Northbrook Designs

Steampunk Oddfae–next stage

2012-01-26T14:35:00.000-08:00

My little guy is coming along nicely. Spent the afternoon yesterday with my friend Jeannine and we were having some silly time as we progressed to putting our dolls together. Haven’t quite figured out his name yet, and haven’t done the painting on the face. I’m leaving that for later until those moments come when you know exactly what you want for them.

Did you see that movie from a few years ( a remake of the original) The Secret Garden. This picture reminds me of the little girl standing like this while the servant dressed her, except in the movie, the girl looked so totally ticked off. This little guy seemed so pleased to be outfitted in his undies to keep him warm.. I swear his cheeky grin grew even bigger by the time I was done.

He’s obviously been indulging in Fae treats a little too much.

But his butt looks pretty toned I’d say….

Stay tuned, clothes come next…

Windy and Wild

2012-01-23T19:48:00.000-08:00

Another windy and wild weekend has come and gone. We went for a walk around the waterfront, it’s always interesting what you’ll see. Some parts of the path we usually take were inaccessible, but I was able to take pictures of what we went to see, from a distance.

There is a little house that’s on the waterfront and abandoned, because I can’t imagine anyone living there. Not sure how the house can still be standing, but it is. Yesterday, winds registered gusts up to 120kms or 75 miles an hour. Apparently at that speed it’s just on the verge of a hurricane…so pretty wild. This is a picture I took from a distance because it was to dangerous to walk our usual route. We would have been swamped or worse been hit by the debris that was being washed right up to the top of the seawall.

In the distance of this picture you can see a cream coloured house with green trim about the center of the picture. You can see the water crashing up on the seawall and the overspray hitting the house. Check the next picture.

I think if you click on the pictures you’ll get it in a new window and larger.

Easy to see why the house is abandoned, you can barely see it with that wall of water crashing over it. The house next to it, isn’t faring any better. I think the only saving grace for the house next door, is that the little house is breaking the impact that might have otherwise hit them. Crazy.

The people around here come out on these days to watch the event. Sadly, I think the poor house will give way one of these days and I can only imagine the sight that will be.

Poor little house, but to take all this abuse is quite something about how it was built….

Steampunk Oddfae first steps

2012-01-16T08:52:00.001-08:00

My friend Jeannine and I decided to get busy and start working on some clay figures since we each have a number of online classes and DVD’s to work from. I chose this little guy from the online class I did with Dawn Schiller in the fall.

If you’ve never done any sculpting before, don’t be afraid to try it. Buy one of those small blocks of polymer clay for a couple of dollars and give it a try. It’s not as hard as you might think. This is only about the third time I’ve done it and each time it gets easier. Jack Johnston has some great things on his site, as well as Doll Street still has this particular class listed. Dawns instructions are very good and as long as you read the instructions and don’t just look at the pretty pictures, you will get this with no trouble. These are just a couple of examples, but there’s lots more out there to explore.

I’ve done the head and hands and I used Super Sculpey. I did leave the head in a bit longer and he did get a bit of a sunburn on the tips of his ears, but that’s okay. In real life it’s not really noticeable, it just shows more in the picture than what it really is. The left side shows it much darker, but it isn’t really, it’s just in shadow there.

We’re supposed to get a dump of snow for the next 2 or 3 days, so if that happens, Jeannine and I won’t be getting together until next week. Knowing me though, I most likely will keep moving along because I’m too impatient that way. I like to keep moving on a project or I lose my momentum…..hence the arrival of UFO’s from time to time.

Marionettes

2012-01-13T15:00:00.000-08:00

As is always the case, I was looking for something online and got side tracked. I think this is just so beautiful. The Marioneta comes to life and is discovering the world around him until he realizes he’s existing on strings. He’s devastated.

This is just my interpretation, but it’s so real it just holds you until the end. It takes a true Artistan to bring life to a Marionette and evoke feelings in you that make you feel so badly for the little Marionette. Very well done.

And then there is this. You will probably find yourself immersed in this. This and other videos had my full attention for ages. The engineering alone is a major feat in itself. Fabulous.

Cats are very creative

2012-01-08T19:44:00.000-08:00

Don’t you just love how cats make themselves right at home, even when it’s not technically their home. Max here decided to educate me on the fact that I hadn’t put water out for him, even though he does not live here but like all cats, they decide what the deal is regarding the sleeping arrangements and creature comforts.

My hubby was going to go and flush while Max was still walking around and deciding how to approach, but while Max was still investigating I said we should wait and just see what he does. He didn’t disappoint….

I have been duly chastised and have noted the error and will work harder to make sure his highness has his needs met… I just love cats, such free spirits… ;o)

A second blog

2012-01-04T15:39:00.000-08:00

I have created a second blog for my needlework projects and challenges. The link is in the right hand column and it’s called Northbrook Stitches. With all the ideas and projects whirling around in my head I thought it made sense to give them their own page.

The other thing is, I’ve been busy updating my website after that little rant the other day. So far so good. I gave up trying to figure out flickr and decided to put a slide show on My Art page, for each category on my flickr page.

If you follow the link to the right to my Main Website, you’ll find your way to my Site Map. I’m still fixing pages up and that will take a little while but a little bit each day and it’ll be all done in no time.

My friend Maria in Australia, has been a great help. She’s been updating templates she made for me, in some cases more than a little while ago. She’s an amazing talent. She’s in the midst of looking for a new provider, but currently she can be found here. Click Here

A short post but I’ll have my first UFO done in the next few days, and it’ll be on my other blog, so be sure to subscribe to the feeds on Northbrook Stitches if you want to follow along my needlework path…

Saying goodbye to 2011

2011-12-31T11:33:00.001-08:00

For me, saying goodbye to 2011 is a mixed bag. The year started off great. I was in the throws of organizing 5 days of workshops with Colleen Babcock and for a doll maker it doesn’t get much better than that. What a great experience it was for me and by all accounts for everyone who attended. A small glitch in the first minutes by someone with bad manners, but quickly erased by 5 days of intense but so satisfying doll making and chatter. The silly factor played a big role in class but we composed ourselves now and then, kept our heads on and got through it all…

Not long after Colleen left and for the next few months, things just went crazy. To sum it up, hubby had an opportunity to go to a new job. He retired from the military and prepared for the new job, but unfortunately that didn’t play out as planned. No matter, it obviously wasn’t meant to be.

Also during the time between June and September, not one, but both of his brothers passed away making for two trips home for funerals. While away for the second one, the reno’s got underway and that concluded a few short weeks ago. The house was upside down for many weeks, but the end result was all worth it and our guys were amazing and so is their work. In this day and age it’s very hard to find people to do work that well, so we feel very fortunate to have made this connection with Guy and Luc.

In October after Ute Vasina had been here, I decided to leave the doll club. Among other things I felt that I was losing myself as far as my creative journey. I could feel things piling up on me, and between dealing with “people” who are ill mannered and my duties with the club, I seemed to be out of focus where my doll making and other interests are concerned, so I pulled the plug and left.

I’m more than ever convinced that is was the right thing for me to do and that being a solitary crafter works far better for me. I can have my quiet time, my thoughts are more organized and I get so much more accomplished. I can get more done in 1/2 hr. of focused time, than if I plan a whole day. It’s finding or at least, realizing what it is that makes you your best, I have now gone back to that.

While cleaning up my computer (as one of my projects for getting back to being organized), I found some very funny moments in time. I made this doll years ago in an online class with Allison Marano and true to form I found a way to share the moment when I was working on Henley. He’s been living in Oz and from all accounts, very happy.

I will be carrying on with my finishing up of UFO’s and have already been organizing my schedule for the year. Not that it’s set in stone, but it’s working schedule and it’s open to change. My Hope to Do List is on the wall, I’ve been working on my website, and the Christmas decorations are put away for another year so that I can start off on a clean slate and clear mind.

So it’s been a crazy mixed up year, some very good moments to start off the year, and some very sad ones in between and ended on a happy note with the the house being brought closer to the year 2012 with the updates. Hopefully those will continue in the New Year with some updates to the kitchen and a new floor in our bedroom, but time (and money of course) will tell the tale.

We don’t go out for New Years, but for those who do, be careful and be safe, but have fun. Apparently drinking a glass a water in between alcohol drinks helps ward off hangovers. Heard that on Dr. Oz.

2012 you’re just about here and I can’t wait for you. To all my followers and readers, I wish you nothing but the best for 2012. A clear mind, happy days and whatever you wish for that would make your life or someone’s close to you, that much better. All the best, Romona

A stitch closer

2011-12-26T19:42:00.000-08:00

I’m busy working away on the needlework UFO I showed you a few days ago. I did start working with the Cashel linen, but found that I didn’t like the feel of it and I don’t like how this particular linen has such an uneven weave. I changed to Lugana and am enjoying it much more.

The Lugana is a combination of cotton/linen, and is a more even weave making it easier to stitch on. I’ve finished one band and have started the second one, so here’s hoping I can at least get that one done by the end of the week so I can put the whole project together and check off the first UFO for the New Year.

This is where I’m at…. First a little close up, then the full size. The finished band is approx. 12” long by about 1 1/2” wide. (the stitched area). The threads are #12 DMC cotton, and Kreinik #4 fine braid as well as small white bugle beads and gold petite seed beads.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T14:05:00.000-08:00

Wishing all my followers and readers a very festive and happy season. Did you remember to buy yourself something for Christmas??? I always do because I think it’s important to treat yourself to something for all the hard work you do all year, think of it as your own reward system.

I went to pick up the turkey yesterday and was about to leave. I was sitting in the car and had such a terrible headache I decided to stay where I was and just walk around the shops a little while to see if the fresh air would help before I got back in the car and on to the highway to go home.

It’s a nice little marketplace, Matticks Farm, in a somewhat rural area and you can just walk around outside and peek into all the store windows. Something caught my eye and I just had to go and see what it was. I love snow globes and have wanted one for ages. I also have an extreme love of Jesters. They are such complex characters. I now have the best of both worlds.

Here was this beautiful snow globe just waiting there for me to come and pick it up and it was half price, so I really got lucky. When you turn the musical part on, it causes glitter to swirl around while the mask rotates. The music piece is called Masquerade, how perfect. It’s so beautiful. So perhaps the walk wasn’t just to try and walk off the headache, but to draw my attention to my Christmas present for this year…. Happy Holidays….

Reviving the past

2011-12-20T19:38:00.000-08:00

I’ve been having the urge to get back to my needlework as it is my first love in my creative journey. I’m not sure where the urge is coming from, but perhaps this year has been so hectic in so many ways, I feel like I need some low key and quiet time. Needlework is so therapeutic, you kind of lose yourself in the stitching. It forces you to concentrate and count stitches and before you know it, you’re oblivious to what’s going on around you. I will still be playing with dolls to, but my needlework is definitely going to play a big role.

I also decided I was tired of UFO’s and some of those are my needlework projects. 2011 is almost out the door and 2012 is waiting to come in and I plan to welcome it in by working on unfinished things more than new ones. One of things that can slow down our creative leanings is to have half finished things laying around and this year is going to be spent fixing that. The first UFO is out and ready to be worked on. If you asked me when I started this, I wouldn’t be able to tell you, it’s really been years tucked away and begging to be finished. Can you guess what it’s going to be????

….and just for added measure, I’ve signed up on Sharon Boggon’s blog, to take the TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday) challenge for 2012. The general idea is the starting Jan.3rd 2012, and Tuesday’s thereafter, a stitch will be posted and we are to stitch that into whatever form we like, be it a band sampler or fiber book or what have you. Probably just the motivation I’ve been looking for, so thank you Sharon for hosting this. Please follow both links on the sidebar to either the challenge itself for the full information, and to Sharon’s “stitchin fingers” site to see what’s going on there. This is one busy lady in the Needlework realm, very worthwhile spending some time exploring all that’s going on.

Let’s get started on the first UFO shall we…………..

Little Sparkles

2011-12-18T23:41:00.000-08:00

The other things I finished this morning, finally…..are these ornaments. I made these because people kept asking Janet if the one in her store was for sale and she had to keep telling them “No” that it was hers. I made the one for Janet about 3 years ago and she just leaves it up all year long.

Hopefully these little ladies will all go to new homes in time for Christmas. This is an adaption of Michelle Munzone’s “Merry Maubles”. I won’t do these often because they are more work than the cloth body in Michelle’s pattern. The baubles are a bit bigger than a tennis ball.

I had to use fabri tac glue for the bottoms and hold them until the glue set enough to be able to turn the ornaments upside down and set them aside and go on to the next one. I had to be careful to not get glue on the bauble itself because it would take the finish off….and ask how I know that. I had to wrap them in either paper or those netted foam covers that are used on certain kinds of fruit in the grocery store. Those are great and I can see how useful they could be in other ways.

I really enjoyed making these and they look amazing on a tree, but I think I’ll stick to make the cloth bodies, so much easier.

Tinsel and Wishes

2011-12-18T23:17:00.000-08:00

I finally got the last of my Christmas goodies finished for the shop. This is Tinsel and Wishes from a class with Cindee Moyer. Cindee’s doll was made with green fabric under the tinsel, but I didn’t have a green fabric that I liked with it. I went through my velvets and found this very nice shade of red and thought that would make a statement and I think it does.

This is another of Cindee’s very simple but very sweet designs. I was happy about that because I was so behind in my projects that this was quick to do.

The condensed version

2011-12-13T15:38:00.000-08:00

Our reno’s are done in time for Christmas. No more dust and hammering and stuff piled up everywhere, it’s all done and gorgeous. Believe it or not, I actually miss the activity and watching the guys work. I learned a lot and asked a lot of questions. They were so professional and very particular about their work. Wonderful work, can’t speak highly enough about them. If you want to see more of their work beyond what they did for us, follow this link. Allard Renovation

Here is a short version of what they did for us. The whole project consisted of rebuilding the front entry way specifically to take out a half wall that served no purpose. Change the floors in the living and dining room to hard wood and the stairs. We added the upstairs hallway and closets after they were underway.

We replaced the two closet doors upstairs to white ones, the rest we can do later. The trim is off the bay window in the living room the window frames are now white. We have new railings next to the stairs and a fantastic focal point at the top of the stairs in the living room with the hardware on the railings to match.

There are now porcelain tiles in front of the woodstove and we painted out the entrance and closet, the living/dining rooms and upstairs hallway and closets. I also had a number of small wooden frames with store bought pictures in them, country themed and I painted those the lighter of the two colours from the entrance, and painted the wall behind them, the darker of the two colours and replaced the pictures with those of cats we’ve known and loved and still have as visitors.

From start to finish and I’ll make this quick and painless because it’s probably only interesting if you’re doing reno’s to… ;o~ Just a quick before and after of the highlights…. The very last thing to do and it’s minor, is the electrician is coming to disconnect the wiring for the three baseboards we had removed from the front entrance, living room and dining room. We had a heat pump put in last fall, so baseboards aren’t needed and I hated them so much. They never got used anyway because we always used the wood stove until last fall….

Little Baubles and things

2011-12-04T14:46:00.001-08:00

Most of my ornaments are done this year. A few more this week and on to thinking about next years…..I even hated hearing myself say that…. ;o~

The tree at the tea shop is decorated and looks great. Janet wanted some Santa Hats as well to use for decorating. She was going around plunking them on tea pots and anything else she could find. So this is what I made for her and how the tree looked. Will post the other ornaments later this week…

Mini Tea Sets for Tea Shop Ladies

2011-12-02T14:00:00.001-08:00

My intention in the New Year is to make a limited edition doll for the tea shop here in Sidney. I found a number of little chairs (mini ones) at the dollar store, and took all they had because you know how that goes. You go away and think about it and when you decide you want whatever it is, you go back to get it and it’s gone. So I swooped them all up and now will have to make the dolls to sit in them. They are just the most perfect little chairs.

Then Janet asked me one day, if I have a use for miniature tea cups and saucers. She had some that she was going to put for sale in the store, they came from her sister, but thought I might have a use for them. So yes I do. Thank goodness, now I don’t have to keep searching for those or egads, make them out of clay, not something I wanted to spend time doing. My plan is to put a cup in the hands of each tea shop ladies.

This afternoon I’ve been sorting them out, because they are all different sizes and styles of tea cups and extras. They range in size from just a little over 1/2” across the top of the cup to 1 1/2”. The size isn’t even a problem because there are tons of other pieces to the sets that I can use if the cup is to big…. Thank you Janet….;o)

I love Maxine!

2011-11-21T08:41:00.000-08:00

As I was lying in bed pondering the problems of the world, I rapidly realized that I don't really give a rat's ass. It's the tortoise life for me!

1. If walking/cycling is good for your health, the postman would be immortal.
2. A whale swims all day, only eats fish, drinks water, and is fat.
3. A rabbit runs and hops and only lives 15 years.
4. A tortoise doesn't run and does nothing, yet it lives for 450 years.

And you tell me to exercise?? I don't think so.
I'm retired. Go around me!

Quiet Repose

2011-11-19T09:49:00.000-08:00

I have peeled myself off the floor after all the reno’s and will make up a slide show if you want to see what we’ve been up to. A little bit of finishing up, but mostly we’re done.

With my morning coffee the other day, I also enjoyed the view. Isn’t nature amazing. It’s becoming frosty and cold and some teasing moments by Mother Nature that we just might have snow for Christmas. Yes, it’s time for my yearly rant about wanting snow for Christmas, and the evil eye from everyone I say it to.

In the meantime, I will enjoy my favourite season, Fall…………and the beauty it brings. The light coming through from the morning sun, lit up the whole yard next door.

The colours of miniature trees to brighten up an otherwise lonely garden.

My favourite plant in the garden is my Heavenly Bamboo. Evergreen and changes colour to match the season. Green from Spring to Fall, and Pink/Orange/Red from Fall to Spring, what more could you ask for. And with frost on the leaves, even prettier.

And across the street are these birch trees with their bright white trunks that glow with the morning sun and make a statement all their own.

A year later

2011-11-07T20:55:00.001-08:00

It’s hard to believe that it’s a been a year since I had to say goodbye to my special little girl. In memory of her passing, I made this website for her.

I hope if you’re an animal lover, you will enjoy the pages. If you’re sentimental, you might want to grab a Kleenex for “Patrol’s Diary” page.

And, there is music. It does get a bit louder than when it first starts, so be aware so it doesn’t startle you. It’s a nice piece of music called “Aerith”.

So with that, I will leave you to visit her site if you would like to.

Click here

Assembly Line Underway

2011-11-02T10:55:00.000-07:00

A new holiday season is fast approaching and I’m on my way to decorating the tree….

And as if you need more sources of fabrics, click here for a great one on Etsy. Lynette from Honey Bee Humble puts together some great bundles that are perfect for doll makers and good prices. The fabric is good quality and there is a nice selection of designers to choose from. Two bundles I bought from her in the past year are these.

This one is called April showers and it’s Riley Blake line, I got this last spring.

I made a pair of Toe Up Socks for Colleen and I had some of the yarn left over, so I made some doll socks. Don’t they just work perfectly with the fabric. Complete surprize, didn’t plan that at all.

This one is a collection of polka dots. So timely, I have designed an elf ornament to make for the shop I sell my dolls at and these are so bright and cheerful, perfect for elves. Along with my other polka dot fabrics, Janet will have quite a gathering in her store. I found these in her Moda selections and are called Mary Jane Patterns by Sandy Klop.

If you must !

2011-10-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

If you must celebrate Halloween, Midnight Patrol says to have a ghoulishly good time, but watch out for the Michaels Myers, Jason and Freddies out there to spoil everyone’s good time.

I will be home brewing up something or other in my workroom. There’s always something or other turning up these days…

Coffee Filter Album

2011-10-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

In the early part of the summer I was contacted by a gentleman from France. He has an online art site and had found my post of the coffee filter album that I made to showcase my Marie Antoinette themed dolls at the doll club gallery show last fall.

He asked if I would be willing to write a tutorial for making the album for his website and of course I said yes. How flattering to be asked. It took me a while to put it together with a number of unavoidable delays, but I’m happy to say it’s now complete.

If you would like to see it, please click on my Tutorial link above. I have noted in the tutorial, that you may want to download it and read it on your computer. I have used almost exclusively, colour pictures that will use a lot of ink to print. However, the choice is yours.

Here is Mr. Duvals art site link and it is also in the right side column of my blog. You will find the link to my tutorial on his site listed under “Scrapbooking”, then under “Scrapbook With”… Thank you again Georges for asking me to do this, it’s been a pleasure.

House guests

2011-10-27T08:30:00.001-07:00

I just love it when those special guests arrive and stay all afternoon. You know the kind, they are never a problem. They just want to come a visit, put their feet up and relax in the calmness of your home… Sweet…

Peek a Boo !!

2011-10-26T22:24:00.001-07:00

I love silly moments. I had a workshop with Ute Vasina last Thursday and Friday. She was teaching Peter the Pack Rat. I got a lot of mine done in class, but when I got home, I decided to make different shoes for him and I had to take his legs off and move them down his hips so he would sit properly.

I didn’t want him to be scared (we do relate to our dolls a bit to much I think) so I told him to cover his eyes, I didn’t want him to see what I was about to do. He’s very well behaved and did as he was told. Cute or what….

He’ll be done soon, come back again for the finale.

A Gnarly Tree

2011-10-23T22:01:00.001-07:00

I have the first of two new tutorials to share with you. This one is explain the process I used to make my gnarly tree for the Halloween ornaments I made. The second tutorial will hopefully be ready within the week.

You can click over to my Tutorials page from the link above and get a copy of it. I hope it comes in handy and /or gives you some inspiration for other projects.

And before you leave, enjoy this great E Card someone sent me today.

Greatest Halloween Card Ever ...Here

Halloween Glam

2011-10-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

These are the ornaments i made from the fabrics I showed. Unfortunately the pictures do not do justice to the finished ornaments.

I also made a gnarly tree to hang them on. The tree is made from branches of other trees. I wanted a prop for the ornaments, so that’s how a tree was born. I am going to write a tutorial for that and perhaps someone out there might find it useful for a prop or it might tweak an idea for something you need….

Tutorial coming soon…

Funny moments

2011-10-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes things just make me laugh out loud and need no explanation… Here’s a few of those…. Some are snipped from email jokes or blogs and they all just hit that laugh button at the right times. Feel free to snip them from me……..

Wilda the Web Designer

2011-10-10T08:17:00.001-07:00

I thought I better get this posted before Halloween has come and gone and it’s to late. I don’t really celebrate Halloween, but because others do I did make this Witch and in the next post I’ll show you some other things I made. They have all gone to the shop in town.

Wilda is a design by Cindee Moyer and the name is the same as her pattern. I chose to go with the purple/black theme.I tried to go the way of the fabric I showed in my last post, but she was having none of it, so I used the fabrics she asked for. The other fabric got used in my other Halloween doings.

The broom is made using bristles from my corn broom outside and lets hope it gives her some good height when she flies off to a new home. Her shoes are actually purple, but because I used an iridescent paint, the flash of the camera made it blue.

Here she is….

Halloween Fabrics

2011-09-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

I’m not really a fan of Halloween, but the other day I was in the fabric dept. and came across this line of fabrics from the Alexander Henry Fabrics Collection, it’s called the Ghastlies. I was really excited by it because it’s not your traditional Halloween fabric of orange and black. It’s creative, fresh and new and completely unexpected. Two of the fabrics have prints that run across the width so I’ve tried to show you the entire scenes. Tell me if it doesn’t remind you of a certain movie, but then again, it could be a blend of a few. Use your imagination ….

The last picture is that of some purple/black organza and trims for this project. I will have more to show soon as to what I’m making with it so stay tuned..

Oriana and Ariel are finished

2011-09-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

We had our doll club meeting on Wednesday, and I took Oriana and Ariel for the two colour challenge. I’ve never won a challenge before, but I finally did this time. It was such a great feeling to know that what you work so hard to create is admired enough to have people vote for you… The prize was fun, a crafters tote full of all kinds of goodies including a package of embroidery floss. Hopefully some of the ones I need for a project I want to do in the near future….Here are the girls. I had so much fun with the theme. Oriana is dancing while Ariel is sitting with her eyes closed just listening to the music and wishing that her turn to dance will come soon.

Some details. The shoes are painted on, finished with sparkle glue, beads and the ceramic roses I found at Michaels.

More ceramic roses at Oriana’s waist, along with beading on the edges of her shorts.

The trims on both girls shoulders and wrists are made with ribbon that I ruched. Beaded embellishments as in the head pieces on both, and the backside of Ariel and on the base, were found on ebay. Knowing when to stop is always the challenge. To much is gaudy, to little never shows off the doll well enough, so you just have to figure out the place at which you say, enough….no more.

The box Ariel is sitting on, is just a little paper mache box covered with black and white dupioni silk, The cushion is made from the black minky and just a little trim to finish it.

So must go now and let Ariel finish dreaming of things to come.

Oriana and Ariel–Part 2

2011-09-04T09:06:00.001-07:00

The girls are almost done. I once again made a base for them using just a piece of wood and embellishments. I covered the top and sides this time with some pretty sparkly scrapbooking paper. Along the bottom edge I used a sparkly black metallic trim, and along the top edge I used a black and white soutache trim.

Where they meet in the center front, I put a sequin and pearls embellishment. On the corners I attached black fabric roses, one on each side of the corner.

Oriana is finished and Ariel will be shortly. Will have those pictures soon. I am also working a new tutorial, but more information about that in a while…… Back soon..

EcoPrint2 Pro

2011-08-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share with you a new software program I just got. I bought a bundle of software from a company in the UK, Serif.com They have a variety of programs for web design to graphic art and much more. I got to know about them when I bought an earlier version of the WebPlus web design software.

They made me an offer on a bundle of products to try and one of them I am especially pleased with. It’s not their product, but am so glad that they are a retailer for it. I did not know that makers of printers, set their printers up to use the most ink and of course that makes total sense from a retail perspective. You want people to buy lots of ink. If you are a graphic artist or designer of some sort, you will want to have the best resolution and quality prints you can.

However, for the everyday consumer like me, who takes a lot of online classes and has tons of printing to do, the ink can start to cost a pretty penny. Well, that’s been nipped in the bud so to speak. When you are ready to print your documents, you just open them up in this program, then send it to your regular printer to print it out. What this program does, is resets the ink usage in your printer and reduces the amount of ink you use by 75%. I does not reduce the quality of what you are printing either. Imagine how much money you can save.

Normally when I print colour pages, the printer will stop and let the pages dry before it prints the next one, and so on. I did a print out this morning of approx. 50 pages. The printer never stopped. That tells me that the amount of ink used was greatly reduced because otherwise the printer would have kept stopping to allow the previous pages to dry. Not this time and I am now a happy camper. I wish I had known about this sooner. Drat…..

Another tip to share with you, or at least something to watch for when you buy a printer. Look at printers that use individual cartridges for each colour. The reason is, if your printer has one cartridge for the colours, if one colour runs out you have to replace the whole cartridge. Very expensive especially since there is still ink left in the other colour chambers. Ask me how I figured that out. If you run out of one colour with individual tanks, you only need to replace that colour, and each time a colour runs out, it will only cost you the price of that colour. Just something to think about next time you buy a printer.

The site for the ecoprint2pro is here. There are two versions, one is to save on ink and toner, the other is ink, toner and paper. That’s the one I have. EcoPrint2 Pro. You can download a trial version and give it a go and see what you think….Good luck.

****Just remember, open your document as usual, choose ecoprint2 from the printer options. When the ecoprint2 window opens with your document, then choose your printer from the options, and voila****

Oriana and Ariel

2011-08-24T09:04:00.001-07:00

I’m working on my latest doll/dolls. We are having a two colour challenge in our doll club that is due at next months meeting. I chose black and white, although I suppose that it could be argued that they aren’t actually colours, they are usually used to change other '”real” colours to a darker or lighter shade. Rules should never apply in the doll world though, because as we all know, they have the last word.

Last post I showed you some Minky fabric that I used on Ari Briavel’s cape. It’s so beautiful up close and personal when you can touch it and feel just how soft and elegant it feels. At the same time I bought that, I also bought this other Minky fabric, thinking ahead to this challenge. I absolutely adore paisley prints and was quite blown away when I found that Minky was available in black and white and in a paisley print. Could have knocked me over with a feather.

Here is the black.

And the white. Sorry the pictures aren’t as clear as I would have liked them to be, but I think you can see enough of the pattern, I hope.

This is Oriana, the older of the two sisters. She is a design by Michelle Munzone. Website here Blog here. Oriana is practicing her dance moves to impress the audience at her next performance while I busy myself working on her costume. She’s busy instructing me also on what she wants her new costume to look like… She’s going to be fab, not to worry.

Her younger sister Ariel, is all sixes and sevens just now. She’s hoping to be able to join her sister on stage some day, but first she has to pull herself together. I’m sure she will. Stay tuned for that day to come very soon….

Ari Briavel is done

2011-08-18T20:03:00.001-07:00

The little lady is finished.

She’s been for a walk in the forest and along the way has gathered up a few things. She found a walking stick to help her along bumpy paths and her new leather boots helped to protect her delicate little feet. She is also very glad she chose her warmest pants, a forest can be a cold place some days.

She was very glad to have taken her cape along with her, as it proved to be a bit chilly in the forest. She also brought along her hat, and not long after, she found the prettiest feathers and decided the safest place to keep them from harm was in her hat. I think she was right.

The feather trims are a nice addition to the golden snowflakes she wears around her neck. There are no white snowflakes in her world, only golden ones. She had her baubles to hold her cape on her shoulders.

A little further along she found a big beautiful feather. Now where is the bird that has lost this amazing feather. She is now gazing skyward in hopes that, what must be a magnificent creature, will show itself to her. She is patient and can wait as long as it takes…

Soon she will be moving on to her new home and will have stories to share with her new family….

Ari Briavel

2011-08-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

I’m almost finished making a doll that I am swapping with a local pottery artist. Louise makes not only pottery cups, plates, bowls, she also makes these fabulous masks. Please click here for her website, then click on the picture of the mask. As you scroll down that page, you’ll see a blue one that is marked as “held”. That’s the one I chose as my swap art piece.

I love the idea of swapping art pieces, you both come away with something you really like and no exchange of money, just a lovely new piece of art that you can enjoy..

This is where I was yesterday with the doll and today she has more clothes. The shirt is made from silk. Inside the bottom of the sleeves, are golden snowflakes and glass leaves. The trousers are made from a synthetic fabric I found in the upholstery section of the fabric department, but it feels every bit like leather.

The base is just a simple piece of wood, but will be covered in fabric and trims. I seem to gravitate to wooden bases a lot, but with the right fabrics and trims, they can look pretty nice.

In the next couple of days or so, I’ll have the finished look to show you, so come back again. The doll design is by Barbara Schoenoff. Another of my favourite designers.

The big reveal !

2011-08-11T15:06:00.001-07:00

For those of you who have followed my blog for a while, you would remember our doll club started a round robin swap in March. We had our big reveal last night, and I am so pumped. My doll came back so pretty, everyone that worked on her, did such a fabulous job. I am so impressed with her makeover.

This was Fern when she left home in March. And below is her finished look. Didn’t she turn out great.

The Time Keeper

2011-08-02T14:14:00.001-07:00

I finished this doll on the weekend. It’s from a class with Michelle Munzone. I have taken classes and used her patterns since pretty much day one of my doll making journey. I like Michelle dolls, mostly because she does do the mystical type and in the beginning she won me over with her Jesters.

This doll is watching time. On the inside of the box, I used the celestial face that I found on an Etsy site, where Maggie has tons of collage papers you can buy and download. Here’s Maggies link. In the box along with the clock face, I added a little bottle to represent the sands of time along with some nautical elements charms that symbolize those which the mariners long ago would have used to travel the world, the sun, moon and stars. That was their only way to know what direction they were going. At the bottom of the Celestial face, is a ships wheel charm.

The clock for the front works on a battery. The Time Keeper himself is keeping track of time with his hourglass. I didn’t embellish him as much as Michelle did, but that’s just a personal preference. She was more daring than I for that part. It was a great class and maybe you’ll take a class with Michelle one day to.

Her website here: Bambole Designs Her blog here: Art by Michelle

And here is the Time Keeper

Round Robin and Two Headed Dolls

2011-07-31T12:43:00.000-07:00

The last round robin doll is leaving here in a couple of weeks. I will be interested to see how mine changed over the course of the last few months… This last doll is Primrose. I gave her necklace which is actually a ring that fits over a wine glass stem. Took a bit of persuasion to get it hooked on, but it’s there. I told Primrose not to swallow. I also gave her a ribbon sash around her waist and to finish up, I crocheted a little shawl and trimmed it with beads. I think she’s all ready to go home and plan her schedule of afternoon teas.

I also told you in a previous post about these very interesting two headed dolls that we saw at the last doll club meeting. One of the ladies from the club surprized me with pictures of them this morning. So here there are. I’m sure you will find them just as interesting. They are original designs by Florence of Dangerously Crafty. We are lucky enough that she has agreed to give us a workshop to make them ourselves.That should be fun.

She does very pretty faces and said she will give us some extra instruction on how she creates her look for her dolls. She also has had people order them to suit all kinds of themes. The picture below this one, shows a more goth theme. Sweet. Do the shoes look familiar??? ;o))

Food for thought

2011-07-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

Every so often I post something that is pretty much off the radar of what I generally post, but this is such an important topic, I just had to share the info. You may have seen this, but if haven’t, you will find it very illuminating to say the least. If you’ve ever experienced Cancer first hand or have had family or friends that have, you will certainly find this of interest.

The doctor shown in this movie developed a natural treatment for certain cancers, particularly for children, with specific attention to tumours. Just the idea that a doctor can treat cancer, especially for children, and that the FDA and NCI would fight him and try to stop him is appalling. I don’t want to say to much, but I think this worth the time to watch and share with others. You will be both shocked and probably not terribly surprized at the lengths that the powers that be, will go to, to stop someone from cutting into their profits.

When you get to the page, it may take a little while to start, but be patient. You can also download the entire movie for free and watch it in parts. At the end of the video there is also a note that you can go to his site and download the full transcript of this movie. I hope this helps someone. You don’t have to sit and watch it either, you can stuff dolly parts while you listen. multitask…..

A text link if you prefer not to click on the video link below. CLick here to go to Dr. Burzinski

Bathroom Reno

2011-07-28T10:37:00.000-07:00

My reno’s may not be a hot topic for some people, but when I look around me, I am quite surprized at the number of people that are doing them. Maybe it’s because of the summer weather because we all know it’s not going to last, so get done now what we can before the rain starts and we can’t have doors and windows open. Maybe my reno’s will inspire or help someone out there. I will have dollies to show soon, but this is what’s happening now.

The next phase of the updates was to change the lino in the bathrooms. The main bathroom lino had developed a bubble and I just knew there was going to be trouble. However, everything we’ve done so far, has been without problems, so this is good.

The main bathroom and ensuite have the same lino so I’ll just show you one of them. I went out to do some errands while the gentleman was here working on the bathroom. When I got back I heard a voice from upstairs saying, “we have a problem”. whereby I called back, “I knew you were going to say that”. It wasn’t as bad as the pictures with show, more work for the poor guy than anything else. On his hands and knees scraping off this unholy black mess of exploded particle board. So glad he wore proper stuff to work in with all those potential mold spores floating around… Eww, poor guy.

Old Lino…… thank goodness it’s gone to the great beyond. I know I’m waffling on about the colour, but seriously, the floors, the counters and even the carpet was/are either gold or yellow.

Water damage. It was restricted to the particle board under the lino and didn’t go further. My persistence in getting the floors changed paid off because the workman told me if we had waited much longer we could have had much worse trouble.

There was a layer of particle board on top of the bottom layer of plywood and why anyone even back in 78’ thought that particle board was a good idea for a bathroom is beyond me. The water damage only got part way along and thankfully didn’t require taking it out from under the tub and cupboard….that would have been a huge extra cost and time factor, so I’m counting my blessings.

Once the rest of the particle board was taken out we had a week of waiting for it dry out and for the company to reschedule him to come back and finish the job. A new slightly thicker piece of plywood replaced (NO PARTICLE BOARD) the floor could be finished. So much better and of course those same baseboards. (aka framing wood ;o~)

My final touch was on the weekend. After finishing the kitchen I started scraping away at the old grout around the tub. A bit of mess mostly near the faucet, but not to bad when I got it all off.

The part where the mold was starting to show, didn’t go beyond the surface, so it was quick and easy to scrape away. Dried off well, new silicone and the job is done. No plans to paint the bathrooms, maybe just a wall washing in my future…

Kitchen Redo

2011-07-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

I love makeovers, especially when it’s for the house. Where we live is our sanctuary, so I like it to feel cozy and comfy. I painted the kitchen a long time ago and loved it at the time. But, it’s always bugged me that I didn’t take the care to do it right. You know wash down the walls, fix up rough spots etc etc.

We also had new lino put in. The old one was the original from 1978. I think there were only 2 patterns at the time, and we have both in our house. Just kidding of course, but in all fairness, the old one held up very well, just got tired of looking at it. We also did other rooms and as each room is finished I’ll show you the changes. today it’s the kitchen.

This time it took me three days, but I really took my time plus it’s a small kitchen and I had to work in stages, do one corner put things back and so on. Not like big spaces where you could shove everything into one area and go for it. Our cupboards don’t go to the ceiling either, so it was a lot of climbing up and down the ladder and onto the counters to be able to reach up there.

Anyway, it’s done. It went from periwinkle blue to a really light dove grey, the colour is called Cry A River, The man at the store added a touch of purple to the mix and he was right, it just gave it that extra something. You can’t tell from pictures, it’s one of those “you have to see it up close” things.

Before and after. First the old lino.

Then the new lino and and you can see the old paint colour. We also changed the base boards to these white ones. Apparently, showing our lack of knowledge about what is baseboard and what is actually wood trim around window and door frames, we chose the later… Ooops, oh well, I like the wood and it is only for the baseboards after all.

Next came the painting. The lino in the next picture looks very dark, but the picture above is accurate. Of course, no new paint job is complete without changing the plugs and light switches to match. The white is so much nicer to look at.

I also had a basket of dried grasses on the top of the cupboards. Hubby put those in the compost and I pulled out my stash of silk flowers that were in a corner being neglected. I added them to the basket and there they are.

While I was busy with all that, hubby got busy and gave the gazebo a brand new paint job. We’ve had so much rain these past couple of fall /winter/spring seasons, that the paint was in pretty bad shape and some boards needed replacing on the floor.

He decided to prime the wood this time and bought marine grade paint as it’s the high end type that will cause the water to bead off. Expensive, but given the amount of rain and the damage it can cause to wood structures over time, it was a necessary expense. It looks like a plastic gazebo now, but also looks brand new again. Amazing what a coat of paint can do. For a 20 year old structure exposed to the elements year in and year out, it certainly has held up well.

It also looks like we might stand a chance of getting some corn this year after a couple of dismal showings…. Can’t wait. The raspberry canes on the right, are overflowing with berries and so sweet this year. Maybe it was the cold start to the growing season???

Little Feet

2011-07-22T07:25:00.001-07:00

We had a guest at our last doll club meeting, Florence. She has a new store in town called Dangerously Crafty. Paper arts mostly, but she also has other craft classes as well. Florence came with these adorable shoes for our dolls and she also brought examples of the two headed doll she designed some time ago.

At first I couldn’t imagine why a two headed doll, but when she explained her reason, it made total sense. It was when she was going through that delicate thing called the change of life. She said she felt like she had two heads and those of us who have been there, can totally relate to that. I don’t have a picture of the dolls, but they really are unique. When I see her again, I will get a picture to show you. In the meantime, here are the shoes. They measure 3” long and come in tons of colours.

First up are these high top sneakers.

Next we have regular style ones.

And last for today are these, my favs, little Harlequin slip ons. I mean really, how cute are these. The beauty of these to, is that you can colour them in with pens if you wan to change the colour. I may make one pair red and black but for now, I’m just enjoying looking at them. They are every bit like our own shoes with the rubber soles and topstitching and laces. She has them specially made and I’m sure I will have to pay her another visit quite soon…. ;o)))

Marionette

2011-07-15T08:08:00.001-07:00

This is amazing. Love the control this man has over his Marionette. Makes me appreciate even more, as if I needed to appreciate more, the charm and attraction we all have to dolls.

Here is the link to the YouTube video if you want to view it on a larger screen… Truly talented. http://youtu.be/kPvciIdDZAE

Pretty in Pink

2011-07-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

Finally I have the second outfit done. She’s so cute, you can’t help but smile, especially when the two girls are sitting side by side waiting to head off to the doll club meeting tonight. Here she is….

Like before, we’ll start at the shoes. I made these with a mauve toned wool and lined with a light colour printed cotton and pink laces. The socks are made like the other doll.

Then we have the pants. Same design, but colour change. This fabric is also minky and oh so soft. Like a baby bunny I would say.

The hat is a decorated a little differently. The white button is a vintage mother of pearl and I’ve sewn another to the top of the hat. This little girl doesn’t have as much hair as her sister, so I had to gather the top a little to shorten it, or the lack of puffy hair to hold it up would have caused the hat to fall below her eyes. The brim is more straight as well.

The final touch is the jacket. The buttons are also made the same way, with polymer clay over metal buttons. And here they are waiting to go out tonight… And just as a footnote (no pun intended). The shoes are not as big as they appear, they just look big from the angle I took the picture. Done and dusted, on to the next dollies, just waiting for me to finish here…… Stay tuned.

Drafting Doll Clothes

2011-07-01T18:11:00.000-07:00

I think I’ve discovered that I’m a binge blogger. It’s either feast or famine. It’s been to long since I posted, but for good reason. This has been a busy busy house, but more about that another time. Today’s entry is my first doll outfit from the Drafting Doll Clothes workshop with Colleen Babcock.

I kind of sort of, knew the approach to making doll clothes because I sew for myself, but learning it the way I did with Colleen just put all the pieces together in a neat little package of easy to understand steps. If ever she’s in your area, you really need to try and get a workshop with her. I can’t say that enough, she truly is the best teacher.

This is my porcelain doll from at least 25 years ago. I made two of them this size, and I’m in the process of making the same outfit for the other doll but in a different colour. So starting with the shoes I made, these are made using a wool fabric, hard leather soles, trimmed with soutache and for the laces as well, and they are lined. I even made a tongue for them…. Sweet..

No self respecting dolly would be without socks, so she has those too. Stretchy lace and trimmed with lace as well.

Moving up, she has her pants on now.

She has her hat now, hasn’t she just got the cutest face, love those chubby cheeks. The buttons I made, they are polymer clay. I used those metal button kits, the kind that you cover the metal button with the fabric you’re using, but in this case, I covered them with clay and made 3 sizes. I added two colours of ribbon trims and a couple of white buttons for contrast..

And here is the final finished look. For comparison, I have added the pictures below that I used to create the clothes and shoes. The shoes aren’t quite the same, but they are similar. Google images is such a great resource. Enjoy.

King of Clubs

2011-06-17T14:33:00.001-07:00

Have never done Steam Punk before and have only done a microscopic amount of sculpting with clay, and that was just Paper Clay over cloth on doll faces.

I signed up for this class with Nefer Kane on Adele Scortino’s site for the very reasons above. Learn a little about Steam Punk so I can move on from there, learn to sculpt with polymer clay and mostly because i just love love love this pin.

However, as is the case with most classes, the way things begin is the not way they end. I started out well intentioned to make the Queen of Hearts, but ended up with a King of Clubs. I tried to go female, but my hands created a male, but it’s all good.

I went from what I was there to do, which is this…

and finished up with this.

I know one eye is a bit wonky, but that’s much like his creator and we all have one eye that is smaller than the other…. (and now every one of you will go to the mirror to check, you did didn’t you)…. I had a happy kind of accident with the lips. I used a black colour of a product called Smooch (found at stamping stores) and didn’t like it. To dramatic. So I got some hand sanitizer and washed it off and it left a shade on the lips which is fine because it looks very natural. All in all, I am very happy with this for a first time with polymer clay. Next…………..

Lemons to Lemonade

2011-06-15T15:03:00.001-07:00

Sometimes as the saying goes, when you have lemons, you make lemonade and that’s what I did.

While hubby was away overseas I asked him to see if he could find some fabric to make place mats for a friend, so nice cotton with pictures of island themes. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy to find as it is here in North America. What he did get, was actually a happy accident. It definitely would not work for place mats for indoor use, but as our friend said, it would for an outside table or on a boat etc.

When I realized I wouldn’t be able to make the place mats I wanted I got my muse working to give me some suggestions. “Of course she said, how about this”………….. Brilliant, that’s what I’ll do. Off to the fabric store to get some strapping and back home and sew sew sew because we planned to visit our friend today.

This is what we gave her and put your sunglasses on for viewing. Bold bright and beautiful. For someone who uses an electric wheelchair and gets out to do much of her own shopping, this is perfect. She will be visible by cars and others, and for people in wheelchairs anything that draws attention to them, is so much the better for their safety. The straps are just the right length to have the clerk in the store hang the bags on the arms of the wheelchair. I love them. What fun.

So what do you think?????? Flashy new grocery bags. I think they are great and I have fabric left over to make my own and who knows, maybe a dolly will get a holiday wardrobe from this trip to Barbados…

Parsley Ice Cubes

2011-06-14T07:01:00.001-07:00

I go from one extreme to another don’t I. A couple of days ago it was all things dolly, then comedy hour thanks to the Yeoman Warden of London Tower, and today is a cooking and health topic.

Parsley ice cubes you say. Well, it’s true. With all the rain and cool temps we’ve had, it produced a beautiful batch of parsley, the best ever. The fragrance is strong when cut and tastes so good. Did you know parsley, simple little parsley is jam packed with health benefits. One of particular note is help with stiff joints. If you want to know more, and why wouldn’t you, click here.

Today’s offering is cooking and health tip. I went out and cut a lot of that parsley before it could go to seed before it gets fully utilized. Break the pieces off the stems, don’t be to particular, just remove the larger stems, keep the rest they are just as good.

You will want to rinse the parsley several times in cool water. I did mine 3 times. There are little critters that you don’t really see until you bring it in, mostly little white flies, totally harmless, but do rinse the parsley well.

From there just chop it up a bit to make it small enough to fit into your ice cubes trays. It doesn’t have to be microscopic size, just chop it a little. Remember to enjoy the aroma and chew on a few pieces while you work, yummy.

Fill up your ice cube trays, I fill mine about 3/4th full. They I pour cold water over them and poke the parsley down so most of it is submerged. Doesn’t matter if some is sticking up. Pop it into the freezer and wait overnight.

In the morning, look what you have. Transfer them to a box or bag in the freezer and just take two or three cubes when you make soup or stew or ????? and it‘ll give your meal a little boost.

I’ve always used parsley, but didn’t think to freeze it. Remembered hearing about this years ago but just didn’t act on it. So get out there and pick your parsley while it’s at it’s best….

A bit of silly for this morning

2011-06-13T07:17:00.001-07:00

Yeoman Warden at Tower Of London. He’s the kind of guy you want to take you on a tour of anything, he’s just got that perfect gallows humour….. So if you have a little time, or come back later to watch the rest, it’ll be worth it…. Hilarious…..

Finders Keepers is done !

2011-06-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

Finished her last night. She went on quite a tear overnight and gathered up all kinds of this and that for her stash. I found little piles of things here, there and everywhere, I guess she spent quite a time deciding on just the right things.

Although you can’t quite see everything, she found keys, mini spools of thread, silk no less, buttons, bobbins, one of my mini playing cards and even a hammer. Guess that’s for protection?????

After all that work, I decided she could keep them, so I helped her attach everything to her pockets, she even hung a couple of things from her tail. Smart imp that she is. I was going to surprize her with this little hat box I made for her yesterday, but she found that to and was trying to hide it from me….didn’t work, I found it.

She found my gears for my steam punk things to come soon, and thankfully she only took one of the big gears.

With such a cute face I had a hard time being mad at the mess she made, but she did get the shake of the finger….. She’s done and I just love her to bits. Probably the cutest little doll yet, and I did give her ears, they just made her complete. Thanks for creating her Colleen. She’s a very special little lady.

Round Robin Doll #4

2011-06-09T22:35:00.001-07:00

I decided not to let time slip away from me like it did for the this months round robin swap, I got busy today and worked on the doll I got at last nights meeting. I was so happy because this doll has hair and stuff, not a lot of thinking to do this time. The story for this one as the book reads, is that she’s following in the footsteps (if she had feet that is) of Cher and others like her in the entertainment field.

My contribution to the cause was to add to her Divaness by giving her a boa (how cliché is that). Her gown was down the floor, but I peeked under it and discovered this wonderful diamond pattern fabric and I just couldn’t leave it covered, the colours just had to shine. So I ruched the front of it to make it look more like something stage like, at least I think it does.

The last thing I added was a microphone. So where does one find a mic for a doll, hmmmm, decided to make one for her. Very quick tutorial for you on what I did.

At the hardware store you can find all kinds of interesting things in little drawers. I found these little bit of metal that were long and thin about 1” or so long. Don’t know what they’re for but they were a good size and length. I found a wooden bead in my stash that would fit on top but it was a bit big. I flattened out some black polymer clay, wrapped it around the metal piece and smoothed it out.

Then took the bead and pressed it onto the top and took more flat clay and molded it to the bead. I cut a piece of screen placed it on top and used a bit more clay to hold it in place, then a second layer of screen just to make it show up more and gently smoothed out the clay again. I pushed some large size jump rings up the handle and pressed them into the clay, then baked it all as per the manufacturers instructions. When it was cooled off, I just glued on some cabochons, and presto, one doll size microphone.

My work here is done and she’s ready to move on next month to her next doll maker.

Round Robin doll #3

2011-06-08T11:21:00.001-07:00

I’m not sure if others are afraid of hair or don’t like doing hair or just wanted to do something else, but this is the 3rd round robin doll I’ve worked on that came to me bald. I decided on a headdress with silk tied in knots and added some crystal beads for a bit of sparkle.

Her poor little hands were added by the last person but, as was noted in the book that came with the doll, needed some TLC to fix them. I tried to make gloves with 3 different fabrics, but that didn’t work. Much easier to just make hands into gloves with the fabric to begin with. I thought about what to do and them it came to me. There were extra bits of the fabric in the bag, so I made some ruffles and added a bit of lace and now the hands look more like gloves and any imperfections can be viewed as wrinkles in the gloves.

Poor thing also needed her makeup fixed up. She didn’t even have a nose anymore, I guess from being handled a bit and maybe the face wasn’t sprayed. Don’t know, but she’s better now.

I finished up by giving her a beaded scarf. i used the same fabric as the veil for Stitch in Time. It feels and drapes like silk, but is actually a poly type cloth. Really great find. She’s off to the meeting tonight and lets see who I bring home for round #4. I hope this one has hair…. ;o~

Steampunk

2011-06-06T09:56:00.001-07:00

It was bound to happen, I’m being infected by the Steampunk bug. What a bug. I have a few parts now, and as I find things to dismantle, I’m fairly certain that I will build on my collection.

With starting something new, comes the books, correct. Well my books have arrived and as always someone has to take the blame for it. This time it’s Laura Lundsford and her recent dolls where she’s used the Steampunk theme. Very nice dolls and you should at least be an intermediate doll maker because her instructions assume you are familiar with the process of making dolls, but very creative dolls none the less and a style all her own.

I know you need more books to and please feel free to blame you reduced pocket book on me, it’s fine. This is the first book, yes the first, there are more than one. This one is fabulous, not just the ideas for making jewelry which is the main focus, but the illustrations are the same fabulous inspirations and will cause you to be inspired whether you like it or not.

The next book is by none other than Christi Friesen. She’s the first one I discovered doing things in a Steampunk way. This book is cover to cover how to do it. The illustrations are clear and lots of them, showing you how to do this and that, using polymer clay, and covers tons of mixed media projects. Fantastic.It’s a smaller book but full full full of information.

The last book is the Bible of Steampunk and it truly is. You can read up on the beginnings of this topic. Full as the other books of illustrations both black/white and colour. This is one of those books you can flip to any page and be enthralled with the information. It’s not project oriented, it’s a learning curve. I love love love this book, it’s also hardcover which I like for the amount of times I will pick up and leaf through it. If you’re confused like I was about this crazy thing called Steampunk, you won’t be after this.

All three of the these books will make your head explode from inspiration. I would recommend any of them if you have the least bit of interest in the subject matter. Every one of them is beautifully put together, easy to follow and will make your muse delirious with ideas and will promptly shove those ideas into your head. Happy creating.

She’s coming along nicely!

2011-06-02T10:33:00.001-07:00

Finders Keepers is so darn cute and almost don’t want to finish her because she has so much character, but I am almost done, just have to add her sash, her hair, bonnet and turn her loose in my workroom to find her choice of bits and bobs to carry with her.

I found the sweetest little buttons in my stash for her bodice, I think they were with the buttons that I received from my neighbour. They are little vintage pearl buttons measuring 1/4th of an inch, flat on top and a short shank on the back made from the same material as the buttons, I also found these cute little cameo buttons on an eBay site. I wasn’t actually looking for them, they just appeared on a site I was browsing, and knew they would be perfect for dollies.

Another day of no distractions and Finders Keepers will be done. While waiting for her bodice, she discovered a window and spent her time watching what was going on outside. She’s a very curious little imp.

A close up of her buttons, aren’t they pretty. I still have 3 more of the pearl ones and a few of the cameo’s, so another cutie like this could be in my future.

From the front…………

And from the back, again she rushed over to see what I was working on at the computer. Very inquisitive, nosey more like it……. Yes, I do relate to my dolls.. ;o)

Did you know?!?!

2011-06-01T11:57:00.001-07:00

Prisma pencils are no longer made by the original company….. No they aren’t. Have you noticed that your pencils keep breaking and breaking when you try to sharpen them? Have you asked questions at stores where you buy your pencils, why they keep breaking? I’ve got the scoop for you…

I went to stock up on pencils recently, at our local art store. Later that day, I was sharpening those Prisma pencils and they kept breaking. One of the pencils even split all the way down almost the full length of the pencil. So I went back to the store.

I saw one of the employee’s and asked him if I could pick his brain a little re: the Prisma pencils. He said sure, what do want to know. So I asked him, “why do these pencils keep breaking when I sharpen them? They never used to be this bad, in fact one of them even split all the way down, and I wasn’t even really sharpening it yet, I had only made one turn of the pencil in the sharpener. Once in a while if I pushed to hard on the pencil and the sharpener they would break, but now I’m using a very light touch and the same thing keeps happening.”

He told me that Prisma was sold to another company and that company had replaced the quality of the pencils with the volume sales of them, which now compromises the quality of the pencils. To make a long story short, he recommended that I switch to an electric pencil sharpener. He does his artwork with pencils and said it’s what saved him the frustration. So I did. Now all my pencils sharpen no problem and I’m not throwing them in the garbage anymore. On a return visit to the store, I also learned that the company that bought Prisma pencils, is the Rubbermaid company.

What???? Rubbermaid???? Really…… So there you go. Volume sales over quality of product, yet again..

This is the brand of electric pencil sharpener that I bought. Some people aren’t convinced that these work, so speaking only for myself, it works so well that I haven’t wasted anymore pencils. One tip using these types of sharpeners.When you put the pencil in to sharpen it, listen for the motor to gear down and that’s the clue that the pencil is sharpened. Don’t keep pushing it in farther and farther…. I was able to buy mine on sale, so watch for discounts, you won’t be sorry…

Purple Green and Impish all over……

2011-05-28T18:17:00.001-07:00

So I’m onto my next doll from the workshops with Colleen last month. This one is Finders Keepers. What a cutie pie she is. A bit of a naughty imp though and wouldn’t stop fidgeting while I was trying to work on her shoes, stockings and bloomers, but got those done finally. I loved this colour combination when I first spotted it, would never have thought about using it, but then again, I love bright colours, so why not.

Her little shoes are so cute. I found this little piece of soft purple leather in my stash and it really is just the perfect fit for these shoes. The soles are made using a heavier leather and I also made some heels for her soles with two colours of leather.

I used opposite coloured buttons to her stockings first on the bottom layer, then I added a smaller button on top to match the stockings, then to finish I stitched the buttons together with opposite coloured thread. Stitched them to the shoes added a drop of glue underneath for added measure.

Things were going well, Her stockings, shoes and bloomers are done and she decided to watch reruns of Project Runway with me while I read over some notes…

The little sneak that she is, when I turned away for a second, she spun around, grabbed my special scissors with her tail and tried to make a run for it….Not so fast my little Imp. I grabbed them just in time. Obviously I will have to keep a much closer eye on her from now on….

Marie Antoinette Album

2011-05-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

My album is done. I went completely and insanely embellishment crazy. So much so, I have to put it on two separate sets of locking rings for the time being. I have to go and get some really big rings if I want it all together. I also have to add a connecting cord from the front to the back cover or all the insert picture will fall out. Yeah I know, but this is like a tribute to Marie Antoinette and if you have seen the movie with Kirsten Dunst you will fully appreciate the exaggerated use of embellishments.

This album is made to house all the pictures of my dolls from the gallery show last fall and my theme was loosely based on Marie Antoinette’s Royal Court.

Lots of pictures today. (click on them to see them larger) The first are all 16 covers, then I’ve added one picture of the type of inserts. They are all pictures of my dolls from the Coast Collective Gallery show last fall and you can see all my dolls by scrolling down the right column to Labels, and click on My Dolls.

Finally the last picture is to show how I joined all the covers together. I used an awl to make two holes at the narrow end, glued washers on both sides of the end for stability and joined it all together with metal locking rings. (cheapest place for them was the dollar store).

The inserts have some embellishments, but tamed down in order to avoid to much bulk when I slip them inside the coffee filter covers. You can trim them with fibres or tabs or whatever you fancy to give you a way to slide them out of the covers to see the pictures. I also put pictures on both sides of the inserts. Seemed kind of naked to only do one side.

The cover is has a scroll attached to it. Have you wondered what the scroll says…???? Did you even notice???? ;o) When I cut out the picture for the cover from a greeting card, I caught a glimpse of some words and this is what it said inside. Somehow appropriate for Marie Antoinette and her King Louie.

How sweet the moonlight
sleeps upon this bank!
Here will we sit, and let
the sounds of music
Creep in our ears.
Soft stillness and the night
Become the touches
of sweet harmony.

~Shakespeare

Coffee Filter Album 1

2011-05-23T07:38:00.001-07:00

I’ve been working away on my paper/mixed media art. I started this album for pictures of my dolls, then a flash of inspiration happens, doesn’t it always. I decided to make an album to show the art pieces I put in the gallery show that our doll club hosted at the Coast Collective Gallery last fall. I’m not finished those pages, but they are looking really cool (JMHO)….

In the meantime, I’ll show you these first pages. Now that I’ve been working on my gallery album and it’s based on Marie Antoinette, I’ve used a lot more embellishments as is fitting for a Queen, I can see in these first few pages of my original album, that I have a couple of things to add or cover up. Pictures do tend to expose our mistakes or omissions……Enjoy….

Changing up a little

2011-05-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

At our monthly doll club meeting last week, one of the members, Meeri, did a mini class making coffee filter albums. Because meetings are usually so fast paced, you can’t always get done what you’re imagining in your minds eye. We made up the start of two pages of an album so I am using those as prototypes for my actual album.

When I went to buy the filters, I couldn’t remember the size and ended up with the larger ones, which is actually a happy mistake. I think the larger pages will be easier to work with and allows more room to work. The ones I bought are Melitta size 6.

The process is so simple and a great way to make use of all those bits and pieces in your stash. I don’t know if you’re like me, but if I even see some shiny or interesting bit of something on the ground, like a bit that’s broken off a necklace or bracelet or what have you, I rescue it and pop it into my little wooded container knowing full well, a doll or now, a paper project will receive it.

I’ve just got the filters started. I’ve added some plain cardstock to them, and some patterned papers. Those go on both sides of the filters. The filters themselves will have inserts made of more cardstock,trims etc. I pulled out my stash of greeting cards that I buy just for the artistic value they are, again knowing that they will be used. Maybe it was just this project that I’ve been collecting for…

How you make yours is totally based on what you’re after. This is the start of mine. After the pictures, I’ve added a few links to sites that are either videos or sites for written instructions. I will post pictures of my finished album, but for now, just a few glimpses of what I’ve pulled out so far….

Just a note: I found these cute little packets of Kleenex in the picture below, at Safeway. The checkout lady thought it was a shame to use them for their expected use and I told her I was using them for paper art, we both had a giggle and sigh of relief over that…. so don’t discount those simple things that seem to only have one purpose. As luck would have it, they are the right colours for the papers I’m using, love those surprizes.

A You Tube video: click here

A mini album using coffee cup sleeves.A great idea that could be used in so many way, like invitations and more: click here

A site with written instructions: click here

Another site with written instructions: pretty pictures and album: click here

The Green Man

2011-05-17T16:41:00.001-07:00

One more project scratched off my list. This is one of three new designs from Colleen that I’m testing for her. They won’t however, be available as patterns. They will be used as demo’s or classes.

This is her Green Man pin doll. Very cool and masculine. Nice to have a guy thing now and then, the ladies seem to get so much attention. Maybe Colleen will make a complete guy doll soon???? maybe??????

Stitch in Time–is Done

2011-05-16T15:57:00.001-07:00

I finished the last touches on her last night and here she is in all her prettiness. I’m not sure that’s a word, but I guess it is now…;o)

I think just about every one of Colleen’s dolls, has something to do. In this case, she’s busy getting her needlework done. Now originally, she was going to stitch a dragon, but I went online and found this pretty filigree heart, I had her stitch it in only one colour, but we decided to add a tiny bit of metallic and a few beads for interest. It was a free pattern I found while looking for Celtic designs.

Her hair is done with a yarn found at Michaels, it’s called Really Big and it’s made by Bernat. What I found so interesting, is that it feels like a soy fibre. It wasn’t what I intended to use, but when my friend Jeannine and I spotted it, we each grabbed a colour and traded so we could each enjoy the two colours. It’s lovely and soft and this particular colour went so well with the fabrics I chose.

I decided to use some fur around her Surcoat as well as around her cuffs and I think it turned out so great. She seems to like it to and the best part is that it didn’t interfere with her fancy work while she worked away on it. And yes, the needle is in her left hand, just like her maker… ;o)

This doll reminds me of my needlework era with all the fine work. The beading on the Surcoat, the beaded belt and the embroidery, plus lets not forget those pretty Crispinettes. How sweet are those.

That’s if for now, Thank you Colleen, I will never stop saying that. I so enjoy seeing what’s coming next. Bye for now until Finders Keepers begins her blog journey………

2nd Round Robin doll

2011-05-10T06:49:00.001-07:00

Just finished the 2nd round robin doll this morning. Why didn’t I wait until tomorrow afternoon, then I could really leave it to the last minute…I could be rushing out the door with the smell of workable fixative on her face and have that in my car all the way to the meeting, and then bless everyone in the room with that chemical odour… An opportunity missed…

This lady came to me faceless and hairless. I will have a word with the doll maker before me who sent her on with no face…. ;o~(

However, she gave this doll some pretty pearl embellishments on her hips and the top edge of her dress, so I carried that on with pearls along the hairline. The hair is made with hairy gimp. Unfortunately, the arms are stitched in place and I think it would be cheeky of me to change the pose. Perhaps by the time she gets back to her mom, she’ll have wonderful things draped over her arms to make them look busy instead of mannequin like.

Thankfully having just come out of workshops, my mind is still on faces, so I felt okay giving another doll maker’s doll a face. That’s a scary thing because you just don’t know how they’ll react. Maybe that’s a good way to force you to take your time and do the best you can…. She’s ready for tomorrow night’s next swap and see who I bring home next. Until then……………

Stitch in Time–part 2

2011-05-08T14:08:00.001-07:00

Here are the next steps of her ladyship. Things are pinned in place for now just so I can make sure of how things are positioned. Her arms will change slightly, I think they’ll come up a little higher.

The fur around the bottom is rabbit. My DH brought it back from the far east years ago. I don’t search out real fur, but I seem to get gifts of it, so I will use it. The bottom of the base wasn’t covered, but I had extra length of cord, so I kept going and covered the bottom as well.

The trim at her neck is made with a narrow bronze coloured organza ribbon with the gold metallic/burgundy cording trim on top. Colleen used the prettiest tiny trim on hers, but this is what I came up with. I think the subtle sparkle and touch of colour worked out well. It stands out nicely rather than other things I tried that just blended into the dress and you couldn’t see the trim. The beading is actually straight in real life but of course not in the picture. Now I know why professional photographers get paid so well, they watch for these little things.

I found a different Celtic pattern to use for the cross stitch element that the doll will be holding, you’ll see that at the end. So far so good…Off to work, more soon.

Stitch in Time–part 1

2011-05-04T09:21:00.000-07:00

Am getting together on Friday with a friend from the doll club so I had to choose something to work on. Like I don’t have enough projects on hand to work on, I could line them up along the wall and out the door I’m pretty sure. I decided that Stitch in Time was the easiest to carry around. These are the fabrics I chose to use for this doll. Included with these fat quarters, is some pale yellow Dupioni silk to bring lightness to the finished look.

I worked on her base last night and today I’ll get the other hand and arm put together. The bodice will get done before Friday as well, then I can concentrate on hand sewing to put her altogether.

Because I have made all of Colleen’s designs, the one thing in her Stitch in Time workshop that was my “AH HA” moment, has to be attaching the opposable thumb to the hand. While I can easily follow along with her instructions because they are so complete and I have been able to do the thumbs before, there is nothing better than having those things demonstrated by the designer herself. Now I “get it” and won’t be so hesitant to do them again.

They aren’t hard, I just like to get that same lovely pose to the fingers, so now I feel more confident. All it took was seeing it done. One of things besides the face that will attract people to your dolls is the pose. If they look like their movements are fluid they are far more interesting, than the stiff soldier like stance. If you’re able to attend workshops in your area, you really do learn so much from them.

Start now putting those pennies away, a little each month, and by the time a designer is scheduled to come to your area, you’ll be able to pay the fee, every dollar is well spent. If you come away with understanding how to do that one thing that has troubled you in your doll making, then you have accomplished what the whole experience was meant to be. One thing to keep in mind, always, no matter how silly you think your questions are, ASK THEM. Don’t struggle trying to understand something if your teacher is standing right there, you may be helping another doll maker who may not feel confident enough to ask questions.

More to follow soon, come back and see what’s next with this little lady..

Pardon My Political Moment!

2011-05-02T21:54:00.001-07:00

Our Canadian elections are usually pretty quiet, but tonight’s results were quite history making in so many ways. Two major parties took huge hits dropping one of them below party status all together, and in our area of Saanich-Gulf Islands, on the west coast of Canada, we made Canadian history.

Congratulations to Elizabeth May, the first ever Green Party candidate to be elected in not only British Columbia, not only in Canada, but in the whole of North America. I firmly believe, that her refusal to get into the mud slinging, staying on topic with her campaign, and presenting her party position, is what won her the top votes, unseating a Conservative cabinet minister who has held the seat for the past 5 elections.

She is also the leader of the Green Party of Canada and the other thing that probably played a role in her being elected, was the refusal to allow her to take part in the candidates debates televised on National TV.

No matter, she won and that’s all that counts. You may be the lone Green Party member, but your voice will be heard, I have no doubt about that. Onward and upward Ms. May, you’ve earned your place in Parliament.

The expression says it all!

2011-05-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

Another view of our time with Colleen. There’s always those moments of silly, when someone who is sitting quietly says something out of left field and all sense of what you were doing is gone as everyone crumbles into peals of laughter.

And those times when the teacher has to demonstrate, in this case, a pose.

Smiling faces from the Finders Keepers class.

Gone in a flash!

2011-04-28T06:35:00.000-07:00

A short post just to say hello and then head back to my comfy place to suffer through the nasty cold that is making the rounds.

Colleen has come and gone and it seems like just a spec of time has passed. Nobody wanted her to go, we all wanted to find ways to keep her here, but it was not to be. She had to fly away and take on her next challenge.

If your doll club is deciding on a teacher, we can highly recommend Colleen. Those in our club who struggle the most with their doll faces, all came away feeling completely satisfied and that they now have so much more confidence after Colleens approach. Those who are more experienced, came away with an even more vast library of skills. In other words, each and everyone came away with a smiley face. Her approach is such that no matter your experience, you will learn from her.

The most common feedback was how she filled in the gaps of doll making. In other words, we can make dolls from A - Z, but now understand the steps that get us there. She connected all the dots with her well prepared, organized and confident way of teaching.

More to come soon…

Let’s Face It

2011-04-17T19:44:00.001-07:00

A small post before tomorrow and Colleen arrives. I thought I better make sure to have something to identify myself and since I only had to add the trim to this, it seemed very appropriate.

This is from Colleen’s “About Face” pin doll class. What a quick and oh so cute project. Scroll down on this page and you’ll find it. They can be made to look so different each time you make it, so an easy way to give gifts, just choose their colours and you’re all set. Make one for everyone you know, they will love you for it.…. ;o)))

Place Mats

2011-04-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

I love handmade place mats. To me they signify that you enjoy cooking, doesn’t have to be fancy cooking either, just healthy meals. It also, means that you have your meals together and talk about your days activities. A table does not have to be set with fine china and crystal either, it just has to feel welcoming.

With company coming, I just had to make place mats. I had a tablecloth I bought a while ago and while I love the colour, I didn’t have the right place mats to use. I did buy some of those skinny bamboo type, but when you rest your arms on them, not so comfy. Those I bought in a pinch, hence the need to go back to homemade.

When I was at one of our local fabric shops the other day, they had a display of the bolts of fabric and these kits made up for place mats and a table runner, didn’t buy the table runner, but for sure the mats. I didn’t have the tablecloth with me, but as luck would have it, the mats turned out to be just right…

What was a great discovery, something I had forgotten until I got the mats finished, was that the table cloth has lines of what look like hand stitching throughout. Of course it’s not hand stitched, but my sewing machine does the same kind of stitch.

I don’t use a lot of the stitches my machine has, but this one I do. It’s called a “sculpting stitch”. You use regular thread in the bobbin and invisible thread on top, adjust the tension and set the stitch on the machine. What you get is this. My machine is a Janome Decor DC 3050 if you have a place nearby to go and see the stitch in real life.

And here are the finished mats. The last picture shows you the backing and how the stitching shows up on the bottom. Now off to conquer something else…Have a great weekend everyone.

Bethany is done!

2011-04-10T11:33:00.001-07:00

So here she is. I tried to hold back on the embellishments, to much can ruin a pretty doll, so I tried to be careful not to do that. Here are the full front and side views.

I made the covered button at the hip area, but resisted the urge to add beads to it.

Her little bag is made with a stretch velvet, trimmed at the top with the same thing that’s on her hipline and adorned with some bits of beading.

Around her head, I used some lace pieces cut from a larger piece of lace yardage. There are some pretty pink sequins but they don’t show in the picture. I made the necklace with a black teardrop bead, some soft metal bead embellishments pressed into the sides and glued on, then just added a piece of chain.

The wrap on her head is made with strips of the same fabric tied in knots and patiently glued and pinned around her head. At the end, I stitched on some delica beads, they aren’t immediately obvious, but in real life, they give just a touch of sparkle to her head dress.

When I did her face, I wanted it simple, so that’s what it is. Somehow to me, she didn’t require to much, and I think sometimes we tend to overdo. Simple is just a nice as intense. And that’s it. She’s done and ready to make her debut at the doll club meeting..

Newest doll

2011-04-08T06:55:00.000-07:00

I’m working on my next doll for the doll club meeting next week. It’s an embellishment challenge.This is my own design and I’m using one of the pincushion mannequins that I love so much. They can be transformed so easily into something completely different than how they started. Just a couple of pictures in the first stages. I should have it finished in a day or two.

The first step is to make the base of the dress and I’ve attached a paper clay head that will be covered with a cloth overlay. The skirt is made using a knitting yarn from Estelle called “Frill Seeker” and I added a ruffle from the same fabric as the body. If you do a Google search for the Frill Seeker, you will find a free scarf pattern for this yarn.

I’ve added a couple of trims to her skirt now.

Her arms and hands are done. I used a needlework linen for the hands as an experiment. What I found is that it will work, but you have to use a high count linen, this one is 32ct.Then I did some beading on the hands, trying to give the effect of wearing beaded gloves. The second part was to ruffle some organza ribbon and add trims to complete her gloves.

I have since covered her face with the overlay, attached the arms and made a purse for her to carry, so more next time.

Round Robin Doll #1

2011-04-04T10:29:00.001-07:00

Just a quick post to show you what I did with my first round robin doll. I have no idea whose dolls they are, but I’m hoping as I work on each one, that they’re okay with what I add to their doll.

This is the first one and I decided to do her hair. Because the particular day I was working on her was a nice spring day, I went with spring blossoms theme. Here she is and at the next meeting I will bring another one home. Definitely a challenge to know what to do with someone else’s doll.

I did a French braid (first attempt) and when I got to the bottom of the braid, I wrapped it with a piece of silk cord.

For the top of her head, I used some hand dyed silk and wool fibres. I twisted them together, tied it in knots, then folded it back on itself to make it a bit wider and twisted that again, then glued it along the front and tucked it under her hair. Then I added some tiny ribbon roses behind that. I like how it turned out and hopefully the doll owner will to.

Workshop goodies!

2011-03-31T20:18:00.000-07:00

What a busy week I’ve had. I am house sitting for the neighbours, but mostly taking care of the kitties. One of them, right on cue, got sick the day before they were leaving, with his annual respiratory problem and guess who got the job of giving him his medication and extending lots of cuddles and baby talk… He’s so sweet I couldn’t say no.

So out with the towel, wrap tightly around kitty and syringe that icky sweet sticky medicine down his throat. Poor thing. He has a habit of going off his food when he’s really feeling crappy, but I didn’t give him a chance to do that this time. I swapped the syringe for one full of pasty kitty food. Repeat the towel technique and whoosh in goes the food. He now knows when that towel comes with me, it’s that time. I let him get down after his medicine tonight and headed for the food to do the syringe thing and he headed straight for his food dish. I think he got the message, don’t you…. ;o))) Mom and Dad are home on Saturday and he’ll be in good shape by then. At least he’s not letting loose, as much, with those snotty messy sneezes… That’s really icky.

In between taking care of kitty and his brother, I managed to finish off these. I decided to make and giveaway some goodies at the three workshops we’re having with Colleen, starting on the 20th of this month.

The first workshop will be the drafting doll clothes and I can’t wait for that one. The draw for that will be some magnetic wrist pincushions that I did the tutorial for. Follow the link above this post if you missed it.

The second workshop is the Finders Keepers doll. She is so sweet and I will have so much fun putting together little found objects for her to hold and hide. These are scissor fobs that I put together, they aren’t all for the draws, but I just kept making them because they are so quick to do. These are from a little tutorial that Judy Wellnitz wrote up. Follow this link if you want to get a copy for yourself. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find it. It’s not expensive, and once you see how easy it is, you’ll be making them for all your scissors.

The third class is Stitch in Time. I figured if Colleen was coming all this way from London to teach, we might as well have as much time with her as we could. The next things I did were for this class. I first had to haul out all kind of things to put them together. I can’t just take out a few things, I need to have a pile of stuff to work through, so this is where I began.

I used the newest tutorial from Barb over at Joggles, for making felt Easter eggs. (near the bottom of the page) I took them a step farther and popped them into mini terra cotta pots and they’ll be used as pincushions. I showed the first one to hubby to get his opinion and the first thing he said was, it looks like an egg plant (I thought he meant the colour because it’s purple), but he meant that it looked like an egg growing out of the pot. Brilliant… so that’s what these are, Egg Plants… ;o)))

The last thing I did was Henrietta Turtle, a big pincushion. There are four others besides me, who are braving it through five days of workshops, so I thought they deserved an extra something. So the theme of slow and steady wins the race came to mind and Henrietta will go to a new home. This is a pattern by Heather Bailey. I ordered it through Joggles.

Well if they are reading my blog, they will know what’s in store at the workshops, and if not, then good. I don’t think they’ve ever had draws at the workshops, so I hope they’ll enjoy this little extra bit of fun… Now I’m off to try and get some kind of doll done for the next meeting….. I’m not sure that’s going to happen, but I’ll try….

Spring is springing!

2011-03-24T15:51:00.000-07:00

Don’t we all need some positive reinforcement when we’re exploring uncharted territory. Remember the days when you were first learning a skill and how you thought you were never going to “get it”, well hubby has… ;o)). He built some new planter boxes for me. I told you before about the bird houses, well he now feels even more confidant and put together these new boxes. These ones are going to last very well. He painted them with a coat of primer first, then the colours.

Step 1….. get the cedar cut, put it together and it’s ready for primer.

Step 2…… box is now primed and waiting for paint.

Step 3…… first box is done and painted with a soft blue. The other three boxes are done and one more is blue, the other two are dove grey.

There was one box that was still alright that someone made for me years ago. All it needed was a cleaning up. So a coat of primer later and I got hubby to cut the feet off and make the bottom flat like the others so it would sit better on the ledge of the gazebo and painted blue and it’s done.

This morning I got the first wave of flowers planted. Later in the season, the pansies will come out and be replaced with petunias. They can take the heat that will come later, pansies seem much happier when it’s a bit cooler.

Since I last showed you the birdhouses, we went to the waterfront and gathered up some small pieces of driftwood to decorate them more. Now, at last count, 4 out of 6 of them have tenants, so that’s so much fun. I’ve been putting out bits of wool roving and string. I lay it across the bushes and watch the birds go around scooping up all the goodies.

When fall comes, I am always impressed with how they have utilized all those things into the building of their nests. The funniest though is when they bring the twigs that they found, to wide to go in the house and bounce off the doorway trying, but eventually those smart little birds figure out that if they ever so carefully turn the twigs sideways, they’ll fit….

The last piece of this isn’t done yet. I mentioned a few posts ago, that my neighbour had passed away on New Years Eve. Along with the buttons her daughter brought me, was a bag of fabric. In that bag of fabric was this really bold print. I was designed in Finland according to the writing on the border.

I didn’t notice right away was the print was, but then the penny dropped. The boxes are painted to match the fabric. Shirley loved her blue and white garden every year and I’m sure she had a tablecloth in mind for this, so that’s what it will be. Isn’t it just perfect for our little table in the gazebo. Can’t put it out until the day before Colleen arrives, but I think Shirley would approve..

New Tutorials

2011-03-22T06:40:00.000-07:00

Magnetic Wrist Pincushion

A while ago I showed you what I did with a fat quarter and some coordinating fabric. One of those projects was the magnetic wrist pincushion. I decided to write my own tutorial for the way I made the pincushion. It comes together quickly and is very comfortable to wear. I didn’t include mention of embellishing it, but certainly you could add some kind of trims or beadwork to it to personalize it further.

Diva Cord Maker Tips and Tricks

The other tutorial is more of a tips and techniques kind of tutorial. I gave a demo using the Diva Cord Maker, at our doll club meeting last fall. Some of them brought their cord makers and others just watched, but I had made up a handout. I took pictures last night and built them into the handout and thought perhaps you might get some help from it if you have one of these tucked away in your workroom. They are so addictive once you get started. I now have the largest template they’ve made for the Diva Cord Maker but haven’t used it yet. When I do, I’ll show you pictures.

In the meantime, please click on the “Tutorials” link above to see these and the others I’ve done. I hope something interests you in any of them…

Maru–the most famous cat in Japan

2011-03-17T08:03:00.001-07:00

This is just so funny to watch. My favourite part is the attack of the box, any box. I wish I was so flexible…. The tears flowed he was so funny….. If you’re a cat lover, you will certainly love this…

This cat knows how to live life large…..

Button button, Who’s Got the Button!

2011-03-16T20:30:00.001-07:00

Did you ever stop to think about buttons. Buttons are a necessity of life. Buttons also have a very long history and over time have taken on so many different looks, I would guess they have evolved and changed more than anything else I can think of. A little button history tells part of the story. BUTTONS

Buttons are collector items and there is even a field guide to recognizing what’s what in the button world. Who would have thought that.

And they have become a favourite of mixed media artists to. I have this book and although it speaks to using cabochons, there is no reason the same techniques can't be used for buttons.

My hairdresser has a big mirror on the wall whose frame, about 4” wide, is decorated with all manner of buttons. Shiny, flat, bumpy, small and large and endless colours and made from all kinds of materials, like metal, plastic and clay…you get the picture….

I’m leading up to my stash of buttons. On New Years Eve, our very nice neighbour passed away and just a couple of weeks ago her daughter asked if I would like to have any of her mother’s sewing things. So I said yes and what I don’t use, I will donate. She came by later with her mom’s button box. Wow…..Nice… I know it’s hard to see, but there were some really gems in that mix of things. I found some pretties to use in the workshops with Colleen next month.

I was okay with this until I realized that I have been putting off sorting my own stash of buttons, a job that leads to hours of sorting and colour coding and a job that is best left for rainy days. And right on cue, yes, it started to rain, so okay I give up, I will do this.… After I got over that shock, I pulled my box of buttons out of the cupboard…

In my own defense, I do have bags and bags of other things in the box to, like beads that came from thrift store jewellery that had great promise at one time, but alas…not to be.

Not to feel overwhelmed and defeated, I set to the task at hand. Smart one here keeps all those little eeny weeny little plastic zippy bags that come from all manner of places. I spent most of one night and half the next day getting things all sorted. They are now so thinned out, they fit into one little basket, are all colour matched, sorted into little bags and some pretty tins according to colour or type. One small tin is full of my silver metal buttons.

I must say though, I am really glad to have taken on this challenge. I have a nice collection of buttons, factory and hand made and all kinds of types of buttons, but not the overwhelming lot I had. Someone else will be walking into a thrift store soon and think they have found the mother lode of buttons and they would be right…

One thing I discovered in the process in how much I really love brown buttons. I never really thought about them but being so involved over the course of a couple of days, I came to really appreciate the beauty of the simple but so very necessary button. Imagine how we would struggle to keep our clothes closed and from falling down if not for buttons… Food for thought huh!!!

Pink Green and Chocolate!

2011-03-14T12:48:00.001-07:00

A while ago Colleen Babcock sent me a fat quarter of fabric that is used in one of many of the Tilda books. I love those books. If you haven’t seen them yet, you will love them. Very simple but unique and quaint dolls and many home decor ideas. Things that could fit in anywhere, just use the fabrics that coordinate with your surroundings.

This is my most recent book in her collection, but there are many more.

This is probably my favourite.

I wanted to use the fat quarter for a doll, but the coordinating fabrics are hard to find now. I decided to make good use of it so I could see it all the time and remember who it was that sent it. It’s not available here, so it is special. I went in search of fabrics to coordinate with it and decided to make a collection of pincushions with it. This is what I came up with. The original fabric is the chocolate colour with roses.

I decided to use this pattern created by one of our Canadian designers, Margot from “The Pattern Basket” for part of the project.

After that I decided I would make some new thread catchers. I didn’t use a pattern, just looked at some pictures and made them from that. One is made as you can see using the green polka dots outside and reversed using the pink on the other.

I didn’t want to waste any of the fabric, so I also made a wrist pincushion, the type with magnets in it to hold the pins. I found this simple pattern online, just type in wrist pincushions in Google and I’m sure you’ll find something similar. Check the length of the fabric carefully before cutting. I had to fold over the sides a bit when I put it together. The underside is the green polka dot. I also added an inside of warm and natural to make it more comfortable on the wrist, just a bit softer.

Finally I had just a couple of small pieces left, so not to just dismiss those out of hand, I also put them to work and made these beaded scissor fobs.

The thing that started this whole redo of pincushions, was because I had originally made my others using kitty litter for the pincushion part. If you’ve ever used that to sop up an oil spill you know how well it works for that. However, you never want to get water on kitty litter, no no no…..Oh dear what a pasty mess it turns into… YUCK. I went online to find a source for emery sand because I know that works well for needles, it keeps them clean and sharp when using in pincushions.

Along the way I found out about crushed walnut shells. On a couple of forums I found, they were praising this product and the more I searched the more I found that people who use it, like it the best of all the products for pincushions. I started making phone calls to pet stores as this is used for reptile bedding. We have one Pet Smart here, but apparently they don’t carry that, it’s available in the US stores though.

I finally found a store here that carries it and promptly got my DH to pick up a bag on his way home one day…Victory. I must say it really is a nice product and thought you might like to search it out and take a look yourselves. The picture below makes the granules look bigger than they are. They are quite small but not as small as sand. I hope you can check this out and see what you think. It would work well to weight dolls down, like stump dolls and things like chairs that you would make for dolls. I think many uses could be found. And the best part, if you get water on it, it won’t turn to a yucky pasty mess.

A Round Robin

2011-03-03T14:10:00.001-08:00

Our doll club is having a round robin exchange starting at this months meeting. We were given a pattern at the last meeting and all we have to do is make the basic doll and we can do our own dolls face if we wish. The pattern is a Camille Pratt design from Doll Crafter, sorry can’t remember the name, but I think it was in the June or July 2008 issue.

I got mine finished last night and made up a bag to put her in. Each month for 5 months, until the big reveal in August, someone else will work on her and I will work on 5 different dolls during that time as well. We also enclose a little notebook so that everyone that works on her, can add to the adventure she’s on and say what it is that they added to her.

This is Fern Flamingo. Whether any of them actually ever look at my blog is unknown, but if they do, they’ll know whose dolly she is and hopefully I’ve always been nice to those people… ;o~ I made a drawstring bag for her and she has now slipped into her bag along with her book and we’ll see how she looks in August. The last one we did was amazing, so I expect this will be just as special..

A bike ride

2011-02-27T15:11:00.000-08:00

The coordinator of our doll club has travelled often over the years to Bali. Because of that, she has become well versed in how to find the best things made by the locals. You can always find factory knock offs of anything, but there’s something so special about getting something that is made by hand.

The thing that we all get silly about at meetings is when she’s been on a trip and comes back with a hand made doll size bicycle to raffle off. That usually causes a rush to the tickets for the draw and makes for a good deposit to the club bank account that night. Here is a picture of Karen’s doll riding a bike she brought back a while ago. The doll was made for Karen last Christmas in our exchange.

Because I OBVIOUSLY didn’t win one of the two bikes she brought back this last trip, I decided I wouldn’t rest until I could find one myself. While walking around in town recently we looked in the window at Victoria Miniland. Lo and behold, they had these doll size bikes in the window. The store wasn’t open at the time, but I made a note to go back. The opportunity came up and away I went to see what I could find out about these wonderful little bikes. They have these in model form to put together yourself and/or already made up ones. I chose to buy the model because I know I can do this.

This is the pile of goodies in the box and isn’t to daunting.

I stayed with it, and got it together. Unfortunately, I broke a screw on the back brakes, but a little glue and some sneaky little fixing up and I was able to make it come together. The screws mostly will do up tightly but a couple I had to put a drop of glue on just for added measure. Because off my super woman strength breaking that screw, the back brakes don’t actually work now…. Ahem, won’t do that next time.

It comes with a warning from me though. I will not put my doll on it and send her/him off to road test it. I cannot allow whoever ends up with the bike to head out the door, because she/he would likely go careening off a cliff unable to stop because the brakes aren’t working. I’m sure all that would be left at the bottom would be a pile of bike parts and stuffing, so not risking that. My fault, not the kit. I am very happy with this bike, it’s fun and the wheels really do turn. You can push it forward and the pedals will turn making the wheels turn, and it has a little kick stand, so it will also stand up. I think the doll will have to be about 12” or so to fit it.

The kit itself is reasonably priced at approx. $20.00 depending on which model of bike you choose. I didn’t look at the cost of the finished ones, I got to involved with choosing the one I wanted to make but I would guess they are probably at least twice that cost or maybe a little less. This being a ladies bike, I may go back for a mans bike. Even with a few little bits that I had to fix up to make work, I still enjoyed the project. It was fun to do, and something to keep those little grey cells working.

The shop owner gave me a print out of better instructions for putting it together as the ones that come with it, not so good… If you’re interested in making one as well, here is the link to the store to order from. Victoria Miniland. When you get to the page, in the “select category” at the top of the page, click on “other scales” in the drop down box. Enjoy..

Finally! A Cutting Table

2011-02-25T17:42:00.000-08:00

I have hesitated posting this because I didn’t want it to appear as though I was saying, oh look at what I got….yay me…… But this is just the one thing I have waited for, for so long. I learned how to sew in high school and ever since those days I have never had a proper surface to work on. In school you always had those great big tables and it was perfect. Not so much once you leave school.

My choices:

I had a cardboard cutting mat, you probably know the type, they are are all marked off like a grid and they fold up when you’re not using them, and a table made of particle board but not the best surface and not a friendly piece of furniture to move around. Over time the cutting mat just simply wore out and the table started to warp.

Then I would use the dining room table, but of course, unless you can get everything cut out at one time, it means not being able to use the table for meals OR taking all your work off and start over later or the next day.

I also did the crawl around on the hands and knees thing, to lay out the fabric and pattern pieces. Ever try that with slippery fabrics like silk or something similar. Not a pleasant experience, so gave up on that, other than quick and easy cutting projects.

The last attempt was a nice thin piece of wood I found that I thought would work on the dining room table, but of course, that didn’t work either because I still have to take everything apart so we can eat at the table….

The end result…finally a beautiful functional, can leave it set up cutting table. When I do take it down, the side folds down on either side and because it’s on casters, it can be pushed up against the wall out of the way. There are 4 drawers on either side. When fully extended, the table is 6 feet long and the width is 40” wide and 19” in depth. What an absolute joy to have.

It’s a custom made table that our local sewing shop has made. Now my workroom makeover is complete and I’m a happy happy sewer. I don’t need anything else, I now feel that I can properly work and have everything at my finger tips. I’ve already been working on some projects and I now have a renewed interest in sewing that I haven’t had in a very long time…. Here it is…

I haven’t had it fully open yet, but I will once I pull out the slippery fabrics. Then I won’t have them falling off the surface and I will get a proper cut…..

The surface is melamine, so lovely and smooth…

Lucy

2011-02-23T16:10:00.001-08:00

I have a painting group on Yahoo that I’ve had for many years. Over the course of the years we’ve had several exchanges of kinds of things, the last one being this past Christmas.

There was one new member that joined early last year and she was in the swap. Unfortunately, the gift she says she sent to Australia has never arrived, and it was mailed the last week of November, here we are the last week of February. Since I have no proof she didn’t send it, and she has no proof she did (she can’t find the paperwork), a make up gift was in order.

I made this for the lady in Oz. This is Lucy. She’s a design by Cyndi Sieving, the original name of the pattern is Well Wishers. I think she’s adorable and quirky. I would keep her if it wasn’t for my friend needing a make up gift…lol

It was a Christmas exchange, so I used Christmas fabric for the body and legs, but I think she would be okay left out all year. The multi coloured ric rac trim is from my favourite eBay seller, Embellish the Thought. Always great trims and will search out things you might be looking for… ;o)

Ah Ha!!!

2011-02-18T09:27:00.001-08:00

Your weekend humour………click on the picture to get a larger version….

Crystal

2011-02-17T18:13:00.001-08:00

I finished Crystal last night. She’s another version of Cindee Moyer’s online class, Raven. She is just one of those dolls that demands to be made in a variety of colours. I’ve done two in black, one red and now white. I have plans for other colours because she just screams to be made again and again. I don’t usually make repeats of patterns, not often, but this is one of those I can’t resist repeating…

I have such a long list of must do’s, but this crosses off another one….

A little more spring

2011-02-16T19:16:00.000-08:00

I occasionally do some sewing for a friend of mine. It’s very hard for someone in a wheelchair to find clothes never mind having to go and try things on. Some time ago, I took some of her older pieces home and drafted some patterns from them. They are very simple garments, but it’s what’s comfortable for her to wear.

I got the fabric last year when a shop was closing and thought this was a good time to get some spring sewing done for her. A friend of the shop owner brought in some fabrics that she herself was wanting to sell from her own business, so I got a great deal on everything. I found a fantastic piece for myself that will be ideal for summer and I bought what was left, 7 meters. I better make a few things from that amount… ;o)

For my friend, I made two skirts and two tops. I also had some other fabric that would be good for camisoles or lined it would make a nice little sweater with a hood, something light. It’s a light airy knit fabric so I made an extra little camisole type top that she can wear with a sweater or to bed. Either way, it’s very soft and cuddly, so here’s hoping it works out for her. She’s all set now for when the weather chooses to warm up enough to wear them.

Spring in the making

2011-02-14T08:48:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago, I noticed that the sparrows and other small birds that stay over winter here, were ducking into the birdhouses for shelter from the wind and rain. We used to take the birdhouses down, but when I saw that the little guys were using them even in winter, we started leaving them up. We can clean them at this time of year and put them back up.

Last fall I asked hubby to make some new ones. The others didn’t get a coat of paint or primer so they didn’t last. Hubby is the first to tell you that he’s not a handy man, but he did a fantastic job of these new houses. He primed them with a really solid primer then painted them with some left over house paint.

There are no perches this time, we finally figured out that the bigger birds will land on those and try to snatch the babies out of their homes when they peek out of the holes. The small birds don’t need a perch, they can cling on easily to the hole of the house to go in and out. Aren’t they sweet…

When I went to pick up the eggs one day from the farm we go to, the ladies there had a basket of these pretty pine cone roses. I asked if I could buy a few and she told me to take the whole basket, just enjoy them. I wanted to use them to trim the birdhouses and I’m pretty sure the birds will be picking at these to get seeds out of them, but in the meantime, they do make the houses look very decorative and inviting, at least I think so… ;o)) I can get more if the birds do pick them apart, because they do fall from certain trees around here, but for now they are looking great.

I noticed in the last week or so, that the birds are starting to pick up bits of things and carrying them away, so first clue that they are getting ready to build their nests. Time to get the new houses hung up and waiting for tenants to move it. I hope the swallows will come back this year. They had a struggle getting ownership of one of the houses a couple of years ago, the sparrows are pretty aggressive, but here’s hoping they’ll try again.

The houses are hung around the gazebo with care, in hopes that the birdies will soon be living there… A twist on the Christmas poem, but it works…

Porcelain Dolls

2011-02-08T09:44:00.000-08:00

About 25 years ago I took a couple of classes to learn how porcelain dolls were made. This was long before I knew anything about making soft cloth dolls and I never actually made anymore dolls until a few years ago. The lady that taught the classes did them out of her home, she had the whole basement set up for this, had the supplies, kiln, everything. These are the dolls I made.

First up is Elizabeth. She is a full newborn weight and the only porcelain parts are the head and hands. We used molds and had to clean up the surface of bits and pieces, sanding and general cleaning of the heads and hands to make them smooth and ready for painting.

It required going back a few times as the heads and hands had to fired a few times after each session of cleaning and painting. I really enjoyed the process though because it taught me so much.

The rest of the doll is stuffed with fill, I think we used plastic pellets, can’t quite remember. I made a whole Christening outfit for her. The rattle in her hand is an antique ( which really needs a good cleaning with silver polish). The dress is made with Swiss Batiste and lace, the underskirt is made with Satin and lace. Her stockings and shoes are purchased and I made her bloomers. We learned how to insert eyes, eyelashes and how to paint the faces and add colour details to the lips etc.

I have two more dolls, and both badly need their clothes washed as well as I need to remove their wigs, wash them and braid the hair again. I mention these dolls because we have Colleen Babcock coming to teach in April, and one of the classes is Drafting Doll Clothes.

We are to bring an undressed doll to the class and an idea of what we want to dress them in. Instead of trying to make a doll for that, I am going to bring one of these dolls and learn to make outfits for them. Poor things are so patient waiting for new clothes, but not to much longer. Originally I used patterns to make their clothes, but it will be nice to learn how to design and make custom clothes…

New workspace

2011-02-06T10:13:00.001-08:00

My workspace (computer) is finished. My new desk came on Wednesday and now I have everything (paper, files, books, disks etc etc) all in one place. I took this before everything was set up, but I just had to hook up the computer so I could listen to my online music. The size is deceiving in the picture, the length is about 5 1/2’ long, and just about the same in height. The keyboard is down below now, so no more typing uphill and hurting my wrists and arms reaching up.

I went back to the wireless mouse yesterday to get rid of one more wire hanging down. The rest of the wires are behind the desk, so no more spider web of cables everywhere. There are a few behind the monitor, but I can’t see much of them. Hubby got this for me, but I bought a new chair, foot rest and plastic mat for the floor myself.

This the new foot rest. I can adjust it to angle in a couple of other positions and is very good for shorties like me. 5’4” isn’t always compatible and being left handed doesn’t help either…. I like the raised bumps on the foot rest, it’s like a massage on your feet because they press lightly on the pressure points of your feet.

So this is the old chair. It has some things that aren’t obvious in the picture, but they are: it’s to wide for me so I was leaning one way or the other which is bad for your back for starters. The seat is too concave and so I had to sit on blankets or towels to fill that space because again it was putting my body in a position where I had to sit forward to type, and again, not a good thing for the back.

Some other points to consider when buying a new chair, the armrests. This old chair had arm rests that are too long which didn’t allow my arms to relax meaning that where the arms ended was right at my wrists causing more stress. The length of the seat itself.

Okay if you have long legs, but if you have short ones like me, the position the seat against the back of your legs can press on nerves restricting the blood flow. Ever felt tingling or numbness in your legs when sitting for a while…that could be why. The other consideration is the back of the chair. While you can find okay chairs with a short back on them, they aren’t the best choice. There is nothing more comfortable than a chair that goes right up the back and it gives you better support.

This new chair is perfect for me. It’s narrower, has a raised sitting area, the back of the chair has padded areas that fit snuggly into the small of my back, and across the shoulder blades and the seat is the right length so that the back of knees are resting against the chair seat and there is no pressure.

If you’re considering a new chair, don’t rush to buy one. Save up and buy a good one, it’s the best investment you can make if you spend any amount of time at the computer. Don’t be caught up in the hype of saving money on a cheaper chair, don’t let anyone discourage you from buying what you want. This is for your comfort nobody else. Find out if someone in the store is experienced in fitting customers to the chairs. I asked at the store and they have someone who did all the checks for me, she was great. Made sure that it was the right fit for me.

There are lots and lots of chairs out there, but don’t be in a hurry to buy something, make sure it’s the one for you. Save your money instead of buying the first one you see, it’s worth it. Since using this new chair I am so much more comfortable and I don’t get up with aches and pains from moving around and shifting positions in the old one to find a comfortable spot. I hope this is a help to someone and good luck…

Valentine Pin Doll

2011-02-04T21:13:00.001-08:00

Our doll club is having a Valentine Pin Doll Swap. I used a pattern by Cyndy Sieving called Spiritual Horizon. I had to redraw the shape a little in order to make in more heart shaped. The bead work is a combination of seed beads, pink quartz hearts, square glass beads, and I took apart a pair of earrings that had little hearts on them and repurposed them for this pin doll. I love taking apart old jewellery, you just never know what the effect will be.

For the earrings, I used these nifty little 7 Gypsies drop spirals that I got from Joggles. I just snipped one in half and it worked perfectly. I went to find a link to them on Joggles, but they don’t seem to be there anymore, but that’s what they’re called. Strangely, it is the same look of earrings that Cyndy used in her pin doll, how often does that happen.

Another project done and on to the next one….

A tote

2011-01-31T07:11:00.000-08:00

This should have flown to Oz in December for a Christmas swap, but thankfully my partner is in the US on a three month trip. Whew, she bought me some time. She already knows,I confessed. At the moment she’s either at the Grand Canyon or their heading back home and planning their next destination.

This is what I made for her. The tote is simply cut as a rectangle to the size you want. Many free patterns online for these kinds of totes and others. I had made this little heart ornament last year along with many others for Valentines day. I kept a couple, I just knew somehow, instinctively that it would be needed. I had more of the upholstery fabric and it grew into a tote bag to match the heart. The lining was also from the drapery section of the fabric department and just fit so perfectly. The colour is a bit off in the picture, it’s more of an olive green to match the straps.

Flowers are made from a pattern I got from Snazzie Drawers. Just follow the link on the right side of the page, to her Snazzie Drawers Boutique patterns. These flowers are from her Juliette pattern. Of course there is nothing like the the original, but I’m quite happy with the first time out of the gate making them.

My Room

2011-01-29T20:43:00.001-08:00

I made a sign for my room today. Not entirely sure why I did, but it seemed necessary to do that, maybe just to add a bit of humour. I told someone what my sign was going to say and she wondered if I got it from the movie with Colin Firth.

I haven’t seen the movie with Colin Firth yet, “The Kings Speech”, so I didn’t know about a line in the movie, but I was told it’s something like, My Castle, My Rules.

This is my bit of silly creativity for today and totally not inspired by the movie, it just popped into my head and now it’s facing the door to my workroom for all who enter to see. It might be my way of stating the obvious.

I used my two favourite things to inspire me, my pal Patrol, (still miss her like crazy) and Jesters/Harlequins, and all things related to them.

Dirty Little Secrets

2011-01-28T08:18:00.000-08:00

Taking a lead from Susie McMahon on her blog post, I have done a clean and sort. You have to highlight the first part of her post to read it, the text is the wrong colour, but it’s worth the read.

The difference with what Susie did, is that I went through the rest of the house as well and did this. Thank goodness I don’t have a mansion… Be thankful for smallish compact houses with just the right amount of room…lol

Once my new desk arrives next week, all things crossed, I will get that set up and show you the final piece of this project…. I have to admit it was all worth it. It’s eye opening to see what exactly can happen when you don’t pay attention to what’s coming in. I kind of slacked off about my “when something new comes in, something old goes out” theory. Now I’m pretty much on track and will be able to go through things as I have a few minutes.

There are a few small things to sort through and I can do that at my leisure, but the worst is over and I can see everything I want to use all around me and know exactly where things are and that cloud of “where do I start” is gone. I was unable to even work at my table even though it was uncluttered, but the rest of the room was just so full I couldn’t concentrate. Now the fog has cleared and it’s full steam ahead with projects.

Have a great weekend and look at what I accomplished. One of the charity groups comes this morning and I’ve put out the two stacks of banana boxes and the rest will go next week to another group, sharing the wealth and all that….lol Someone is going to think Christmas is early when they start to open the boxes…

More repurposing

2011-01-27T07:32:00.000-08:00

With all my swamping out in the last few weeks, there have been some things that I just can’t part with because I just know if I think a little longer before acting, I can find a way to “make it work”…Thank you Tim Gunn.

I used to teach painting classes from home, and have had over time many ways of organizing my supplies. This is one of those wood pieces. It’s meant to hang on the wall, but you’d bring the wall down hanging this filled with paint bottles. It’s meant to hold those 2 oz. paint bottles and the depth of the slots is 3”. The paints are gone now and the stand remains. This holds 100 bottles and has to be good for something don’t you think.

I found a great use for it. Some time ago I used another wood piece for all my black and white fat quarters. That has worked out great.

I have been wanting to put all my batik fabrics in one place because I would like to make a table topper for my dining room table and some table runners and the thought of trying to find them all in my stash has been putting me off. See where I’m going with this.

I got busy yesterday and hauled out all my fabrics and filtered out the batiks. They are now properly sorted out, rolled up and placed in colours in this new wood stand, and that’s not easy because batiks have so many colour changes. The extras, not a lot, are stacked next to it. It looks great on one of my worktables and now I can actually see what I have.

Today I’m taking a day of rest. I will show you the fruits of my other labours another day…

Repurposed

2011-01-22T10:35:00.000-08:00

For the last 4 years or so, at least once a year, I have been given some real fur coats due to someone that has passed and the gifters weren’t sure what to do with them. While I don’t condone the killing of innocent animals for their skins for those who feel the need to be noticed at the expense of those innocent animals, I also felt that given the age of these jackets and stole, it seems like it would be dismissing them out of hand to throw them out. If these can be given another purpose, lets do that instead. These date back decades. I don’t even know the type of fur they are.

The only way I can stand the clothing being made is by those indigenous people who live in the northern and remote parts of the world and need the warm of the skins for survival and in those cases the animals are completely used, for their skins and for food.

This is how they first looked.

A couple of weeks ago, I sat in the middle of the living room floor and dismantled them. The insides on some of them were so old, they had disintegrated and I kept getting sprayed with all manner of debris. It took a good couple of hours but it’s done. I saved the buttons as they are quite lovely and the insides made up two garbage bags on their own. What’s left is a mishmash of pieces. This black one that I have no idea what it was, came apart in a variety of different sized pieces.

Two of them came apart in relatively solid pieces. Still don’t know what they are, but I think they will work for teddy bears.

The last one came apart in many small pieces that I will use for small dolls and ornaments.

I am treating these skins with respect because that wasn’t shown to those animals when these clothes were made. I am also thankful that today, the idea of using real fur is so abhorrent and those who want to wear them have chosen to go the faux fur route.