This post continues the series of book reviews with Cute Dolls by Aranzi Aronzo. At the end of this entry you’ll find a slide show of a selection of softies exchanged during the course of last month’s softie swap.

This book provides instructions for 21 different cute dolls. The instructions are very simple and entertaining with comments such as

Bear is a slacker.
He’s always looking spaced out.
But it’s strange how relaxing his spaced-out, slacker look is.
It’s also strange how someone like him is actually an Aranzi Aronzo store manager.

Most of the patterns need to be enlarged by 125% to 150% for ultimate sizing. I scanned the pattern and enlarged it with Photoshop. You could also take the book to your local copy shop and enlarge the patterns there.

Each doll is made out of felt scraps and jersey fabric. “Jersey? Ugh, I don’t want to buy more fabric,” was my initial reaction. But then my glance fell on my Goodwill bag filled to the brim with ultra soft t-shirts from last year. So, if you have a special shirt you’d like to recycle, like Elizabeth’s Cape Cod t-shirt on the cat doll, take some shears to your clothing and create a softie. Speaking of softies, check out the softies made by the participants in our softie swap:

You can also read about them at the Flickr Crafty Daisies Softie Swap Group

Just a quick reminder, if you are participating in the softie swap, your creations need to be mailed by May 21.

As of 4/25/08 1:42 p.m. EST all swap slots have been taken. But don’t despair, we’ll have another one soon.

FYI, as of this morning there are three more slots left for the softie swap.

Some more tutorials:

Gecko Girl’s Cherry Amigurumi

Jhoanna’s very cute Ruby Doll

Darncat’s Pandy Bear

Announcing another Crafty Daisies Swap. After our successful Summer, Tea Towel, and Bookmark swaps, we continue with our tradition and introduce the Softie Swap. For this swap you are invited to fashion a softie. This can be an animal, a doll, or an item; you can knit it, sew it, crochet it, or felt it, in short it’s up to you.

Sign Up

To enter, email your full name, web or blog address (if you have one), shipping information, and whether you would ship internationally to [email protected].

Dates

The sign up closes on Wednesday, April 30th and is limited to the first 20 emails we receive. On May 1st we will notify you of your swap partner. Your softie has to be mailed by May 21st.

Important

If you sign up you must complete the swap or you will not be eligible for participation in future swaps. If you are unable to send your softie by May 21st, for whatever reason, you must contact your swap partner and the swap admin (Simone) as soon as possible. Please be mindful that this needs to be reciprocal – if you sign up, please follow through. Please note however, we at Crafty Daisies will not be responsible for items not shipped.

Inspiration

For ideas of what you might want to make, check out these sites:

• Softies Central, a blog devoted to softies
• Softies, of course there has to be a Flickr group for this sort of stuff

For tutorials follow these links:

• A scotty dog
• A teapot
• A Super Sock Pig
• A Sea Nettle

The Softie Flickr group also has a tutorial discussion thread.

Let the Swap Begin!

I want to send one last shout out to everyone who participated in the swap! I’ve heard good feedback and bad feedback, and I’ll keep in all in mind for the next one!

If you haven’t received your bookmark yet, send me an email at babyblossomsonline at gmail dot com with the subject “Bookmark Swap Not Received” and I’ll do my best to get some info, but remember we here at Crafty Daisies are not responsible for swap packages not received.

Thanks again everyone!

A slideshow of the bookmark pictures I received (and please, if I didn’t add yours, it wasn’t personal, that was a lot of emails to sift through and I may have missed one or two, I tried not to though )

Just a reminder that today is the last day to get your bookmark in the mail! I’ve received emails both from people sending and receiving, and it seems like everything is running smoothly!

If you would like to send pictures of your finished bookmarks to babyblossomsonline @ gmail.com (no spaces of course!) then I will post a gallery of the different styles made. I’ve seen all sorts of wonderful ideas and such different bookmarks, I would love to see more!

I hope that everyone has enjoyed the swap, I know I have! Bookmarks are so quick and easy, but they let you express your creativity in so many different ways!

Thanks again to everyone that participated (all 65 of you!!), and for those who missed it be sure to watch out for other swaps in the future!

I thought I would gather up some ideas for our bookmark swap!

If you crochet, check out this page at Crochet Pattern Central.

A knitter? Then you’ll like this page at Knitting Pattern Central.

Martha Stewart has some beautiful ribbon bookmarks.

Michaels.com has some great ideas!

Have fun and please share any ideas or links you may have!

Thank you so much to everyone who signed up – the sign ups are now closed I will be working on matching everyone up this weekend and I’ll email you your swap partner’s information by the end of the weekend!

We’ve decided it is time for another swap! This time, its a bookmark swap

In this swap, you will make a bookmark, and send it to one of our other readers. The bookmarks can be knit or crochet, made of paper, quilted, embroidered…whatever you would like to do! Ideally, the bookmarks will be able to fit in a regular sized envelope, and be mailed off with a single stamp, so this will be an expensive swap! The sign ups will start today, October 25 and run until November 1. I will contact everyone with your sending address by November 5. Your bookmark needs to be sent by November 15. If you cannot send by this date, please contact the swap admin.

To sign up, send an email to [email protected] to let us know if you will be participating in the swap. Please include your full name, web or blog address (if you have one), shipping information, and if you would ship internationally (remember, an international stamp is only a few pennies more than a domestic one )

If you sign up you must complete the swap or you will not be eligible for participation in future swaps. If you are unable to send your bookmark, for whatever reason, you must contact the swap admin (Heather) as soon as possible. Please be mindful that this needs to be reciprocal – if you sign up, please follow through. In the same regards, we will try and accommodate everyone, however we at Crafty Daisies will not be responsible for items not shipped.

And last but certainly not least – have fun!!!!

Since we all had a blast doing the first swap, we’ve decided to another one sooner than expected! This swap will be easier and best of all, inexpensive.

In this swap, you will take a tea towel and decorate it with whatever tickles your fancy. You can do stencil, embroidery, applique, beading, whatever you want. You’ll place it in a padded envelope to send, so total it should cost you no more than $5, especially using things you already have. The sign up will start today, May 18, and the item needs to be sent by June 1.

We’re doing sign up a little differently this time, so if you’re interested just leave us a comment in this post. This swap is also limited to the first 20 people who sign up, so if want in, hurry and comment. **Comments have been disabled since our 20 slots are filled. If you missed out, have no fear we will be doing many more swaps in the coming months so keep checking back!