DIY Doll Dress

3 years ago I started a small busiess, Little Kin Studio, designing and selling handmade waldorf inspired dolls, all ethically produced by artisan women in South America.

Today we have sold thousands of dolls and our Little Kin Studio girls, boys and animals live all over the world. And there’s nothing we love more, than knowing how children play and have fun with what we make.

To make things even more fun, we have designed an easy DIY Little Kin doll dress for you, to make with your little ones. It will fit all your Little Kin Studio dolls and bunnies and probably also a few of your other teddies.

DIY doll dress pattern make yourself little kin studio

Life

I’m not sure where to even start. So many profound changes have happened to all of us, to the whole world, since the last time I tried to put thoughts into words written on this page. After months of isolation in a small apartment in New York City, which at that time was one of the epicenters of Covid 19, we tried to make a responsible decision and move my three daughters, me and our dog back to Denmark. 10 months after, and we’re still here. Doing our best to build a new life in the midst of our old pre-New York surroundings, while trying to decide if we should stay here or go back Brooklyn once things get better.

8 months later

It’s been eight months since last time I wrote a single word here. 8 months of quietness, 8 months of doing other things.

It’s not that I haven’t had an urge to write. I love this little space of mine, the intimacy between you readers and my thoughts. The little messages I sometimes receive. Writing down my thoughts and ideas to clear my head.

The last Monday of the year

In our house, the year doesn’t end when we reach December 31. It ends tomorrow. When my daughters finish Kindergarten and 3rd grade. When they have to say goodbye to their teachers and friends and leave school premises for the last time in two and a half months. Ahead awaits 10 weeks of me and them, ten weeks of enjoying the summer together, 10 weeks of adventures and ten weeks of trying to sneak a bit of work in whenever a few minutes of quiet time comes my way.

An ethical children’s wardrobe

My 5-year-old daughter has dresses and sweaters in her closet, that she has had since she was 3. They still fit her and she gladly uses them. Where they used to be long and roomy when she first got them, they’re now shorter and with 3/4 length sleeves, but the wear hardly shows and the fit is still perfect. I’m often asked why I bother spending more money on my children’s clothes than just necessary, and this exactly is a big part of it.

Easter egg Sunday

When you choose not to give your children any kind of religious upbringing, you put it on yourself to create your own traditions to fill out the Holidays. Little things, that will give your children those memories of a happy childhood, of parents who cared and bothered to do a bit extra, go the extra mile. Of slow days full of nice things and little events that when you’ve done them year after year, they become your own family traditions and something worth remembering.

One year after

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It’s still dark in the bedroom, but right next to me I feel a little body standing up straight in our bed. Within the last week my tiny baby has turned one, and realized she can stand on her own without holding on to anything. She’s constantly finding new ways to challenge herself and I’m constantly being reminded that she’s not so little anymore. That my last baby is no longer tiny and that within a very short amount of time she’ll be walking and talking and choosing to hang with her older sisters instead of with me. Turning one is a big deal. At least in my mind it is. No more counting her age in months or being fed only milk and porridge. We’re at an eating-everyting-myself-with-my-fingers stage and I sometimes wonder if independence comes earlier the more children you have.

Best 9 of 2017

With a new year, a progressive new way of eating, a baby who is way too soon turning 1 and a few new projects in the making I’m pretty busy looking ahead these days. But in the midst of it all, and as a short break in my attempt to get rid of all things christmassy and restore our apartment to its normal state, I decided to take a quick look back with my Best 9 of 2017 from my Instagram. 9 little moments that all meant the world to me in the year gone by.

About time, a new project and something I really dislike

It’s been quiet on the blog for the last few weeks. Not because I didn’t have anything to say or nothing to write about. I have written several blog posts in my mind when I’ve been running around from one thing to the other, they just never made it further than my thoughts. Life with three daughters can be pretty busy, and doesn’t leave much time for sitting in front of my computer.

Slow Sundays and organic outfits

I like my Sunday mornings to be long and slow. With simple luxuries like a well made cup of coffee, a perfectly boiled egg, a warm and cozy sweater in the softest wool, a blank page in my notebook and a newly sharpened pencil or a well written article in my favorite magazine or newspaper. Not the electronic version, but the kind that is printed on paper and allows you to hold it in your hand.

One last goodbye to October

It feels like October flew by without me hardly noticing it. Maybe it was because the weather in New York felt more like a perfect Scandinavian summer day than anything that even resembled fall, maybe because the leaves just started changing colors last week or maybe it is simply because my mind has been occupied with other things, more important things, and prevented me from noticing all the small things I normally love so much about October.

Morning routines

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I know, before I even open my eyes. I hear her little noises, so different from the ones that she makes when she’s just moving around in her sleep. Her excitement, when she realizes, that I’m slowly waking up as well. I’m not sure when I lifted her up in our bed, but here she is, right next to me, crawling onto my chest and giving me big wet kisses on my cheeks, lips and chin. It’s her favorite thing these days. Kissing. Big wet kisses that she makes by putting her open mouth against my face and then breathes out. I know of nothing sweeter than her morning breath in my face, the drool I could do without though. But who cares. I didn’t even get to take my mascara of last night.

Quiet mornings, calm days

Some Saturday mornings are quiet and has hardly any words. A simple meal served and cups of coffee drunk in silence. Baby toys scattered over the living room floor, because no one had the energy to pick them up after the baby went down for her first nap. The older kids doing their own thing, in their own time, in their own room. Because sometimes parents need time to figure out their own stuff, listen to their thoughts and drink their coffee without little voices interrupting.

About parenthood and Patti Smith

I wanted to begin this text with a quote. With some wise words from an inspiring woman, who I earlier this week, was lucky enough to spend an evening in the company of. I started looking through her books. The new one, and old one, my favorite one. There were just too many. Too many things said and done, too many wise thoughts written down in her little notebook, too many sentences that reflected how I feel right now.

Fall feelings and bitty bonnets

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Yesterday morning as I stepped out on our stoop, I felt it. I guess, I didn’t noticed it before, busy as I was with other things. That crispness in the air, the cold breeze blowing in my face, telling me, that changes are coming. There are leafs laying on the ground now, in the most beautiful fall tones and I take notice of all the little nuances, as I walk down our street with my baby girl strapped to my stomach, to the little café, to buy croissants and coffee. Hot coffee for me and croissants with chocolate for her sisters. She’s still not asking for anything else than what’s under my shirt, a taste of porridge and some mashed vegetables now and then.

What we eat, read, wear, play and make right now

It’s almost two weeks ago since we came home from our long vacation in Denmark, and we have finally settled in to our Brooklyn-life again. We are taking it slow these last days before school routines and every day life kicks in which leaves us with plenty of time to play, read and eat.

10 weeks of vacation

In exactly 10 days my two eldest girls are going back to school. After spending almost every minute together for the last 10 weeks, we will now be apart 6 1/2 hours, five days a week. Them and I.

I would be lying, if I said, that I haven’t longed for this day to come.

4 hours of quietness

4 hours of complete quietness can soothe the mind of a mother who just spent 6 weeks in constant company with her 3 kids.

Read More

I am your sun and moon

In the middle of your nap, you used to call me. Not that you could say any words or knew my name, after all you were only a few months old. But your small complaining sounds told me that you needed me.

On the move

We’re spending our summer away from home. Summer in New York has never been my thing; too hot, too humid, too many tourists in town and too many friends out of town.

Things I want to remember about being a mother to an infant

A list of all the little things I want to remember about becoming a mother to you, my tiny child, my sleepyhead, my calm in the chaos, my two months old, my little baby Evelyn.

I write these words with one hand. My other arm is wrapped around the warm and soft body of a tiny baby who for the 7th time today is nursing herself to sleep. Though I’ve been here twice before, with a newborn on my arm and yet another cold cup of coffee on the table, I had forgotten that nursing is a full time job, that it hurts more than anything, and that it’s also the coziest thing in the world.

How to get through the last days of pregnancy

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The first time I was pregnant, I worked at a fancy fashion magazine, wore high heels, pretty dresses, worked late, went to photo shoots and attended dinners and parties with a non-alcoholic cocktail in my hand.

What to pack for the hospital when giving birth

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Although I still have a bit of time left before my due date, the other night I felt a large number of Braxton Hicks contractions. With my first two children being late, I’ve never really considered a baby arriving early a realistic option, but suddenly I realized that I’m not at all ready to leave for the hospital. So the following day was all about getting that hospital bag packed and ready for a possible departure.

Preserving memories

Before Giving birth to my first daughter, I imagined myself as the very organized type of mother who would write down every new milestone, fill out baby journals and preserving all those little steps and memories that together would form my daughters childhood. Turns out I’m not.

On baby names and knowing (or not knowing) what to name your baby

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When I was a child, I wanted my name to be something else. Something more adventures, something that would make you think of girls who lived in forests, who could speak to animals and who were never afraid of the dark. For a while I thought of myself as Tusnelda (a rather weird and quirky danish girls name), but throughout my teenage years, I settled with the name my parents had chosen for me. I’m named after my father’s grandmother, and even though I never met her, that seemed to make sense to me.

Our future is female

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Inside my belly is a little girl growing. She will be my third daughter, the last part of my own little trilogy of sisters. I’ve known about the sex since really early in my pregnancy. Both because I somehow always felt that having a boy just wasn’t and option and because of a blood test that gave me the option of finding out.

Becoming a mother of 3

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When I was young, I always told people around me, that I was never going to have any children. I guess that’s what a lot of twenty-something girls tell themselves and their surroundings. But for many years I somehow seemed to believe it. None of my girlfriends had gotten pregnant, we were all slowly reaching our late twenties and more focused on carries, work goals, pretty dresses and having fun than on starting a family.

Vacation catch up

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· A small Vacation catch up from our first month in Denmark ·

It’s exactly a month ago that we arrived in Denmark for our long summer vacation, and since then the days have been spent catching up with family and friends. We have been horseback riding, digging up potatoes, had lots of picnics, gone swimming in the sea, been playing at a lot of amazing playgrounds, gone on a farmhouse vacation, visited an old museum city, had lots of ice-cream, stayed up late and slept in, celebrated my youngest’s 4th birthday, barbecued plenty of sausages and enjoyed the Danish country side.

Quiet Sunday’s and cozy clothes

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· About flower masks and some lovely cosy clothes ·

Last Sunday we planned a family excursion for the whole day. But then life happened and for different reasons I found myself with a head full of thoughts. I know better than trying to do too much with two kids and a half-distracted mother, so a quick change of plans was necessary.

We decided to put some of the flowers we had bought on sale the day before to good use, and make flower masks.

Skipping school

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· A short text about why skipping school can sometimes be okay ·

Today I let my 1st grader skip school. Not that she was feeling sick, had thrown up at night or had bumped her head. She just didn’t feel like going, which is really rare for her because she loves school.

I guess it was just one of those mornings.

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• A little list of how becoming a mother has changed me •

A lot of noteworthy days have passed by while I’ve been absent here on the blog. My eldest turned seven, my youngest got accepted to pre-school and motherhood was celebrated on Mother’s Day.

It seems as if motherhood has the ability to constantly turn my life upside down. Just as I feel like something is working, routines are found and our everyday life is on a roll, a new thing, a change in personality, a wobbly tooth or a sick child can make it all change once again. A year ago, when I just started doing this blog, I wrote a list on how becoming a mother has changed me (you can read it right here), and during the last few months, I have been collecting a few more things that I wanted to add to the list. So here you go, a second part to my list on how becoming a mother has changed me.

The ease of motherhood

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• A small text about how a park and some spring weather helps me find the ease of motherhood •

Once again I have discovered something that I seem to realize every year when spring arrives and forget again when autumn kicks in. As the weather gets better and allows you to spend more hours outside, being a parent gets so much easier.

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• Something about motherhood, me-time and spending time apart •

Last Sunday my husband took our children out for lunch. I had decided to stay behind and do a bit of writing, take a walk and enjoy my own company. My husband will be gone for the next few weekends, and I figured that now was the time to stock up on some me-time.

But a few minutes after they had left, my maternal instinct kicked in, and I started missing both my girls intensely.

Quietness and a month seen in pictures

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• A bit about why it has been quiet and a month seen in pictures •

Lately I have felt lost for words. Not so much when it comes to chatting with friends over a cup of coffee or talking with my children about how their day has been. But when it comes to putting words down on a piece of paper (or into a document on my computer) I have been feeling like I had nothing more to say. For weeks it felt like I would never get back into it.

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• Something about creative kids and a short list of ways to let your child explore their creative side •

Draw a crazy picture,

Write a nutty poem,

Sing a mumble-gumble song,

Whistle through your comb.

Do a loony-goony dance

‘Cross the kitchen floor,

Put something silly in the world

That ain’t been there before.

Shel Silverstein

Before becoming a mother, one of my dream scenarios of having children would be them sitting at one end of a long table filled with paint, pens and paper. They would draw and do creative projects, have fun and talk nice to each other, while I would sit calmly at the other end of the table, writing and enjoying a hot cup of coffee.

Urban gardening with kids

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• A bit about growing up in a metropole and my love for urban gardening with kids •

I want my children to grow up with hands that are dirty from digging in the soil. I want them to know how a tiny seed can grow into a flower or how a plant can grow tasty vegetables. I want them to know that you should take good care of trees and I want to teach them to see the beauty in a single flower.

Being close to nature and growing up with green fingers can be hard when you live in a busy metropolis. But we do our best, and accept that sometimes that means making a mess indoors. →

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• About my favorite kind of Sunday and the art of taking it slow•

There are things that forever changed from that moment when I first left the hospital with a tiny little girl in my arms. From that Wednesday morning in spring, I no longer had enough time for myself. My time alone, that I used to cherish and love so much, was drastically reduced to not much at all and surprisingly that was okay with me. It was like giving birth woke a whole new level of feelings inside of me that I didn’t know were there. Feelings of heightened joy and unconditional love, as well as fear, impatience and a deep longing when I was away from my child for more than a few hours.

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• A visit to the New York flower market, and a bit about one on one time •

With her well articulated language, her height, that is closer to a 9-year-old than one who is not even seven yet, her ability to sit down and read a book with out me helping or interfering, her eagerness to discuss anything I ask her and with her asking me “Mama, do you know who Justin Bieber is?” Which she did some day after a play date at a friends house, I sometimes forget that she’s still my little 6-year-old. That she still likes to hold hands, sit on my lap, listen to good night stories, ask questions about tooth fairies, and more than anything, get my undivided attention.

Our favorite children’s books right now

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• Some of our favorite children’s books right now •

With a fresh cup of warm coffee, plenty of snacks and a warm blanket within reach, we enjoy spending hours and hours reading through our favorite children’s books. Me reading for both of my girls, them reading by themselves, or what I like most of all, Eleanor reading for Alma.

Going off line

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• A list of things that help me be off line •
A few months back, a friend of mine posted a drawing on Instagram which her daughter had been asked make in school of her family doing their favorite things. The girl had drawn her dad with a football, her brother running around and playing with his friends and herself sitting with all her dolls. Her mum was standing in the background looking at her phone.
Right away I decided that a similar picture would never be drawn by any of my daughters.

Seeking silence as a mother

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• A bit about seeking silence when your life is full of noise •

I have always been a big fan of silence. The non existing sounds of lives lived around me, the monotonous noise from waves on the beach, the sounds you hear when you lay still in the grass on a warm summer day, or taking a walk on a snowy Sunday morning. Being in my zone without letting anyone disturb. After almost 7 years of motherhood you can easily forget to take notice of the silent moments, because nothing is hardly ever silent when you spend most of your time with two talkative girls and an energetic husband. There’s the constant requests for food, a toy or help to go to the toilet. An argument that has to be stopped. The loud noise from two girls playing. The many daily chores that need to be done. A little person who falls and hits her knee. A temper tantrum that started because of unknown reasons. Being a mother is a challenge bigger than any other and seeking some of that unfamiliar silence is sometimes the only thing I feel can keep me sane.

What we love right now

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• A small list of all the things we love right now •

Slow mornings, a hot cup of coffee and a walk through our neighborhood. It’s all the small things coming together. Not that I couldn’t make a list of all the things I hate right now, but I try and focus on the positive side. That’s why making list of all the things we love right now, always gets me in a good mood.

Daddy’s girl

• About being a mother to a daddy’s girl •

I can still remember when I first realized that Eleanor was turning into a daddy’s girl.
Alma was just a few weeks old, and Eleanor was three and a bit. Every time I was nursing Alma, Eleanor would sit next to me hiding under a blanket while silently crying over the loss of her position as an only child.

Tidying up the children’s room

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• A few thoughts on the struggles of tidying up the children’s room •

Though we might live with less possesions than we did before our big move, this doesn’t seem to apply to the my daughters’ toy and book collection. Even though they’re good at a lot of things, tidying up isn’t one of them. There are evenings where I’ll have to navigate through Elsa-dolls, 20 teddies, half a tea-party and 200 small pieces of lego just so I can say goodnight to my girls in their bed. And days where I find them both sitting & playing on their couch because they made such a mess on the floor that there’s no space left for them to play.

Rainy day and indoor activities

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• A small list of fun indoor activities to do with your kids •

The simple luxury of staying inside a whole Sunday, while the rain is beating on your window and the storm is shaking the trees. Those bittersweet moments of complete quietness when not a sound can be heard from the children’s room, and you now you should really enjoy it because in a few minutes someone will yell out Mama for the 50th time that day, a fight will begin or at least one of them will be hungry, thirsty or have to use the bathroom.

Getting back to the rutines and positiv morning rituals

positiv_morning_rituals_little_kin_journal • A bit about my attempt of making some positive morning rituals •

Friday morning, and the first week of being back to everyday life and morning routines is almost over. The two weeks of vacation really slowed us down and getting back into days with a bit more hustle and bustle and many more plans hasn’t exactly been easy. Despite sleeping for 12 hours every night my daughters still feel tired when we walk to school in the morning, and yesterday was the first time my eldest was late during her whole time as a 1st grader.
Where the end of 2015 was full of energy for my youngest, 2016 has put her in a state of hibernation. Staying in bed, hiding under the blankets and being cozy on the couch seem to be her thing these days where the temperature is hitting way below zero, and just talking her into going to the playground seems like hard work.

My new year resolutions

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• A list of all my little new year resolutions •

Yesterday I bought a new woolen coat. It’s not the pratical I-could-cross-the-northpole-and-sit-3-hours-on-a-bench-at-the-playground-in-minus-degrees-and-stil-not-be-cold kind of parka that I was planning to buy, but it is more or less everything else. Classic design, great materials, a beautiful color (not black, which is a huge deal to me), from one of my preferred brands (my wardrobe only consists of about 5 different brands) and on sale which didn’t exactly make it cheap but at least made it possible for me to buy it. It was also the first piece of clothing I have bought for myself in about 6 month and I know it will be a part of my wardrobe for many years to come. And since buying lesser things in better quality and in a classic and long-lasting design is one of my new year resolutions for 2016 I quickly convinced myself that this was a good decision.

I’m normally not the kind of person who will come up with a lot of new year resolutions, but for some reason I have a whole list this year. Nothing big, just small things I really want to do or not do in the upcoming year. And since a few of them are very easy to bring into your everyday life I thought I would share them here with you. Who knows, maybe some of you will be inspired.

Remembering my favorite moments of 2015

• Some thoughts on a mother’s urge to keep all the little memories alive and a look back at some of our favorite 2015 moments •

To me, motherhood consists of a larger collection of small moments which together constitutes my life with my daughters. In all those moments lay my happiness, my fears, my sadness, my love, my anger, my biggest struggles and my admiration for being able to see these two little babies slowly form their own personalities. One thing that I really fear is for those small moments to slowly start fading or even worse, to escape my memory for good.

A few thoughts on a year gone by

• About saying goodbye and moving on •

Yesterday we slept with the windows open. After a month of christmas celebrations, cozy afternoons, house guests, pine trees, presents, hello’s, thank you’s and goodbye’s, it felt like we needed some air. I normally leave our Christmas decorations out until after New Years, but this year it felt wrong and with 2016 slowly crawling upon us, I decided that today was the day to take them down. While the girls were playing in their room and I was drinking a cup of coffee (which as usual had turned cold while I was preparing a snack for the girls and helping my youngest go to the toilet) I said my goodbyes to snowflakes, stars and tiny christmas trees. Afterwards I put on my winter lipstick (yes, I have one favorite color, that I always go back to when my skin turns winter-white), enjoyed the scent from the white hyacinths I bought on my morning walk and started thinking back on the year gone by.

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