These Handmade Toys Are the Cutest Things We’ve Seen All Week

By
Amanda C
-

Being a grownup has its faults. For one thing, playing with dolls is frowned upon. Still, we’re suckers for anything cute. And you can always say your Poosac dolls are there for decoration purposes only.

Run by Kim Smith, Poosac has an array of adorable handcrafted dolls, stationery, and gifts. Making these cuties since the early noughties, Smith has amassed over 54,000 followers on her Instagram page.

“I’ve always had a serious love of all things quirky, dog-eared and a little bit ‘wrong’ looking,” she says.

Smith lives in Edinburgh and sells her creations worldwide via Etsy. Her store is among 12,000 people’s favorite on this popular ecommerce website. Seeing how adorable her toys look, we’re not surprised at all.

See her work below. Which are you favorite?

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Hello!

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Well that's breakfast sorted! 🥞

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Sozzage!

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Day 8 – Product range My Poosac product range currently includes greeting cards, illustrations and tiny pillows however the core element is my hand-painted, hand-embroidered art dolls. Some human dolls do pop up from time to time however the bulk of my work is currently animal based. To date I've only scratched the very tip of the proverbial animal kingdom iceberg so am excited to see what other creatures/ideas I will bring to life in plush Poosac form over the coming months and years. I'm a big fan of Scandi minimalism and a monochrome palette so a lot of my work is created using pared down, rationalised designs and subtle, neutral tones. That said, I do sometimes mix things up with a sudden POP of colour (e.g. my foxes and lions), just to keep things interesting! Last year I decided to take on an increasing number of pet portrait commissions – these were a challenge and an utter joy to make so I intend continuing that as one channel of my creative work. I'm also keen to keep expanding my Poosac range to include homewares, accessories, printed goods, make-your-own sewing kits and would love to publish a book at some point. Basically (as I'm sure most of you creatives can relate to), there's a never ending stream of ideas bubbling away inside me and not enough hours in the day! #marchmeetthemaker

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Day 11 – Reducing waste Short & sweet post from me today – juggling lots of different things! X I love to upcycle existing fragments of fabric when creating my dolls. Not only does this bring new life to an already existing item, it also adds uniqueness to my one-of-kind creations. This fox's snazzy jumper was made from a vintage Scandinavian table cloth – anyone else got MAJOR sweater envy?! I'm often dumbfounded by the throwaway culture of our Western society and the insatiable desire for the next shiny new thing. I would always much rather choose to invest my money in considered purchases that have been lovingly handmade or handcrafted, rather than something that has been mass-produced and lacks soul and integrity. This is the same principle I apply when making my Poosac creations. Each and every one is lovingly hand-crafted (each doll typically takes me many many hours to make because of the painstaking stages involved – hand-painting, hand-embroidering, constructing, stuffing and stitching up). My intention is for my Poosac art dolls to bring huge amounts of joy to the recipient, for them to be loved and treasured by the current generation, and hopefully to be passed down to future family generations as a continued source of joy ❤️ #marchmeetthemaker

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