A Visit With The Crazy Doll Lady!

 

Today I bring you an interview with "The Crazy Doll Lady" TracyAnn, Who kindly took time to share with us her passion for dolls as well as her motivation behind her Etsy shop,Ebay Store and her own blogs. I had such a great time reading her answers to my questions and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did. 

 

How did I earn the name Crazy Doll Lady: I worked at Michaels craft shop as a supervisor, and would get excited about new little things that came in the store that would work to use with my nieces and the dolls and Mary, one of my managers started calling me the crazy doll lady. Then I also made friends with a lot of girls that came in the store with their dolls so they started calling me the crazy doll lady like Mary, so the name stuck and I changed my stores to that name. 

How long have I been collecting dolls: I did not really play with dolls growing up, my love was horses and I had over 100 breyer horses growing up, I moved down near my nieces in 2004 and they were into the dolls, it took awhile of them talking me into it to start with a doll. I did not want to pay that much for a doll because I was not interested in them really, but Lysa my seven year old niece at the time, begged until Nana agreed to get me a doll. I had decided on Josefina even though Lysa had her already, but then we got the catalogue with Marisol in it and I fell in love, she was coming home to me. 

 So in Feb. 2005 Marisol came home to live with me and she became Marsali Laryn, soon after her Lindsey was found on ebay; after Lysa and I had read her book and she was so like me, she had to be mine. From there it was dolls everywhere for Lysa and I specially. My four oldest nieces spent almost every weekend at Auynti's house playing dolls for the next two years. LOL!! The mini's I got a couple to be my dolls, dolls, but did not really do much with them until about a year ago, now I have tons of mini's and they needed clothes so I started crocheting for them. 

 Which are my favorites: That is a hard question, Marsali will always be top of my list for my first love, she was just so perfect for me. Lynsy is a favorite, she is triplets now, she has a sister Loryn who is a girly girl, and a brother Logan; they are my triplet set. Lysa my niece still has a Lindsey (Marie) who is visiting me right now, she is in the wheelchair; I could buy every Lindsey that I see on ebay really easy if I could afford too .. lol

The mini's I am just having so much fun with right now,  I have six of them that I use for models for the clothes I am making, and then another four or five who are in their original outfits not to be changed. They are dolls for my dolls, but have cute personalities too.

When did I start creating for the dolls: In 2005, when I got Marsali and had four nieces that each had two dolls, they were out at my house every weekend and did not have a lot of clothes for their dolls. I could not afford AG clothes for the dolls with so many in the family so I looked to ebay which I found a few things, but I turned to my crocheting and started making patterns of my own up. It started simple with the poncho and hats for them to be warm and snuggly in the winter, they got new sweaters for Easter; backpacks for the school year.

Then the girls were into the Disney fairies and so they wanted fairy outfits, so I created the fairy outfits with wings.

The girls were into pirates too, here is a photo of our first trip to the pirate store after we made the pirate outfits. Yes I have permission to post this, Back Row: TracAn .. Lysa .. Taylor ..  Front Row: Brianna .. Alainia .. and our lot of dolls. I crocheted the hat, eye patch, and kind of sash thing for them and Nana made pirate pants. These have sold good for years too.

Next we would take our dolls to the ocean every summer with us for the week we were there and so I crocheted swimsuits for all 21 at the time dolls. LOL!! That was a big job.

It blossomed from there into a business of selling shorts outfits, ballet/tap outfits, sweater outfits. When I had to move home I started sewing for the dolls too, and still do that some, but right now it is mini outfits I am working on. I got a pattern from Fern on Etsy and started there, but started creating my own patterns for the shorts, Capri, and various outfits. I am loving the time spent creating these tiny outfits.

My Most Favorite thing to Make: I think the most fun thing to make right now is the mini PJ shorts set, it has a weird long stitch to make the feathery look on the top and it is fun to do, a little tedious, but still fun.

When did I start crocheting: I was actually three years old when I started crocheting. Nana (mom) sewed since she was little so when I was three and showed an interest she gladly started me on it. First I made halters for my horses because I could just do chains, but quickly was able to make blankets for them and little dresses for the dolls that sometimes took care of the horses. Now I will admit, you had a hard time telling what my finished project was at that time, most of them looked like yarn blobs, but to my three year old imagination, I played for hours with them. LOL!! 

I was actually into embroidery when I moved down with the nieces, it had been a few years since I really crocheted anything until I started with the dolls and now I crochet almost every day of my life, it is my stress reliever.

Tips for those starting to crochet: The main thing is to practice, I know you hear that in life all the time, but it is the main thing, keep practicing. Also, do not worry if what you make does not turn out perfect, that is how you learn, I know with my nieces they would get so frustrated at not being able to crochet like Auntie, but I would always laugh and tell them they did not see the stuff that I started and then had to tear out because it was not turning out good. No one is perfect; just have fun with it.

 You can find see more of The Crazy Doll Lady's Work on Ebay,

http://www.ebay.com/sch/thecrazydollladies/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686  (I usually list on Tuesday and they end on Sunday .. and I do try to do special orders for things people want)

 Through her blog and Store:

http://the-crazy-doll-ladies-designs.blogspot.com/   

As well as her "Girls" on their own blog:

http://boltongirlstraveljournal.blogspot.com/   

Don't forget to check out The Crazy Doll Lady on Etsy as well! By Clicking Here

Thank you To TracyAnn for taking the time to share with us today about your wonderful Doll Family, talent and advice! 

As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com