the box, Agnes & orchids

Heck- I forgot to write about that box in the last photo- This is a wine box- wooden- you buy at the craft store. We are having a class this fall to make a box for our little BJD dollie. It will be scrap book paper on the outside and part of the inside- The doll will set in a fabric covered section, held with ribbons. OH I cannot wait to do this. I will make one for Alice 1st- then for my Asian doll, I will use origami papers to decorate hers. I will post the photos when they are done. I took a class at Small Studio this summer from Lynne Parrella. I have always admired her work. The class was called Type Face. The letters are blank wood and chip board letters from the craft store. We were to bring 2 faces to make 2 canvases in class. I brought my grandmothers- one was a wedding photo from the early 1920's and the other was an engagement photo from the 1930's. I only finished one - this is my father's mother's wedding photo. I am so happy with how it turned out. Her name was Agnes - hence all the "A"'s on the piece. Lynne was by far the best non-doll teacher I have ever had. She was just a joy and I am grateful to have had the chance to learn from her. These are my orchids. My mom died in January and the one with the flowers has been blooming since mid January - no lie. The other one lost it's flowers in July and now has 2 - yes 2 stems of buds coming up. It is unbelievable that they have bloomed so long. They usually last a couple months - but this is truly a miracle. Whenever my mom & I would buy orchids and the blooms were done on her plant- she did have the patience to wait for over a year to bloom. So I took the plant home and when it started to get a stem for a bloom, the plant went back to her to enjoy. It was a joke with us really - so it is so special that they have bloomed all year. There - that should be all the postings for a little while - now that I figured this out - I will post more often. Thanks for stopping by.

Recent dolls

I just made this pink doll- she is the Fun Fairy by Jan Horrox. A friend gave me the pattern and the fabrics to make her. She is sweet - a little smaller than other dolls and I like that. I just love her. It was so nice to see her come together with each little bit added to her. I made Christine Shively shoes for her. I love a doll that moves when you pick it up- Her legs are floppy and so are her arms. I still have to do something for height on her head- a crown, hat, hair style with the ribbons - I am not sure yet. This one is just for me. Then - yes another Bad Girlz project - Somerset Studio Gallery- Summer 2014 edition had these great little dolls on the cover. The article was SO fun to see them made. So we ordered the supplies from Paper Whimsey to make them. The little wooden blank dolls, wings and I downloaded the faces from their site as well. I bought a rhinestone necklace from an antique store and cut it up for each of us to use as her crowns. I think they all turned out soo cool - I like mine but it needs more color. The skirt is just muslin that I stamped on. First we painted gesso on the dolls, then painted with acrylics and stamped on them and wrote on them. I used vintage glass glitter on the wings. Her belt/ribbon is sari fabric (i got the glitter & sari fabric at small studio. She is only about 6" tall - We had a great evening together working on these dollies.

2014- more books

We made a couple more of these great books. In doll club, we made a book and I chose to make mine with Queene Ann dolls- my latest obsession. I found out about these dolls in a magazine we get thru doll club called Doll News. The 1st edition I received was Winter 2013 and there was an amazing article about Robin Thompson. I was hooked. The black doll I made that year was inspired by this article as well.(see prior post-Feb 9,2013). I also used photos from the Spring 2014 edition of the same magazine. There was a lovely article about Christine Crocker - her dolls are sweet too. Unless I win the lottery I will not own a real Queene Ann and to own one of the hand made dolls in these magazines would be a very special piece of art, to say the least. So I used their photos in the book - this one has more lace and buttons on the pages, but oh yes washi tape too! haha.

Fall 2013 project part 2 and new 2014 items

2013- One of the Bad Girlz also taught us a class to make this little dress, jacket and hat for my BJD. It was alot of fun. It was so cute to see all these little dollies dressed up in their new outfits when the class was done. 2014 -Another one of the Bad girlz taught these awesome book classes and then we just made them for fun together. The 1st book was a tunnel book. The centers of the pages are cut out and when you open the book you can see all the way thru it. We were making books from childhood stories. I chose the Naughty Bunny. It is a little golden book I have from when I was a kid. I photocopied the pages and cut them up - these books are made with cardboard, scrapbook paper and oh yes- I edged each page with washi tape! too fun

fall 2013 projects

In the fall, I made this doll - I found a doll i LOVED in Sew Somerset- Summer 2013 edition. There is a doll in here by Linda Trenholm. Mine is very similar in the colors and shapes. Mine is taller, but it sure was fun and easy to make. There was not a pattern in the book, but it was simple enough to figure out on my own. I bought the knitted shoes at a craft show a couple years ago- knowing someday the perfect doll would come around for them! It was a nice weekend doll to make. Then the Bad Girlz had a class at Small Studio and we made this little stage. Mine is pretty small - about 6"x6" at it's tallest and widest points. This is the steam punk stage. There are a few styles to choose from. The clock face & gears were part of the kit. You can get these at small studio. It is covered in scrapbook papers and washi tape- LOVE that tape. No 2 sides of the box have the same paper.

i am still here

OH MY GODNESS!!! THE PICTURE WORKED!!! I will be adding more soon! I am so happy about this......I am still here- I just have not posted in- well forever.... I will try again to get photos go on the blog - that is why I have not posted- I don't know about you - but as much as I like to read up on someone's blog - I am ALL about the pictures... so I will try again