Monday, April 25, 2011

DIBS!

“I call dibs!” 

Remember that one?

We wanted to do something that would both be fun and rewarding for you guys as well as help us to grow.  So this is what we decided to do.

“DIBS!” 

Yep, it means what you think it does.  One person will be given the right to call dibs on their dream doll out of one upload.  This means that that doll is theirs alone for purchase.  We will send you a paypal invoice to pay…no upload angst or stress. 

Here is how we will do it:

“DIBS!” every 100 – every time we reach another 100 followers on fb, we will draw a new name and mail out the card.

“DIBS +10!” every 500 – this drawing will have a twist.  The dibs winner will also get a discount of 10% off of that very doll…uh huh

The drawing winners will receive a Dibs card in the mail.  The card will have their name on it as well as their one of a kind, one time use code. You will have 12 months to use your dibs code. 

Each dibs winner is allowed to purchase ONE doll of their choosing ONE time from any upload. It is not transferable.  It is only valid for the original winner.


To Enter:

Send an email to 

In it be sure to include:

Your full name and complete mailing address.  Make sure this info is correct.

We will have our first drawing when we reach 2100 followers


To Redeem:

Every Wednesday we post preview pics on our page of the dolls to be uploaded the following Thursday evening.  If you are a dibs holder and your dream doll is in that upload, you simply send us an email with your name, shipping address, Paypal email address and dibs code along with which doll it is you wish to call dibs on. Shipping info and dibs code must match our entry records. 

We will pull that doll from the upload and send you a Paypal invoice for that doll. If you are Dibs +10 holder, the price will reflect the discount.   

You must notify us by 9 am central time on the day of the upload if there is a doll you wish to call dibs on.  This way we can be fair to everyone else and let them know that a particular doll will not be available that day.

You will have 24 hours to complete the transaction.  If after 24 hours, the transaction has not been completed, the doll will be released for sale to anyone else.




Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Stoney & Kit

Introducing Stoney and Kit.


Stoney is a cave dwelling faerie and Kit is his best friend. 




We first spied them last fall when our family took a trip to New Mexico and visited Carlsbad Caverns.  
Impish and playful, they love to flit about peeking in and out of the formations, playing with children who visit the cave.  Of course, this gets them into trouble with the elders...as everyone knows, faeries must stay out of sight of human eyes.  Stoney and Kit could care less about all that, they only know it is fun to fly around...sometimes if you sit very still and listen closely and quietly, you can hear them giggle.  But you have to be very quiet in order to hear them.

During the daytime hours, they spend their time in the cave snuggled up together napping and entertaining themselves with games and mischievous stunts.



In the early evening right around dusk,  as the bats take flight into the darkening sky, you just might be able to spy Stoney as he peeks out of the mouth of the cave, Kit is usually nearby flitting in and out all around the area her pal is hiding in.  Since Kit is a bat, she can come and go in front of humans as much as she likes,  Stoney has to wait till it is too dark for human eyes to discern the difference between a bat or faerie.  Once it is completely dark, he leaps into the sky and the duo spend the evening frolicking and flying about.  They love the feeling of the cool night air on their skin as well as the crystal clear desert night sky full of shimmering stars.  



So, how does one go about spotting faeries or their homes?  

Well, the simplest way is to view the world thru the eyes of a child :o)  It is difficult to see these magical things with adult eyes but a child's eye can see them everywhere.  With very little effort, they are capable of spotting the mystical and magical that is all around us all the time.  So my suggestion would be to have your young ones search for it first and then show you where it is :o)  Once they point it out to you, it becomes clear as crystal.


When we go out into natural areas, our younger kiddos have always made it a sport to try and find faerie hollows everywhere we go.  They search the base of trees and hillsides.  They know that a faerie hollow can be anywhere and they are usually very cleverly disguised

....some day I will tell you all the story of the faerie apartment tree we found in a giant redwood tree just south of San Francisco :o)  That will have to be another time....  












Saturday, April 16, 2011

CONGRATULATIONS ANNEDVD!

Congratualations go out to Annedvd who posted this on April 15 at 8:55 am...


I just showed her to my daughter and she said her name should be Sparklelized Since that is not a real word, I did the best I could on the spelling.
Annedvd@hotmail.com

Friday, April 15, 2011

DFH 2000 Facebook Fans Giveaway!

Its time to have some fun!


We reached 2000 fans (well 2000+)  on facebook.  In order to celebrate and say THANK YOU!  We designed this cutie together.  
She is going go home for free to one of you.  If you want to be in the running for her here is what you have to do :o)

Post a comment right here under this post.  Be sure to leave a way for us to contact you (email addy is good)  because we cannot give a cutie away to someone we cannot contact :o)  

She doesn't have a name yet so if you have one for her, go ahead and put that into your post

The giveaway will be open for the next 24 hours so tomorrow (Saturday 4/16) at 10:30 am central US time,  we will tally the comments and use a random number generator to pull a number and that lucky person is her new mama.

It is open to everyone everywhere

Only ONE entry per household...Please do NOT have other folks post for you either.  We want to keep this fair for everyone.



Good luck everyone!  Thanks so much to all of you!

Congrats to Jaime!

The number generator chose number 4...molly will be listed in the shop as reserved just for you.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Molly 15 inch tall Dragonfly's Hollow Girl

Molly 15 inch tall Dragonfly's Hollow Girl
$180.00 USD plus ship

If you would like to purchase her, post a comment. At 10 am central Friday 4/15 we will choose her new mama using a random number generator.  You will then have 24 hours to complete the transaction.


Molly is a 15 inch tall girl by Dragonfly's Hollow.
Her skin is cotton interlock knit and she is stuffed with pure cleaned, carded wool. Her hair is a mix of hand dyed boucle yarn. It is all natural 100% wool of course. Her eyes and mouth are hand embroidered with cotton floss.
She is wearing an adorable dress made by Molly's Playground and panties. Her shoes are hand crocheted with some wonderful yarn.
Like all our toys, she is made exceptionally sturdy to last a lifetime of play.
Small parts, not intended for small children under 3 years of age.



Tuesday, April 12, 2011

To Grow or not To Grow...

This has been the huge question on my mind for months now.

Its been a few years since I set up my tiny shop on Etsy (September 2008 to be exact).  Things were way different back then.  I would post a doll or an outfit or whatever I felt like making and sometimes it would sell by the end of the day and other times the item would be around for several days until their new mama would come by.


(Feb '09 rainbow gnomes with bag)  :o)

It was pretty calm and each sale resulted in a new friend.  Back then I would chat via convo with anyone who popped by.  I got to know some really neat folks that way...many of you are still around to this day.  I love that :o)

The dolls have changed a bit over the years..they became more refined as my technique improved.

(March '09 Mia)

(June '09 Cordelia)

Over time, things got a bit more hectic :o)  I began listing more dolls and they began selling out sooner.  All of a sudden we were selling out instantly.   I learned new terms like RTG, Angel-ing and rehome.

To say I was caught off guard by the whole thing would be a major understatement.  I was still in old school mode...I would chat with everyone over days thru one message after another.  In this new realm,  there was no time for that any more.

I would get convos all the time from folks seeking a doll.  Many folks turned to customs as their only avenue of obtaining a doll since they were simply not fast enough to go thru an RTG upload.  If you wished to have a custom,  you merely sent me a note and we would work out the details together.  It took some time before I was able to admit that I was simply unable to do that any longer.

Through it all, I would on occasion, think about what direction we were heading in and if we wanted to go there or not.  Yeah, I foolishly thought I could control that back then :o)

This little shop was growing.  Word of mouth was spreading and new folks were finding us every day. There was a lot more pressure to make more dolls.  So, I got a little help from family members and an odd friend here and there and we upped the amount of dolls each upload.  The demand grew even more and the dolls continued to sell out in seconds.

I started to feel stress...lots of stress.  I would wake up early and start working away and literally collapse in the evening exhausted.  I had way too many customs to work on and new requests kept coming in.  I really hated saying no, it really did break my heart to read some of the stories folks sent me about why they needed their special doll.  Most of the time I would squeeze them in...which only added even more stress and work. My hands were scarred, callused and swollen regularly.  My wrists would hurt and ache every day.  OK my whining session is over :o)

Around late October of last year, I decided that I was in desperate need of a break so the decision was made to close up shop at the end of November for the entire month of December.  The plan was that this period of not working so hard will give me a break and allow me to jump back in again in January.  It would give my hands and wrists the needed time to heal and allow me precious time with my family.

We closed up shop on Dec 1st and took a vacation.  Yes I did do some work during that time,  I made dolls for friends and family.  I stayed in contact with folks and got some really awesome notes from you guys.  All in all, the break was a great thing to do, it gave me time to think about where we were and where we were heading.

Hubby and I sat down and talked about this.  We got more organized and had our website set up.

In January we opened shop again.  I have to admit, I was a bit nervous as to how it all would go down...we had been out of the loop for a month.  How will this first upload go?  I know, silly.  The dolls sold out instantly and it seemed as though we had never taken a break at all.  We settled in and got to work.

Now thru this all the question of how we wish to grow has always been there.  Do we want to grow to the point where lots of other folks were making the dolls?  Do we want to keep it small and only make what I can physically make each week.  If we bring more folks on, what work would they do?  What steps am I personally willing to hand over to someone else?  (hehe, that's actually the biggest question here)  How would we go about training them so that the quality does not drop and I am comfortable with what they are doing?  And more importantly...Would I be able to step back a bit and give other folks the space to actually do the work for me?

These questions have caused lots more questions and every time I would think about them it would get too complicated so I would stop and move on to something else :o)  I would go back and forth in my head to slow things down or to pick things up...I know crazy.

Meanwhile,  without any real help at all, this little business was growing...way beyond what I first imagined possible and far into a realm where I was even able to imagine.  It seemed that the decision was already made as to our growth, I was just one of the last folks to know about it :o)  Our little shop had taken on a life of its own and like a child, was growing healthy and strong all on its own.  Like a child though, it needed some guidance and assistance.

This all leads me to where we are today.  We have decided that we will go ahead and help this little business grow into whatever it wishes to become.

I sat down and figured out a way to train new folks for a more permanent help crew.  Taking little steps, over a period of time, they will be able to assume a more regular role.

I have an awesome gal (Kristen) helping me out crocheting the caps for the hair now.  She is wonderful...she picks up new yarn every week and drops off a bunch of caps at the same time :o) Soon I will sit with her and show her how to make the boy hair (something I am sure she will pick right up and be a pro at in no time).  

As for the bodies...for a person to be able to make a doll body that is quality enough for us to sell, they must first sew a minimum of 20 - 30 dolls.  For some folks its more and for a very, very tiny group of people, its less.  They need time to learn this skill...and I know that me being the perfectionist that I am,  its no easy task for them.  They will spend weeks working side by side with me as they learn to hand sew and properly stuff the bodies before any of their tiny creations are up to par enough to be integrated into our uploads. The heads will always be done by us (this part will never change) ...this way we will be able to guarantee that we will maintain the DFH look you all love.  As each person reaches the point where their bodies are being used, I will introduce you to them one by one :o)

Now for clothes...this seems to be the tricky part for us right now.  I also have not done much searching as I am busy training every Saturday.  For now,  we will continue with help from clothing makers and we will have a clothing upload of our own once a month...this way we can sew mermaid sets, fairy wings and footies and various other items in groups so that more folks can get them at a time.  At some point, I am sure an awesome clothing sewer will fall into my lap...I'll stumble into her somewhere odd I have no doubt... and then we can have her take over much of that work and be able to have regular clothing uploads each week.  We'll get there :o)

What will I be doing?  Well, each and every face of course...and hair...lots of hair...and everything else :o)  I will have more time to play with dying yarn for more awesome hair.  I also hope to have more time to actually be able to get around to designing new cuties for you all.  I have so many ideas running around in my head of neat creations,  it will be great to be able to make them finally.

Yep guys,  we're growing :o)  We have finally come around.  For me,  I feel excited about this.   I know when I first listed that very first dolly to sell on etsy, I never imagined it would become what it has become.  For that I have to say, THANK YOU to all of you.  Seriously,  you all have been the driving force behind this growth. Without your encouragement and support we would not be at this point today.

We are so glad you all are along for the ride.

Friday, April 8, 2011

18 years... :oP

This Sunday (April 10th)  hubby and I will be celebrating our 18th year being married.  Wow!  I know its cliche but it really does not seem that long.  

We have been a part of each other's lives for over 20 years.  We met in Japan as very young Marines...yep I was in too :o)  How else would a girl from the northeast meet up with a guy from So Cal while in Japan? :o)  We were about 19 and 20 years old...mere babies.  Did I just age myself? lol

Its funny, we started out as friends hanging out, then as orders moved us to separate coasts, we were mail buddies.  This morphed into a trip to visit and eventually to us getting married.  Robert has been a friend in my life for so long now,  he is still my best friend.  

I wish I had pictures to show you,  all the images we have need scanned and I just do not have it in me right this moment to go find some and scan them then resize and upload lol  I will leave that for another day.

Its been a wild ride for sure.  We've lived all over the US.  Starting out in Southern California and moving thru South Florida, Massachusetts, Northern California, Tennessee and Texas.  Six awesome kiddos, multiple pets both tiny and large, and a whole lot of adventures and new friends along the way.  Its been pretty eventful and I would not change any of it.  

If anyone would have asked me years ago how I saw myself being today, I would certainly not say celebrating my 18 anniversary :o)  but then again, I would not have said I would be a dollmaker either...life has a way of making things happen.  So when asked where do I see us in another 20 years?  hmmm   not really sure.  Our ultimate goal...to be the retiree couple sitting on the shore at the beach with our feet in the water watching the waves crash to shore and other folks children play all around them.   How it will eventually play out is anyone's guess :o)

So how are we celebrating this year?  We're heading out today for a weekend trip.  We will do some camping and of course go to the opening weekend of the Scarborough Renfaire.  What better way to celebrate than to be with our awesome kiddos and each other just having a fun time.

Have a great weekend,  we'll see you all when we get back :o)