little dresses

8 girls ares at it again... we were prompted to make fabric journal pages and will swap them out. Each time we will be required to use another technique. Beading, hand stitching, mixed media, and collage(with paper & cloth). The majority of the decorating must be in one of these mediums but some writing is allowed. I decided to make these cute little dresses. The largest is probably 7-7 1/2" long. I will make a garland type project when they are all done - maybe hang over a window in the art room. (2) of the 8 girls are making a book, and the last 8 girl is making individual pieces to hang from her art room ceiling or possibly a mobile. These are going to be cool. Our first round is hand stitching.

busy weekend

This was a very busy weekend and a nice one too. Yesterday I took my mom out for her birthday gift to Sanctuary on Green. It is a neat old house filled with European gifts and a wonderful tea studio. If you ever are in the area of South Euclid OH (suburb of Cleveland), it would be worth you time, and money. It is not cheap - but it was a beautiful experience. We ate outside on the patio and you are in the trees. The food is all VERY natural and gluten free and vegan. They do have chicken salad, but were out of it yesterday. SEVERAL teas if you are into that sort of thing, and wonderful coffee. It was such a lovely day. We also went to J Ellen quilt shop on Mayfield, in Lyndhurst, (near the tea studio). It is a fairly new shop I think a year old. She has lovely fabrics. I had sewn the Queen Ann prim doll of Barbara Schoenoff's and originally wanted to use some nice rose civil war fabrics I had - but I do not have enough and cannot find it up here - I had purchased it in Columbus. I was so lucky to find something better at J Ellens and it was only $4 a yard! It is a line she is fading out and I LOVE what I got- MUCH more antique looking like I wanted it to be.

This morning I went to JoAnn's for (2) things......and came home with alot more - but check out this cool felt.... it is the kind you buy by the square. There are some other cool prints too - but this one caught my eye. Then today I went to Coventry with my friend - got the coolest ring at Passport to Peru - great clothes and all kinds of cool stuff there. It is a gift for myself to celebrate my new job.

Oh- and one more very cool thing - My sketchbook came in the mail last week! I am really excited about this. It is called The Sketchbook Project. You send $25 and receive this book in the mail - it is bar coded on the back with your name and the theme noted on the sticker. They have themes on the website you can choose from - mine is Tree house. You complete the book and send it back by January 31, 2012 (not that far away really). It will become a permanent piece in the Brooklyn Art Library. The books will travel to several museums in the country and people will be picking up the books and looking at them. I think it is so cool that people I do not even know will the handling my art; not to mention my work will be in a museum... OMG! I will post photos as the pages are completed. I will make a color copy of my book before mailing it off, because I will never see it again. I really am thrilled about this project. You should give it a try! Go to thesketchbookproject.com and check it out.

goth face

Working on the goth doll today- here is the face - I think it's fun- when the fixative dries I will apply the sparkles - all dolls need a little sparkle - don't they? I think so - since they are all so fantasy...

Cage doll done!

I finished the cage doll today. The jury is still out for her face- I need to leave her alone for a while and see if it is going to remain as is. She turned out so sad, not the look I was going for. But - any doll maker will say that the doll tells you what she wants to be - so this just may be the way she wants to be! I sewed buttons around her waist- some antique some new. The hair is felted and sewn on her head. Her crown is a trim I bought at Hobby Lobby a few years ago at MMM in Kentucky. She has fresh water pearls for ear rings. The inside of the cage has scrapbook paper on the bottom that I stitched to the cage with embroidery floss. The heart is from a Santos site I found on the Internet. It is like a Christmas tree ornament. It is glass and has beautiful etched designs on it.

Now on to the next project!

All or Nothing and Time for Dolls round robin

I just wrote this whole thing and added a photo and it did not work! Hopefully it will not end up as a double entry when I am done.

OK - Either I post like crazy or go too long without posting at all - between my new commute to work since the move (it is longer) and my new position at work (a month ago - can you say stressful?!) I am exhausted. But now that there is actually daylight I have a little more energy and hope to work in the art room more this summer. OK - so on to the postings.

This is the 1st post of three - there are 2 more after this one. A couple weeks ago I met with 2 groups and we exchanged our round robin dolls - Time for Dolls and 8 girls. I was on a roll, and I finally finished the final project we exchanged with No Rules back in December. So that weekend I ended up with 2 new awesome dolls and a wonderful new wall hanging. It was a GOOD weekend.

The Time for Dolls round robin was fun. We had to make the doll and include the fabric and trims we wanted used on the doll. Pam did my legs - she beaded the feet - how cool are they? And she made I Dream of Jeanie pants for her. Sue had the arms and she made these cool sleeves for her. Mary had the body and used jingle bells on her skirt, so she makes noise (I love that). I did the face before I handed her off. I really like how she turned out. I added a loop on her back, so she will hand on the wall. Thanks everyone.

No Rules

Our No Rules group had ended in December. We had a project we started a year before that and finally finished for our last meeting. We had to choose a theme (mine was birds-fancy that!). We each did a quilt square - 6"x6" for each person and then exchanged them all. Here is mine all done. The top one is from Pam - she did a Teesha Moore pillow quilt, the next one is from Theresa, the next one is Mary's and mine is on the bottom. I had this stick for over a year. I had picked it up on a walk with Nellie when I was at my old apartment. I finally put this all together and it now lives in my new art room - I really like it. Thanks everyone!

8 girls dolls

A couple weeks ago the 8 girls finally got together - it has been a long time between our times together . Every one's busy with life these days. We finally did the final exchange for our round robin dolls. This time, everyone made whatever doll they wanted out of muslin. Your own pattern or a printed pattern. We each had to pick a theme for the doll. We passed the dolls and did whichever body part we wanted when we got the doll. We did our own head (if we wanted to). One was going to be hanging in an art room on a trapeze, one was about birds (mine), one was whimsical, and one was to create a character that would be in the Nightmare Before Christmas. Well - that one is a story in itself - literally. For that one, we each had to write a chapter about this character and decorate a body part. It was truly an amazing process. I was terrified, because I had to follow 2 incredible chapters. But - like I say - the planets lined up and the story and the arms turned out awesome. I think they ALL turned out AMAZING! Here are front and back for all of them and a few of mine. I did the face on mine and made a mask from scrapbook paper and wire - turned out really cool. Hope you enjoy them. What a great group of talented women we all are.... if I say so myself,,hahaha...