Singing in the Rain...

Oh joy....  The rainy season has begun here on the West Coast:(  Living in a rainforest does have its benefits, you just have to waddle around in puddles to appreciate them!  Of course, it's lovely and green all of a sudden after our unusually hot, dry summer, but that's as good as it gets in my books.  So, onto better things....
Please meet Lyric, my newest Petite Poppet.

Lyric loves singing, especially in the rain!  She wears a white sundress with a delicate cotton lace trim at the hem which I accented with embroidery thread.  I made a matching flower pin that my be worn as a brooch for her dress or a hair ornament.  Tiny embroidered undies and felt shoes complete her outfit.



Above left shows her with two new Poppets I'm working on.  I thought you might like a sneek peek of her embroidered undies:)  Gotta say that I'm enjoying hand painting their faces!  Just a few basic colours can yield an amazing variety of different shades.  For my two new girls, I am planning on using some new yarn that came in the mail last week.  One's a lavender and the other a pink, should be interesting to see how they turn out!

Recently I was fortunate to meet a very talented young lady while browsing through flickr.  Not only is Irene one of the sweetest people I've met on the internet, but she makes the most adorable clothing for Blythe dolls!  I thought I'd share the outfits she made for my girls - aren't they fabulous??  Please check out her etsy store and go through her sold items to see her lovely creations.   I want one of everything!!  http://www.etsy.com/shop/mattandreen

This weekend I also finished a new dress for my mom's shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/myfairdolly, it was meant to be for Lyric, but it didn't suit her colouring.  Hopefully someone else will like it!

So that was my weekend in a nutshell.  Hope you all have a crafty week:)



Perriot, a French Mime Ornament

Mime came to Paris in the early 1800's.  It was here that the most famous character, the lovesick Perriot, developed by Bohemian Jean Gaspard Batiste Deburau, was founded.  My newest ornament is based on my interpertation of the original French mime.

Perriot's head is sculpted from Paperclay.  I painted his entire head with a pearl acrylic and then added his makeup.  His base is another wonderfully old wooden bobbin from Nannykin's sewing box and I added decorative papers, black glitter and an organza bow.  A sheer black ruffle collar and a black beret complete his costume.

I'm thrilled with how he turned out!  Originally, I had intended to make a witch ornament, but while I was sanding his face this morning, I kept seeing an image of a mime.  I decided to go with my feeling, and did a bit of research on the subject of mimes while I was working.  By the way, mime as entertainment dates back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, but it was in France that schools of mime where established.

Woodland Ornament - Fawna

Ooooh, painting is getting funner and funner (sorry I know that's not a real word, but hey, it works!)  I've always been sooo nervous about painting and feel so much more comfortable with pencil crayons, but lets face it, not  many surfaces take too well to pencil crayons!  Today I finished my little woodland ornament and I've named her Fawna. 

Fawna's head is sculpted from paperclay and I've painted it a pale champagne blonde shade.  For her features, I used fabric paint just because I love the colour mixtures I can get with them.  Her wooden spool belonged to my dear Nannykins which she dug out from her wonderful treasure chest... I mean sewing box:)  Thank heavens she has a bunch more!!  By the way, it's her 93rd birthday tomorrow and she's still sewing up a storm!

I found some lovely vintage looking paper at our local Michael's, which I cut to encircle the middle part of the spool and then I scalloped two round pieces to cover  the top and bottom.

She wears a tiny lock of auburn mohair onto which I glued two Czech glass flower beads.  A shimmery organza bow adds a hint of sparkle at her neck.

After I took the picture on the left, I noticed that all the paint labels where turned about the wrong way.  For those interested in knowing what I used, the tall bottles are Plaid Folk Art which I used for the base skin tone and the small bottles are Jacquard Textile Color.

Two more ornaments are still in the works for now and I'm also working on three new Poppets.  Will be back to post more pic's soon: )

Firenzie



Firenzie is ready for adoption.  In fact she's excited about meeting her new family and is ready to go as soon as the right mommy or daddy comes along!

Firenzie is the second doll in my new series of cloth dolls called Petite Poppets.  As with Penelope in the last blog post, her facial features are hand painted and she is a smaller wersion of my Little Lady cloth doll pattern, measuring about 9 inches tall.

 I chose a stunning auburn wool to compliment her pale green eyes and seperated each strand to create the soft, wispy, fly-away look.  Her hair may be gently styled into an updo, tied back, or left to hang loose.

Above left shows the sewn up poppets awaiting their stuffing.  At right and below left, Firenzie with a freshly painted face and the fabric I chose for her dress.

A close-up of her paint job.  Painting always makes me nervous and I've only recently started experimenting with it.  I'm rather pleased with how it turned out and can only hope that with time I'll get better:)

A wonderful week to each of you!

xo

Petite Poppets

Penelope is the newest member of my doll creations!  She is the first of the Petite Poppets, a variation of my original cloth dolls - the Little Ladies.  Petite Poppets are smaller and instead of embroidered faces, I've hand painted and sealed their features.

Crazy hair colour hey?  I saw it and just had to get it!  Unfortunately, I didn't get her finished till quite late this afternoon, so by that time the lighting was not at it's best:(

This is a comparison pic of the size difference between the Little Lady on the left and the Petite Poppet on the right.  Lilly is one of the very first embroidered dolls I made and I ended up keeping her as a model.  She was made from an organic fleece that was super hard to turn after sewing, so I didn't use that fabric for very long!  You might also notice how  l  o  n  g  her arms are....  something else I changed along the way.  Oh, and those are the very first pair of shoes I made - they're horrid, but you have to start somewhere!

Besides Penelope, there are two more on the way.  The poppet on the right is ready for painting and I've picked out the fabric for her dress.  The one on the left will be put on hold till I receive the yarn I ordered last week.  I had to source out thinner yarn for these girls' hair as the stuff I have is too thick for their smaller heads.

And lastly, a sneak peek at some ornaments I'm working on...  I remembered that I had a handful of these wonderful old wooden bobbins in my sewing box, so I'm turning them into halloween and Christmas ornaments.  These guys still need a lot of work and I'm hoping to have a few more to add - possibly a snowman and an angel, but they're really stressing me out and I don't know how far my patience will hold!  I've enjoyed every minute of making the heads, but just deciding on what to decorate the bobbins with has been torture! 

Hope you have a beautiful day!

Shelly

Lavender Sachet Winners!

Hello dear readers, 

It's that wonderful time again!  I've been looking forward to this day all week and I'm very pleased to say that the kids and I had a lot of fun writing up all your names and adding them to our fruit bowl in preparation for the Giveaway Draw!!

We had an impressive amount of names this time, the most yet, at a count of 22 altogether.   I'm so glad you liked the idea of the sachets!  Jody got to do the honours of drawing the winners, and here they are:

Sylvia Smiser,

Lyn Newhouse,

Beth,

Laurie Anne.

Congratulations!  And thanks so much to all of you for participating!  I'll be in contact with the winners for mailing details:)

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Shelly

Giveaway Celebration!!

To celebrate my 100th sale on etsy I thought I'd share my glee by having another giveaway!  This time I have four little gifts to share and I'm also adding a fifth one for the 100th buyer as a special treat.

These little fabric teabags are filled with basmati rice and fragrant lavender and I've embroidered a tiny flower on the pull tab.  Wonderful for slipping into a drawer or using as decorations.  If you'd like a chance at winning one - there'll be four winners in all, please add your name in my comments box and I'll add your name to the list.  Draw will take place on the evening of Wednesday, September 15.

Best of luck to you all :)

Treacle, Poppy and Blue

Recently I had the pleasure of 'meeting' a very sweet young lady whilst browsing through flickr.  I instantly fell in love with her beautiful, handmade Blythe dresses and was delighted when she asked if I could make a bear for her like Sparky.  I took a look through the dresses she'd made, and after a very hard decision as to which one to pick, asked if she'd like to do a trade.  I was thrilled when she agreed!  She ended up ordering another one, a little kitten like the one I'd given my mom for mother's day too.  I thought I'd make another one while I was at it for my shop.

Treacle, the siamese kitten is wearing a ruffled cotton lace skirt and orange flower accented with tiny aqua glass beads. 

Blue bear wears a grey scarf and matching hat with contrasting orange stitches.

Poppy the panda and wears a black and cream ruffled collar accented with green glass beads.  Two tiny heart buttons adorn her chest and I've given her a flower with glass pearls.

Each bear is completely hand sewn from hand woven felt.  This felt is absolutely devine, not only does it come in an array of beautiful shades, but it's also wonderful to work with.  You can find it at:  http://www.feltorama.com/  Please take a visit there, you'll be happy you did!  April carries a wide variety of felt, matching embroidery thread and craft patterns.

I meant to take more pics as I was going along, but of course I forgot till I was sewing up the blue bear!  You can see from the first pic that I was planning on making a skirt for the panda, but it didn't look right on her so I went with the ruffled collar instead.

Treacle.

Blue.

Poppy.

I've been tossing around the idea of designing a pattern for these bears and making it available in my shop.  I'm not quite sure what the best way to do it is, whether to do it in photographs or simply draw easy to follow pictures.  But for now it's still just an idea and I'd love to hear what you think of it!

As soon as we complete our trade and my outfit arrives, I'll post some pics of it so you can all see:)  Can't wait!!

Jessica Hamby Art Doll

My custom art doll project has finally come to and end!  Here are the final photos of her progress.

Left:  Fabric choices.  Lady Sally picked the striped cotton. 

Right:  Good old Arm and Hammer baking soda and baby shampoo were used to lighten up the hair as it was a tad darker than what I wanted.

Left:  Sewing on the tiny glass beads at the hem.

Right:  Completed dress.

Left:  Hair has been applied and the glue is drying.

Right:  The sides are pulled back and secured with gold thread (it blended in well with her hair colour).  I added a trio of glass beads at the side of her head as a hair ornament.

Left:  A perspective of her size.

Right:  All finished!  Hope you like her Ladysally!

Lady Sally's Jessica Hamby Art Doll

I have a little secret.  I never watch TV.  In fact, I'm not sure why we bother paying for cable because no one in our home watches TV.  I know....  weird huh??   I tend to spend most of my time working on dolls and listening to music while I'm working.
A few weeks ago, I got a request to do an art doll for the lovely Lady Sally.  She sent me a picture of a girl in a yellow sundress and between other custom orders that I was working on, I started making the body parts for the doll. Even though Lady Sally suggested doing a google search on a girl named Jessica Hamby for more pics, I chose to use the original photo she'd sent me as my inspiration.

So, what does all this have to do with not watching TV you ask?  Well, today, Lady Sally asked me if I could make her doll look like the character she plays.  What!!!???  I frantically typed Jessica Hamby into google, found out she's in a show called True Blood, and then You Tubed the show.  Thank goodness I was able to find a video with the young lady in it!  Anyway, here's some pic's of her progress:)

From top to bottom: 
: The hair, fabric and trim,
: Heads drying before sanding - made two so I could decided which would be the better to use,
: Legs connected with embroidery thread,
: Waiting for paint.
More pic's comming soon.  Hope you like her so far Lady Sally:)