luau for little miss d

my friend mrs. pk has the most gorgeous baby girl who is just about to turn one! sadly, i couldn't make to the party since we live on opposite sides of the country... *tear*. i sent them a special gift though! it's more for my friend than little miss d since it's a huge choking hazard. she had been looking for cake toppers to go with the party's luau theme so i decided to paint her some as a surprise gift.

sorry! these photos really aren't the best (i took them when we were getting some much needed rain here in boston). the greatest challenge was figuring out how to make an aloha shirt on something so small! the answer was lots of dots using the smallest paint brush i could find. and little miss d's dress went through a few revisions. it started as a plain pink dress but the result wasn't special enough. i found a photo from their recent trip to hawaii in which she was wearing a super cute white dress with eyelet lace and a pink flower in her hair so i designed version 3.0 using that as a model. one of the great things about working with these dolls is that if you make a mistake or change your mind, a bit of sandpaper gives you a clean slate to start all over with. so don't be intimidated!

i purchased the unpainted dolls from goose grease undone, the same place where i got the dolls for our wedding cake topper. i really do love their customer service and products. i had actually purchased two larger adult dolls that once i had in my hands, were huge in comparison to the baby doll. the ratio was a bit too much for what i had in mind. thankfully, goose grease undone had included a free sample of their fair trade columbian dolls which were a bit smaller than the regular adult dolls and a perfect fit for what i was looking for. the wood is gorgeous and i'll definitely be ordering more in the future. to learn more about their fair trade agreement with a little columbian carpentry shop, visit their website. and be sure to check out their video to see how a doll is made! i love it when cuteness does good in the world :)

happy, happy birthday to little miss d! and mrs. pk, i cannot wait to see photos of the party. i know it's going to be amazing. little miss d is so lucky to have you as her mommy!