Dinkum Dolls by Olli Ella Blog

Stories, play ideas and behind-the-scenes from the world of Dinkum Dolls by Olli Ella. Meet the dolls, discover new arrivals and inspire imaginative play.

Baskets galore for tidying and so much more!

We are head over heels for a multipurpose Rattan Basket here at Olli Ella, and our range of tidy-uppers is all the proof you need. From the lovely Hanging Hutch to the big open Basque Basket, these new lot of baskets may just be our faves, not just because they’re sweet but because they are mighty handy to have around too! In need of a bit of basket inspo? Read on; we’ve got plenty!

What is imaginative play and how to encourage it?

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Everything we dream up and do is based on the concept of wonder and childlike imagination! Play is at the heart and soul of the Olli Ella world, and pretend play possibilities are what we strive to create. What is imaginative play, you ask? We would love to tell you more.

DIY | Upcycle your Holdie Dino & Magical Creature Boxes into play filled dioramas!!

We love a bit of DIY here at Olli Ella and even more so when we get to upcycle something beautiful like our all-new and very pretty Holdie™ Dinosaur and Magical Creature boxes! All play starts with a landscape in which to dream and begin a story, and who better to team up with to create an upcycled wonderworld in a box than our good friend Kathryn of @thecardboardfolk!! Craft along with us and don’t forget to share your upcycled dioramas (AKA miniature models) !

DIY | Magical upcycled Holdie™ Mermaid wand

Dive in, we’ve got a most magical DIY featuring our new Holdie™ Mermaid friends, Isla, and Marina. We teamed up with our favourite friend Kathryn of @cardboardfolk to create this upcycled Holdie Mermaid wand using the beautiful gift box all Holdie Folk arrive in!

Take a dive into Holdie™ World with Mermaids Isla and Marina

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Let’s head off on an adventure deep under the sea to a most magical underwater world where Holdie™ Mermaids Isla and Marina swim, play and enjoy their days! These adventure loving mermaids are sweet, pocket-sized, and ready to play! We can’t wait for you to meet them!!

Wonder Wagons | A world of adventure!

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Wonder Wagons are back, stronger than ever and ready for adventures big and small, indoors or out, rain, hail or shine! The Wonder Wagon is an iconic member of the Olli Ella family; with its 100% handwoven rattan body, nostalgic feel and sense of unbridled, old-fashioned fun, the Wonder Wagon is right at home as part of the Olli Ella Classics Collection. Not just another pretty Wagon, the Wonder Wagon is built to pull, push, haul and cart on repeat because we know just how much little folk love to go, go go!

Mum in a million | Gifts for mamas & wonderful women

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It's almost Mother's Day, our fave day to celebrate not just the mamas but all the wonderful women who mother in so many varied and loving ways. The perfect gift can be hard to find sometimes, so we've gathered up a collection of beautiful baskets, WARES, and so much more that the Mum in a million in your life is sure to love! Our Co-founders (and busy mammas of a collective eight kids!) Chloe and Olivia have also shared their picks for great gifts.

B Corp & Beyond: Balancing People, Planet, And Progress

As a B Corp certified business, we are committed to creating a positive impact for our planet by mindfully working to minimise our footprint. The planet sustains our business, and we aim to sustain her in return. We are forever striving to better our processes to preserve mother earth and keep her safe and healthy for generations to come.

WARES | Why we love them and why you will too!

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WARES by Olli Ella are the love child of our Co-founder Chloe, dreamt up and bought to life just over three years ago, they have since become a wardrobe staple for women the world over. WARES are designed with endless versatility, practicality and forever in mind.

There's a lot to love about WARES (most are breastfeeding and maternity friendly!!); read on to discover more about our comfy, effortless, and timeless WARES apparel range. We love it and hope you do too!

Easter Baskets that keep on giving! Our top 10 Baskets for Easter and beyond

The key to any successful Easter hunt is all in the Basket! Luckily, we’ve handpicked the best ones for the ever-important Easter egg hunt and for use long after the choccie eggs are gone! Baskets are mighty handy and perfect for everything from chocolate collecting (and stashing!) right through adventures, veggie hauling, and much more! Discover our top ten Basket picks for Easter and everyday fun!

An Eggcellent Cozy Dinkum Easter DIY!

We all know there's nothing better than nabbing the biggest egg come Easter morning, especially when it's filled with a Cozy Dinkum surprise! This Easter, we've teamed up with our amazingly crafty friend Kathryn of @cardboardfolk to create an eggcellent papier mâché DIY hatching egg for our snuggly Cozy Dinkum friends.

Bake your very own Easter Pie Pops!

We love nothing more than busting out the rolling pin, dusting a little flour about and baking up some scrumptious goodies over Easter (or anytime, to be honest!). This Easter, we teamed up with our good friends @raisingrodmans and Bunny Moppet to bake up a jam-filled, pie pop storm. Join in the fun, it's super easy, and we promise we won't tell if you lick the bowl (ssssh!)

Everlasting love | How to care for your Rattan Classics

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Our 100% natural rattan products, including our Classic Collection, are designed, and made by artisan's hands with forever in mind.

You can follow a few helpful hints to ensure your rattan stays in tip-top shape for many years to come. Over the past 11 years, we have learnt a lot about rattan, what it likes and doesn't like and how best to care for it to ensure it lasts for generations!

Easter Basket round up!

Let's be honest; the key to any successful Easter haul is all in the Basket. With Easter just around the corner, we've handpicked the best Baskets for this very important job. There are Baskets for everyone from tiny Easter enthusiasts right through to the adults, so no choccie egg gets left behind come Easter morning. For a not so sugary treat, we've got fluffy, snuggly Cozy Dinkum Basket fillers too!!

Happy International Women’s Day

Here’s to the mamas, daughters, sisters, aunties & all the wonderful women in our lives! In celebration of International Women's Day, we want to say thank you to all the women that make Olli Ella possible, from our makers to our sellers to all of you! PLUS read what our founders and retailers have to say about this year's International Women’s Day theme #BREAKTHEBIAS

Meet the Cozy Dinkums!

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Introducing our four new Cozy, cuddlesome, collectible friends. There’s Bunny Moppet, Lamby Pip, Teddy Mini & Mousy Pickle! Soft, velvety Cozy Dinkums made for snuggles and play.

Basket Hacks To Make Life Easier!

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Sure, we love having a tidy home but what we love even more is a good shortcut! We’re sharing a few of our fave basket hacks that are sure to make you look organised even when you're not! Read on to unlock the secret stashing powers of our handy baskets.

Meet the Olli Ella Classics

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The Olli Ella Classics are our 100% Handwoven Rattan collection made for play, adventure and to be treasured forever! They are at the heart of the Olli Ella world, and they live in bedrooms, homes and cubby houses all around the World! All Olli Ella Classics are made by hand in Vietnam by our amazingly talented makers. The Classics are our family, and we would love you to meet and get to know them all!

2021 | Our Year In Review

What a year 2021 proved to be! It was our 11th year in business and was a year that certainly kept us on our toes! Take a look back with us on the year that was, let's wrap it up!

A most magical time of year! Olli Ella DIY Wrapping Paper & Decoration!

The Holidays are almost upon us & the magic of this season can be found everywhere you turn. At Olli Ella, we’ve always loved a decoration (& had a weak spot for wrapping paper), so we teamed up with our clever friend Calley of @raisingrodmans on this fun & festive upcycled Playpa wrapping paper & decoration DIY! It’s the perfect activity to keep little hands VERY busy, get the house decorated & the presents wrapped all at the same time - WIN!

Get crafty this holiday season! DIY Holiday card printables!

Deck the halls and the letterboxes of those you love with our Holiday card colouring DIY! The perfect craft to keep little (and big!) hands busy. All your Olli Ella faves have been given a festive makeover; there’s a Holdie World snow globe, Holiday Dozy Dinkums Pudding & Pie and plenty of Rattan goodies waiting under the tree to be coloured ! Simply print, fold, colour, write a cute little note and deliver them far and wide for plenty of Holiday cheer!

Mother & Artist | Meet Sarah Darling

We recently spoke with artist, mother & WARES Aurora model Sarah Darling about women in the arts, her current daily inspiration, and painting practice. Sarah is part of our WARES series that profiles women within the Olli Ella community that captivate us with their day to day. Based in Byron Bay Australia, her beautiful works are a dance of colour and composition, a true exploration of abstraction! We are honoured to share her paintings and words with you!!

Create a magical Advent Calendar with Olli Ella

The countdown to the Holidays is on & what better way to do it than with your very own DIY advent calendar. We’ve teamed up with our friend Kathryn of @cardboardfolk to create a cardboard advent village filled with sweet daily notes & few magical Olli Ella friends!

Life's a picnic this Holidays with WILD chef Sarah Glover

Introducing Sarah Glover, WILD chef, inspiring hunter-gatherer & global adventurer who prefers cooking in the great outdoors to a kitchen anytime! This Thanksgiving & Holidays we’ve teamed up with Sarah & her group of little helpers to bring you a most delicious recipe & picnic set up that’s sure to have you whisking your blanket & basket to your fave spot stat.

A little kindness goes a long way!

It’s World Kindness Day, a day to highlight the little things and remind us all that simple acts of kindness have power and that together, we can all work to create a kinder world.
To celebrate this important day we chatted to Ally Strain, the founder of Byron Bays The Kindness Project, a community initiative-based group that helps vulnerable members within our community.

Meet the Dozy Dinkums

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We’ve all been waiting such a long time dreaming up these babies, and now they are almost here… the Dozy Dinkums - Pip, Pickle, Mini and Moppet.

DIY | Create your very own Holdie Magical Folk Crown, Wand & Wings

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo! We have some magical craft for you! We have teamed up with our crafty friend Jenni of @myweebuddy to create some whimsical, upcycled, DIY treasures inspired by the new, fantastical Holdie Folk Fairies! Let’s make some magic with a cardboard box!

Meet the Holdie Folk Fairies, Magical Creatures & Luvya Bags

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We are absolutely thrilled to share with you the newest members of Holdie World! We cannot wait to see your little ones bring the magical adventures of these new Holdie Fairies and Magical Creatures to life. And that’s not all! We’re also welcoming a new basket to the family. Meet our new heart-shaped beauty, the Luvya Bag.

Dinkum Dolls + You

We're so excited to see the Dinkum Dolls being adored by little Olli Ella folk all...

Play it forward with our first ever collaboration with Rose & Rex + Experience Camps

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We are absolutely thrilled to share our first ever collaboration! We’ve teamed up with imaginative play specialists, Rose and Rex, to welcome the two newest members of our basket family: Lemon Luggy and Lemon Mini Chari. Say hello to the loveliest, lemoniest baskets you ever did see. ~ When Olli Ella Met Rose and Rex Have you heard the story of a sister-run company who believed in the power of play and fun, who met another sister-run company who also put play at the centre their world? Welcome to the family “Working with my sister-in-law, Amanda, has been one of...

An assortment of Olli Ella inspired colouring pages

Get that pencil tin ready, we have designed the cutest collection of colouring pages for kids.

DIY | Make your own Dinkum Doll High Chair

Repurpose your Dinkum Doll Box and create a Dinkum Doll High Chair for your kids!

Changing Basket Guide

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Here at Olli Ella we’re often asked about the differences between our much loved Changing Baskets, so we’ve rounded up the details!

The Making of Olli Ella Rugs

Each step of the production process for our new Natura and Essy Rugs has been carefully considered to ensure that we are kind to the environment, fair to our makers and use the best quality materials to last you for generations. Take a closer look at the people and process behind the making of our new rugs.

DIY | Create your very own Holdie Folk Cavepeople

YABBA DABBA DOO, we teamed up with our clever friend Jenni of @myweebuddy to create a prehistoric Holdie World DIY! Upcycle all those odd socks and fabric scraps into the funkiest stone-age tunics around.

DIY | Everything you need to make crowns this Easter weekend

A CRAFTernoon of fun for the whole family. Whether it’s Easter bunnies and eggs that take your fancy or rainbows and acorns, we’ve got a crown for every kiddo and their Dinkum Doll BFF too!

underWARES | Effortless, neutral and easy-care Organic Cotton underwear for bump, breastfeeding and beyond

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We welcome underWARES by Olli Ella - our debut intimates collection. Born from the desire to create charming maternity underwear that supports women from bump to breastfeeding and beyond.