Feb3

Dolls for the Middle East

Posted at 2:20 PM • No Comments

middle east doll aprty 039 blog

We held a doll decorating party on Jan 31st. Here’s a photo of the dolls we made. We’ll be delivering them to schools and orphanages in April. Our destinations are: Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.  If you have any connections or info on the area we’d love to talk to you!

To host your own doll decorating party please visit our website One Doll.

Feb3

Doll decorating tip: felt buttons

Posted at 1:48 PM • No Comments

middle east doll aprty 096I found some felt buttons at JoAnn Fabrics the other day. They ended up being the most popular decorating supply at this past party. Almost  everyone used them in some way, bracelets, dress embellishments and anklets. They’d probably make cute eyes also but I haven’t tried that yet.

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Jan20

Dolls for Haiti

Posted at 9:31 PM • One Comment

Event: Golden, Colorado Jan 31st. A doll making party for our spring deliveries. Egypt, Jordan and Syria. Next event: Haiti.

So far we have about 38 rag dolls decorated or being decorated. Here are a couple we’ve gotten back already from my friend Allyn and her mom, Jo.

Allyn and Jo with their dolls

Allyn and Jo with their dolls

We’ll be making rag dolls for Haiti and delivering them once things settle down. If you’d like to be included in our next event please contact me and I’ll make sure you get invited. If you’d like to make a donation to the Haitian orphanage we’ll be going to please visit Mercy and Sharing. You can also visit our website if you’d like to host your own gathering. I’ve just added supplies to our inventory to make it easier to pull a doll making party together.

Jan19

News from Haiti

Posted at 9:54 AM • 4 Comments

Lisa in Haiti

Ed and I have been following Mercy and Sharing in Haiti for about a year now. Last year some of our dolls went to Haiti and afterwards we received this photo of Lisa with her new doll. Her first smile!

No one is smiling at the moment.

Susie Krabacher started this organization 16 years ago and it’s amazing what they have been accomplishing. Up until now. They really need help and the money will go directly to the children and their needs. Here is an email I received yesterday. Please help by going to their website www.Haitichildren.org

Thanks!

UPDATE SUNDAY Jan 17

 

Susie, Jeff, Bill, Jacques and two Haitian police (as security), crossed the border into Haiti and arrived at the Williamson project this afternoon.  Unfortunately, things are not as we had hoped. Typically we have approximately 85 employees working eight hour shifts around-the-clock, there were a handful of employees on site trying to take care of hundreds of children.  Many of the children have not had water or food in two days, the handicapped children have a bed sores, and they are trying to stabilize the situation in Williamson before nightfall. There is no diesel fuel to run the generators, which power the water pumps, electric and Internet communications. The well hand pumps are largely ineffective.  They are getting water and food for the children this evening, and then searching for a place to stay that might have Internet or other communications.

 

We have now reports that the children of the abandoned baby unit have been two days without food and water.  They are reportedly alive, but the morgue is piling up with hundreds of bodies, and the morgue is located right next to the abandoned baby unit.

 

The office building and hospital in Port-au-Prince have been completely demolished, we have lost all of our paperwork and records which are laying in the debris and blowing around the streets.  The project has been completely looted.

 

The team is traveling to Port-au-Prince tomorrow to go to the Cazeau orphanage.  We have reports that Cazeau is not safe because the walls collapsed, there are men with machetes robbing anyone with anything or value, and the people in the neighborhood have stormed the building, over powered the guard, and have taken up occupancy in what is left of the buildings on that property.  We intend to remove all the remaining children from Cazeau and take them to Williamson tomorrow.

 

Madame Chenet is very traumatized, she has been living in her car, and having experience to the devastation, she is likely in shock. Dr. Rodriquez lost 4 family members, Dr. Algenor lost his brother.  Our accountant lost his 2 brothers.  Madame Chenet said it is total devastation around her.

 

We urgently need cash donations. We cannot accept supplies yet. Donate on line at www.haitichildren.org

 

Above all, pray fervently for the US team and the children, as well as the staff, are medical doctors and medical personnel.

 

B. Joseph Krabacher

Mercy & Sharing

201 N. Mill Street, Suite 201

Aspen CO 81611

(970) 925 6300 x 222 Direct

(970) 948 2277 Cell

(970) 925 1181 fax

jkrabacher@krabacher.com

www.haitichildren.org

 

A 501c3 Public Charity

 

 

Jan5

Doll decorating at Ubuntu Hair Studio

Posted at 4:23 PM • One Comment

Washing her hair

The Ubuntu Hair Studio just keeps on giving!

Early in December the staff and clients of Ubuntu (meaning: I am because we are) hosted a doll decorating party to benefit children in Mexico and Southern California. By looking at the photos of smiling faces I’d say the event was a success! The dolls not only were lovingly created and decorated but were pampered and given beautiful new hair styles.

The Ubuntu Hair Studio strives to make social and environmental change through the small things that they do. Here are a few ways that your visit changes the world for the better:

*Pay it forward : gratuities, or as we like to call them – gestures of thanks for great service- are passed on to good causes. We donate 100% of gratuities received to diverse charities such as Hope For Hossana Project, Aspire, Kiva, Girls on the Run and Grossman Burn Foundation. A simple “thank you” goes a long way. 

*Waste not, want not : after serving you well for a few seasons, your hair goes on to do more good. After a cut, the clippings are collected and later reincarnated into oil-spill clean- up mats thanks to our participation in the Matter Of Trust Program.

*Nature’s elixirs: we stock retail products made from essential oils and plant extracts because just like a plant in fertile soil, beautiful hair grows from a healthy scalp.

We hope to be the change we want to see in the world and ask you to join us. We do not live alone, but are connected in something much greater. Together we can make a difference.

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We’ll let you know when their dolls are delivered. In the mean time if you’d like more information about the Ubuntu Hair Studio in Solana Beach, California go to http://ubuntuhairstudio.com/

Nov29

Decorating ideas. Stencils

Posted at 8:27 PM • No Comments
Cambodian child "Maly"

Cambodian child "Maly"

stencil of Cambodian child
stencil of Cambodian child

For some dolls I like to look up faces on google images and make a general outline. Using the drawing as a stencil I poke small holes around the outlines and then put a little talcum powder on the top until it “bleeds” through to the fabric. Then I start painting.

Maly

Maly

Nov29

Ideas for eyes

Posted at 8:11 PM • No Comments
ideas for eyes using buttons
ideas for eyes using buttons

I love dolls with button eyes! Here are a few of my favorites. If you have any ideas I can share please send them to me!

I usually use a disappearing fabric marker to place the features before committing them.
Nov17

Miriam. Ndola, Zambia

Posted at 4:49 PM • 4 Comments
Miriam likes her doll

Miriam likes her doll

(June 2004. Ndola, Zambia)

 

Our friends Marci and Bill took us around Ndola, Zambia and we met some of their friends. We had the pleasure of meeting this young girl Miriam. Her and her aunt invited us into their home and we presented her with a gift. She loved her new doll! Rachel, from Morrison, Colorado, decorated this doll and wrote a nice letter to go along with her.

Nov17

The first doll making party

Posted at 4:23 PM • 4 Comments
Dolls need underwear!

Dolls need underwear!

Coordinating the outfits.

Coordinating the outfits.

(February 2004. Lakewood, Colorado)
It was so much fun coordinating these outfits. I heard that the ladies in Zambia like to wear colorful clothing so I had a blast putting mismatched fabrics together and then trying to find buttons to tie it all together. 
The decorators did their part by painting funky underwear on their dolls!
Nov16

How we got started

Posted at 4:06 PM • 2 Comments

psd

psd (22)
(February 2004. Lakewood, Colorado)

 

The One doll project got started on a whim. I wanted to take something with me to Zambia, something for the kids in the orphanage we’re going to visit and I heard a voice say loud and clear “make dolls, brown dolls”. I really didn’t know how to make dolls but I went to the fabric store and found some soft brown flannel and beautiful soft, curly black yarn. Once got home I started drawing and cutting (What pattern? That would be too easy!). The first 10 dolls looked like gingerbread men with reaaalllyy large heads. I knew I needed help so my sister and some friends came over to help decorate them. With love and lots of imagination the first “Worldly Girls” were born! After writing messages of hope and love on their bellies and they were ready for their journey!