Sum of their Stories started as a place to share my in built enthusiasm for all things craft. I also wanted to share some of the craft skills that I’d been shown and taught by my mum and grandmas when I was growing up.

Each year on their birthdays I share something creative that they made as a little tribute to them. You can see all the previous tributes here.

30th November was my nan, Pearl’s birthday. Pearl was my mum’s mum and was probably the most prolific crafter in the family, she was always a ‘don’t buy when you can make’ kind of person. I mentioned a couple of years ago that I am kind of running out of things to share that they made that I still have. The good news is that Pearl was also grandma to my cousins and they have some things she made them that I can share here too! Things like this lovely Asleep Awake doll.

This doll belonged to my cousin who is a few years older than me so I’m guessing this doll is about …. 47/48 years old - she’s looking pretty good considering isn’t she? Her feet have gone a little bit misshapen, I think she had little cloth shoes which are long lost now! I had one of these dolls too, mine had a blue dress but I’m not sure where she ended up, I’ll get all the family to search the cupboards and attics and share her next year if we can find her. She has a bell inside so I called mine Tinkerbell, I don’t actually know what my cousin called this red dressed doll.

So today, I’m remembering Pearl and all the work she put into making us all such beautiful toys all those years ago.