Merry Christmas!

Wishing you the very best this holiday season!

Best Wishes,

Mimi

Happy Hanukkah!

Wishing you a wonderful holiday!

Mimi

Bookshelf dollies

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my parent's place!  I took advantage of their beautiful built in bookshelves lining the living room to take some photos.

Betsy Ross joins in with dolls from Eastern Europe and Mexico. 

Cute!

Hope you had a great holiday too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday!

How to help (Syria)

It's nothing, really, in the grand scheme of things.

But the news about Syria, the horror and violence screaming on front pages, can desensitize to the real, human suffering behind the politics.

Do you know how hard it was to find photo references of Syrian children smiling?

I wanted to show them smiling and safe, loved and clothed, hand in hand and happy.

As we give thanks this week, for food on the table, a safe place to live, the love of our friends and family, let's also remember those who have no address, no safe place to stay, no guarantee of food or refuge.  

Each image takes you to a charity that will help Syrian refugees.  (More on that below.)

American Refugee Committee

Charity watch grading: 90 cents of each dollar goes to direct care.

Catholic Relief Service

 Charity Watch Grading: 90 cents of each dollar goes to direct care.

International Rescue Committee

Charity Watch Grading: 92 cents of each dollar goes to direct care.

I always check to make sure a charity is real, trustworthy, and the majority of my money is going to actual aid.  This site is a charity watchdog association, rating charities on the amount of money actual spent on aid, and is a good place to start while looking for places to donate.  

Feel free to use and post any of these graphics, as long as you keep my watermark and give proper credit.

Note: I am not affiliated or sponsored by any of these charities. 

Thank you for reading this.  

Much love,

Mimi

Free Parisian Stationary

I'm a big believer in writing letters.  When upsetting events happen in the world, it's good to reach out and let your family & friends know you care.  I made this set as card to send to Parisian charities assisting victims, consider sending a card & donating to Secours Populaire .

This Paris themed stationary set contains an envelope, a piece of letter paper, and small graphics to cut out and use as stickers.  Print out on cardstock or heavy paper, cut out on red lines, fold on the dotted lines, use a gluestick or double sided tape on the grey tabs, and when you're ready to send, seal envelope with double sided tape.

Click here to download your free stationary set .PDF file!

Facebook Page!

MimiMart now has a Facebook Page!  To celebrate, I have created a discount code exclusively for Facebook members.  Check in out!

My business card!

One in color, one in black & white.  

Vintage photo shoot

 A few vintage inspired photos of the dolls in their natural surroundings.

All for sale at MimiMart!

McKayla with her doll!

Meet McKayla!  This soon to be big sister has a one of a kind matryoshka made of pink and white gingham and polka dots.  I was not sure how the black accents would turn out- after all, it's a doll for a little girl- but I really like how it ended up.

I love this photo, with her little hand holding on to the side.  She is such a sweet girl.  

Big hug!

This is the first doll I made with an entirely cotton fabric body- her headscarf is made of gingham fabric instead of felt, stitched together instead of appliquéd.  The vintage fabric I used needed lining, interfacing, under stitching, top stitching....and that's before sewing a perfect circle on the bias! I have yet to make another like this, but plan to in the future- but not with this kind of fabric.

As always, thank you for visiting Mimi Mart!

Me (and Al Capone)

 I just joined a team on etsy that would like a real photo of the person behind the shop.  So, without further ado:

Wait, that's not right.  That's Al Capone, the hardware store cat.

This is me.

The shop is live!

Grand Opening!  Brand new inventory!

Mimi Mart!

Last of the Goldilocks dolls

New doll in the shop!  She's a close cousin to this one.  I almost out of the Goldilocks fabric!  I probably have enough for a few pockets or bellies, we'll see.  I received it as a present from a Japanese fabric shop around 2005ish, and was holding on to it for 'the right project' for 10 years.  I think it's being put to much better use now!

Have a wonderful day!

XO, Mimi

"It's my favorite baby doll!"

Meet Bea!  

Is she not the cutest thing ever?  

Her parents, Nick and Erica, are very dear friends of mine.  Erica is a very talented artist and embroiderer, you can see her beautiful artwork and embroidered pieces at her shop, SomeKindOfSunshine. I bought this Guadalupe wall hanging for my mother's birthday, which she loves.

Bea is actually the reason I started making dolls.  While laid up after foot surgery, I wanted to make Bea a doll I could work on by hand, without the sewing machine, and would use up my stash of cute fabrics and wool felt. Thus, the first matryoshka doll was made. 

When Bea opened her doll, she said 'Oh my goss! (gosh) It's my favorite baby doll!'  Nothing could have made me happier.  Thank you, Bea, for being the catalyst for MimiMart!

Ready for winter!

Brand new doll in the shop, all ready for Christmas!  Her face is pure linen, and her body is made of Japanese imported fabric of a snowy woodland scene.  

You can see more here!

Other cute stuff on Etsy!

There is so much cool stuff happening on etsy right now!  I've selected some of my favorites to share.

From user EllenGiggenbach, two adorable printable paper angels!  I love the colors and graphic shapes.

How cute is this mushroom fairy cottage dress?  WildThingsDresses has so many adorable handmade kids clothes.

Strangely enough, I find a lot of Bremen Town Musicians fabric online... I even have some myself!  But I've never seen this one before, and I want it!  Megumi has a lot of adorable fabrics and crafts in her shop.

XO,

Mimi

Goldilocks doll!

Hello!  Here's a new doll, made with Goldilocks and the tree bears fabric.  I just realized I could have made her hair blonde, to really drive home the theme, but I like her black hair and blue eyes.

Here she is!

Traveling companions!

Here is where the dolls stay before heading to their new owners.  There's some lavender in there to make them smell nice, and the box keeps them clean and out of the way.'

Hello!

Hello!  Here are some dolls I recently made for friends & family.  

XO,

Mimi