Category Archives: Effner Dolls

“I’m a Santa Helper”

“I’m a Santa Helper”, says my Little Darling, Gina. She is indeed wearing all of the jingle bells and whistles to get herself noticed by Santa Claus. Gina even has a tiny present to add to the pile for good little girls and boys.

Gina’s hand knit sweater dress is made from Peruvian Highland wool in winter white. The “fur” trim at the hemline is knit with mohair/silk. The asymmetrical waistline embroidery depicts holly, berries, and blue spruce branches. Of course, Gina cannot help Santa without a Santa hat. This one is in deep red wool with a hand made pom pom, jingle bell, organza bow, and a heart bead decorating the tip of the hat.

The red bell decorations continue on the bracelet, necklace and as a decoration on Gina’s tiny gift.

For more information on Gina’s “I’m a Santa Helper” ensemble, please visit the “Shop What’s New” page at cindyricedesigns.com.

“Ivy and Holly”

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Last December I wrote a post about my favorite doll books, one of them being The Story of Holly & Ivy. You can find that post here. I LOVE this story, and even now while writing this blog post, this book is open in front of me. The illustrations are so cozy and sweet, and the story is absolutely endearing about a beautiful Christmas doll who finally finds her girl.

After I completed this ensemble for my Little Darling, Gina, my daughter commented on how she was reminded of the doll, Holly, in Holly & Ivy. Even though Gina isn’t dressed the same or even have the same color of hair she does seem like a modern day Holly.

Here is sweet Holly illustrated by Barbara Cooney.

Gina’s sweater is hand knit out of mohair/silk lace yarn. I embroidered two mirrored image Christmas bouquets at each top corner.

The tiny stocking is crocheted with merino/silk lace yarn and can hold the little bouquet or other treasures.

Do you like Gina’s tiny jingle bell bracelet?

For more information on Gina’s “Ivy and Holly” ensemble please visit my “Shop What’s New” page at cindyricedesigns.com .

Christmas Making is Progressing

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I feel that I am finally getting in the Christmas spirit here in the studio. How many weeks has it taken for me to seriously get in the spirit?

Right now I have three dolls in their Christmas ensembles all waiting patiently for photos to be taken. And, speaking of Patience I am working on something for her too.

Here are Gina, Millie, and Sugar all decked out for the holidays. I originally had Gina in a Santa hat, but this ensemble seemed too dressy for it. I like the organza bow in her hair much better. I didn’t have my lighting all set up, so this was taken with the over head florescent lights and a tiny bit of early morning light coming in through the west facing window. You can get an idea anyway. I thought they looked cute all together and wanted to show you.