for the children for the summer. It was fantastic to be able to make my own organic clothes, shorts, skirts and tops for the girls and lightweight trousers for me. And then when I decided to set up Pogglers I already had some fabric to create with.

The more I read about the difference between organic and conventional agriculture the more I am amazed. It is something I will talk about in another post, as the facts deserve their own space and some of the statistics are truly shocking.

Happy poggling!

How did Pogglers come about?

When my second child was born I had heard that it might be a good idea to give the new big sister a present from the new baby. I had a couple of knitting books which I had already used to knit some clothes for my first daughter from and they had some toy designs in too. So I decided to knit her a rabbit from the new baby. The instructions were for a family of rabbits and I managed to knit the biggest one and a pair of trousers and a tiny baby one too before time ran away from me.

My daughter was delighted with it and at age 5 is still quite protective of her rabbit. She was even more delighted with her baby sister and when she came downstairs the morning after the birth.

"It's a baby! It's a baby, its a baby, its a baby!" she cried over and over again, pausing only to look at another person to direct her excitement to. She said this over and over again for a full ten minutes non stop. And every morning for the next few weeks, the duration diminishing slightly every day.

I digress. Rabbit was a great hit and was carried around in her own child size 'Tragetuch', a baby carrying wrap.

We live in Switzerland, so a few German words might creep in here and there!

So when I was pregnant with my third I decided I had to make the older two something from the new baby again. This time I decided to make them each a large doll so they could 'look after' their own baby too. I bought a book and some supplies and set to work making my first Waldorf dolls. I really enjoyed making them and the girls were delighted with them when their baby brother arrived.

So thinking that I would like to earn some money somehow, preferably without leaving the house, and therefore the children, I thought doll making was something I could do. It also filled my need to be doing something creative as I haven't really done much of worth since leaving art college with a degree in Sculpture.

So I asked my Dad, who is an Actinic web site design wiz, how I would go about setting up my own site, and before I knew it I had managed to design one and get it online. I bought more material and started making stock, and four months later started taking orders online. Here we are coming up for 6 months later. I am always thinking of ways I can improve or change my products and there are never ending plans for new things to make.

Happy poggling!

Getting Started

Welcome to my blog. I am going to be writing here about my business, Pogglers, and online store selling hand made cloth dolls, dressing up clothes, toys, bags, accessories and more for babies and children. I'll also give you some insight into my life running a business with three young children to look after too, and no doubt some tales of mischief.

I will also write about topics that interest me and concern my business such as organic cotton, Fair Trade, environmental impact of business, doll making and designing to name but a few.

You will also find photographs of things I have made or stock in my shop and I hope also to post some instructions on how to make your own dolls and toys too.

I am always glad to hear your views on what I write or my products.

Happy poggling!