Wishing you a merry

December 24, 2021

 






                     



Last night I watched the Andy Williams Christmas Special 1966 on YouTube. As a girl I would watch those shows religiously. The Andy Williams show itself my family loved, but the Christmas Special was always a highlight of the season. These days it's hard to watch many of the old variety shows; The Dean Martin Show, as much as we loved him, is next to impossible to watch now. It's terribly dated in many ways, even if the music, costumes and sets are retro and fabulous, the jokes and monologues are dreadful. Not so with Andy Williams. He employed his handsome, singing brothers to join him plus his parents, his wife (the annoying Claudine Longet, try to ignore her) and their adorable kids and the cousins. It was a pleasant, family show and is still watchable today, that is, ahem, if you are a certain age. The Osmond Brothers (before Donny and Marie) were regulars on the Andy Williams Show and I went to school with the two oldest boys, Allan and Wayne. Wayne was in a few of my classes and on Monday morning, the night after a TV show had aired, I remember he would quietly slink into class. He was tall and would bend low and keep his head down and melt into his seat, definitely not wanting his classmates to notice him. Middle schoolers are not know to be kind to someone perceived as different. He was friendly but shy and I think some girls might have made a fuss over him, I know teachers did, and that probably embarrassed him even more. They moved soon after they became famous, I think to Utah.


I made the tablecloth for my kid friendly Christmas table decades ago. It's so retro now, it makes me laugh. The choir girls were made earlier this December. They came about because I own many lace doilies made by my maternal grandmother who died before I was born. I've held on to these doilies for decades never knowing what to do with them until I got the idea that they should be dresses! Below is a quick tutorial if you also have doilies that need a purpose in life. If you do, bookmark this for next year. 


 


a
Aren't they gorgeous? All crocheted by my grandmother!

Paint the body parts but don't glue the head on quite yet.



After painting on the faces I painted the heads with gloss paint.


Glue pipe cleaners cut in half for arms, then dot a bit of glue on the top.
Find the center of the doily, put it over the glue, add more glue and put on the head.


They start to look adorable at this stage, but now you've got to poke the arms out of the lace.


I added felt capes and hats. I fiddled with a pattern but both are pretty much triangles
with rounded corners cut with a pinking shear.


The last bit was to tie a bow around her neck and glue the music book to her pipe cleaner hands. I found my mini choir book on an adorable blog, but dang, I cannot find it now. I did however save it as a PDF. If you want it you can email me (email address is on the side bar of the website), or alternatively you can search for a free image of something similar and size it down. I printed these onto a lightweight card stock. I also decided her shoes needed to be black.

Links to supplies I used:

doll pins and stands

doll heads


Happy holiday greetings to all, and if you celebrate Christmas, I wish you a merry one.

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8 Comments

  1. Dear Kristen, Your table is a knockout. Loved all of your story as well as your lovely creations. Simply want to wish you and your family a Christmas filled with much health, peace, laughter, memories and love.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much. You made my day with your kind comment. I hope your Christmas is beautiful! Kristen

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  2. I love your Christmas table! The choir girls are adorable as are the napkin rings. You must have very steady hands.

    Carole

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you dear friend. I hope your Christmas is as beautiful as you are. xo Kristen

      Delete
  3. Merry Christmas, Kristin! Your beautiful tablescape shows a lot of love, as always. Thanks for The Andy Williams link! Chloe


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Chloe. I hope you are having a wonderful day today! Please let me know if you like the AW show. I recommended it to a friend and she and her husband both enjoyed it. When you can, pop me an email (address is on the side bar of my website)-- I want to share something about a book you recommended. xo Kristen

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  4. Just gorgeous. The choir girls are adorable.

    ReplyDelete

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